Angelina Jolie with Dr. Jane Aronson, Worldwide Orphans Foundation founder (RIGHT), with the Broadway Kids.
Eleven years ago, I accompanied a person very close to me to Central Asia on her quest to adopt a child. During our month there, we visited local orphanages every day and were introduced to sick children, older children with little hope of ever being adopted, and babies. Every day I left the orphanage with a feeling of despair for these kids, wishing I had one more hour to give a few more hugs. My friend, with her incredible courage and tenacity, brought home a beloved child.
And that’s why I feel so strongly about the Worldwide Orphans Foundation.
The WWO was founded by Dr. Jane Aronson, a renowned specialist in pediatric infectious disease and adoption medicine, who had gone on many medical missions to orphanages in Romania and Russia, and was profoundly affected by what she saw. Afterward she set about to create a “peace corps” for orphans. It was out of this determination to help that the WWO was founded in 1997.
Last December I had the privilege of performing for the WWO, and have subsequently become impassioned about the group’s mission to “transform the lives of orphaned children by taking them out of anonymity and helping them to become healthy, independent, productive members of their communities and the world.”
Today WWO programs address the needs of the most vulnerable children in Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, China, Ethiopia, Serbia, and Vietnam. It was the first nonprofit organization to import medication and treat orphans with HIV/AIDS in Vietnam. It also sends volunteer medical professionals to both countries for training in pediatric HIV/AIDS treatment.
Dr. Aronson is fond of saying that once you’ve saved a life, you’re responsible for ensuring that that life is worth living. So the WWO opened a private school for children both with and without HIV/AIDS in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
One of my favorite WWO programs is the oneto- one Early Intervention (“Granny”) program in Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, and Vietnam. It matches orphans in local institutions with volunteers from the community. They play with, sing songs to, and feed, hold, and encourage their little ones, who respond with tremendous advances in both physical and emotional development. Most important, they learn how to love and be loved.
The organization’s Service Ranger Program also accomplishes great things. It allows groups of volunteers to work together in orphanages to complete specific short-term projects, such as installing a playground or painting a mural. A few weeks ago I performed at the WWO’s Los Angeles reception and heard compelling stories from local teenagers who’d spent three weeks working in an orphanage in Bulgaria. One particularly striking comment came from a 15-year-old who told us he’d learned to be grateful simply for having parents— something he’d never considered before.
