Adopt villages, not pet children
By Bashir Goth

Just as the Europeans justified the scramble for Africa in the19th century and the slave trade before it that it was the white man’s burden to civilise the “Half-devil and half-child,” the celebrities of today justify their child poaching for being in the name of philanthropy and altruism, saving poor children from the heart of darkness and bringing them to the world of light. Anyone who thinks my argument to be unfair or hostile, may convince me how could a person go to an orphanage in a foreign poor country, ask the children to be paraded for them, pick up “a lucky” one, pay cash and get away with their prey.

Adoption by itself is a genuine human need and a noble action that gives a child to a childless person and a good home, comfort and a future to an orphan or poverty stricken child. Needy children however are everywhere; they are in America as they are in Africa and Asia. But why do the celebrities not adopt American children instead of going overseas to adopt African or Asian children. The answer is that there are no children for sale in America. Anyone who wants to adopt goes through years of gruelling procedure to qualify for child adoption. Over there, children are human beings and cannot be bought as toys, playmates or pets for celebrities’ children. But in Africa people are still sold in exchange for beads, tobacco and petty cash. And as a Malawian journalist said: “We are showing to the world that our poverty has extended to the brain.” Read more on Khaleej Times

Adopt villages, not pet children
By Bashir Goth

Just as the Europeans justified the scramble for Africa in the19th century and the slave trade before it that it was the white man’s burden to civilise the “Half-devil and half-child,” the celebrities of today justify their child poaching for being in the name of philanthropy and altruism, saving poor children from the heart of darkness and bringing them to the world of light. Anyone who thinks my argument to be unfair or hostile, may convince me how could a person go to an orphanage in a foreign poor country, ask the children to be paraded for them, pick up “a lucky” one, pay cash and get away with their prey.

Adoption by itself is a genuine human need and a noble action that gives a child to a childless person and a good home, comfort and a future to an orphan or poverty stricken child. Needy children however are everywhere; they are in America as they are in Africa and Asia. But why do the celebrities not adopt American children instead of going overseas to adopt African or Asian children. The answer is that there are no children for sale in America. Anyone who wants to adopt goes through years of gruelling procedure to qualify for child adoption. Over there, children are human beings and cannot be bought as toys, playmates or pets for celebrities’ children. But in Africa people are still sold in exchange for beads, tobacco and petty cash. And as a Malawian journalist said: “We are showing to the world that our poverty has extended to the brain.” Read more on Khaleej Times