The plight of the orphans
An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan. However, adults can also be referred to as orphans, or “adult orphans”. Another meaning of an orphan, as identified by United States , is a […]
An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan. However, adults can also be referred to as orphans, or “adult orphans”. Another meaning of an orphan, as identified by United States , is a minor bereaved through “death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents”.
In the common use, an orphan does not have any surviving parent to care for him or her. However, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), and other groups label any child that has one parent as an orphan. In this sense, a maternal orphan is a child whose mother has died, a paternal orphan is a child whose father has died, and the double orphan has lost both parents. This contrasts with the older use of half-orphan to describe children that have lost only one parent.
Orphans are relatively rare in developed countries, as most children can expect both their parents to survive their childhood. Much higher numbers of orphans exist in war-torn nations such as Afghanistan. A report by UNICEF/UNIADS in 2001/2002 says the population of orphans in Africa is about 11.9% of the whole population, Asia 6.5% while Latin America and Caribbean have 7.4%.
A survey conducted by China’s ministry of civil affairs in 2005 showed that China has about 573,000 orphans below 18 years old. An estimated 650,000 children are in Russian orphanages. Orphans are turned out of the orphanages at the age of 16, and the results are poor for most of them. 40% are homeless, 20% turn to crime, and 10% commit suicide. Notwithstanding, there are famous orphans such as world leaders like Nelson Mandela and Andrew Jackson, the Muslim Prophet Muhammad (SAW), writers such as Edgar Allan Poe, and Leo Tolstoy. The American orphan Henry Darger portrayed the horrible conditions of his orphanage in his art work. Other notable orphans include great entertainers such as Louis Armstrong, Johann Sebastian Bach, Marilyn Monroe, Babe Ruth and Aaron North, and innumerable fictional characters in literature and comics.
Despite the maltreatment orphans receive, efforts are being made by governmental and non-governmental organizations through donations to the orphans in various degrees. Such organizations include United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s), Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN), Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) and lots more.
There is a degree of responsibility vested on each and every human being on earth about orphans, that they are human beings like you and I, they should be taken care of.
Rabi Bashir is of Department of Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri