Orphan and Child Advocacy

UN Day Speech

Youre a wizard, Harry!

Raise your hand if you have ever read or watched Harry Potter. Its amazing,
isnt it? After being raised as a Muggle for 10 years, 11 year old Harry Potter, the
Boy-Who-Lived, gets to attend magic school - Hogwarts! There, he meets his fellow
wizards and friends Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, and his love interest and future
wife, Ginny. Ahh.. It should have been Hermione, but life is full of injustices and
Weasleys.

The life of the Boy-Who-Lived is a life we have always dreamed of having.

Instant fame, free stuff, eternal glory, what else would you want? But havent you
ever thought that it hasnt always been this way?

Did you know that on the day Harry was proclaimed the Boy-Who-Lived, his
parents died, sacrificing their lives for him? After that, he was sent to his relatives,
and there he lived in misery until he was 11. They belittled him and his parents, and
forced Harry to become little more than a house elf, catering to their every whim,
while allowing their young son to grow up as a spoiled brat.

Its all well and good if its fiction. After all, this is just all part of Harrys hero
persona, where the previous underdog becomes the rising star. But, what if this
happened in real life? What if there is a child there, crying for their parents, a
lifetime of abuse ahead for them.

Theres no need for what-ifs because this situation is very real, and it is
happening right now.
 Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki Moon, my fellow
delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen A pleasant morning to all of you.

According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations,

every three seconds, a child dies of causes related to extreme poverty, hunger, and
disease, most of them from third world countries. UNICEF statistics show that
16,000 children die everyday, mostly due to preventable or treatable causes. In fact,
every 10 minutes, an adolescent girl, a girl around my age, dies as a result of
violence.

There are about 2.2 billion children in the world. In every 500 children, 30 of
them are orphans, and 3 of them have lost both parents.

These children are vulnerable. Vulnerable because they are still young.
Vulnerable because they are innocent. Vulnerable because they are still children.
They are suffering for events far out of their control. Many of these vulnerable
children are in fact abandoned children, left behind because of their gender, physical
appearance, or their familys inability to support them. Many of these orphans have
lost a parent or both of their parents to diseases like HIV, AIDS, or Ebola; to war; or
to poverty. A good number of these young ones live on the streets. Unlike us, they do
not have access to their basic needs food, shelter, education, and health care. They
also have a greater risk of abuse and maltreatment due to their situation and status.
They are used, exploited, then left abandoned.

Look around you. This is happening right here, right now. Remember the
child beggar you ignored on your way to a restaurant? He may be by the dumpster,
looking for whatever food he can salvage, just so that he wouldnt grow hungry. Do
you recall little boys guiding you out of a tight parking space a while back? That may
just be the same little boys you saw sleeping near that same spot at midnight.
 What happens next? What happens when they get sick? When they die, will
they just be another statistic? Will they just be another number to note down and
eventually, ignore?

We should never ever stand by watching them die while we live in luxury. If
we can nurture brilliant minds like Malala Yousafzai, youngest Nobel Peace Prize
awardee, or Elise Tan Roberts, the youngest member of Mensa, we should also be
able to help these young children.

But how? Should we go about adopting them, like some celebrities do? We
cant do that, now can we?

You do not have to copy Angelina Jolies and Brad Pitts example to be able to
help these children. Lets do it one small step at a time. Donations to organizations
like UNICEF, or grants to foster homes may do a lot in supporting this cause. Help
these organizations do what they do best - helping the children out of their tough
times, and showing them that not everyone is out to get them. Perhaps you too can
start your own Feeding and Health Care programs for the less fortunate children in
your community. These little things all add up to one giant movement to help these
orphans and vulnerable children.

Helping these children is everyones responsibility. We may not be able to

help everybody, but, Every Child Counts.