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Action For Orphans, a UK registered charity was formed in response to the devastating Bam earthquake in Iran. With the core belief that every child is entitled to a family, we have set forth to help as many orphaned or abandoned children as we possibly can, providing each child with a home, a family and a better future.

Welcome back to your Action for Orphans Newsletter December 2014

We wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Our children on their first day at school Street children on their first day of school

Roshanak cuddles with our children as part of the children’s daily therapy at the Soroush Centre

Action for Orphans was started in 2003 by the Tavakoli family and their friends in response to the earthquake in Bam. Its core belief is that every child is entitled to a family. Since then, our sole aim has been to help as many orphaned or abandoned children as we possibly can by providing each with a home, a family and a better future.

For the last eleven years, we’ve built two family homes in Kerman housing 44 children and a library. In 2010, we expanded our remit by taking over the management of the care centre for street children providing more than 430 children and teenagers with shelter, food, clothing and health care.

In 2013, we took on the very tough task of managing a centre for severely disabled children in Jiroft, Kerman, starting with 79 and growing to 87 children this year. We named the centre Soroush Care Centre after one of our disabled children who continues to amaze us with his abilities and zest for life. Read more about Soroush on page three.

It has been both a pleasure and a privilege to be able to care for vulnerable children. Our work has only been possible with the help of our donors, volunteers and charity partner the Popli Khalatbari Charitable Foundation (PKCF) with special thanks to Mrs. Diana Khalatbari and Roshanak Tavakoli for their hard work.

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Our Family Homes Update

Since our last newsletter, our family is expanding. We now have 44 children between the ages of five and 21. We have 26 girls and 18 boys, five of whom currently attend Kindergarten, 18 in primary school, four in middle school, 11 in high school and six are at university, with our oldest daughter having obtained her first job this year.

Our eldest daughter, Parisa, will be graduating this term with a degree in Management of Tourism. Parisa is at the top of her class, and she is planning to take post graduate entrance exams to further her studies next year. This summer, she started an internship with Mahan Air. Her keen work ethic and competency have earned her a full-time position as a ticket agent. This is a tremendous achievement considering the difficult local job market. Parisa has not yet completed her university studies, but she has already worked for the three months and became a donor for our Street Children Centre and Soroush Canter. Parisa now sits on our Bachehaye Ma charity board in Iran. We are so proud of her accomplishments!

This year, five of our girls passed the very difficult university entry examination, Konkor. Arezo, who is now 18 years old, has earned entry to Babolsar Law School as a result of her high marks. Arezo has attended her first term and we managed to secure her a room with a good family home. Fati and Habibeh, both 18, are both studying Fashion Design and Dress Making in Kerman and are living at home. Setareh and Sara, both 17, are studying Sociology and Childcare in Kerman and are also living at home.

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Music, Arts and Sports

We believe in encouraging our children to find their talent and passion by arranging art and music classes and sports instruction for our children.

One of our girls continues her violin lessons and has been practicing for two years now. Another loves playing the guitar, and one plays the keyboard. All three play beautifully for the children at home.

We have been privileged to inherit Popli’s piano, which was lovingly donated to us in her memory by Mrs. Diana Khalatbari from the Popli Khalatbari Charitable Foundation. Three of our girls have already started learning the piano. Thank you so much for the gift of music!

One of the girls has shown a natural love for design. We have enrolled her in a Persian carpet weaving and design class at the high school level. She has been selected to sit for Olympiad National Exam in carpet design. She has been taking extra classes to prepare for this prestigious international exam, which will be held in February 2015.

SportsSoroush, who is nine years old, has earned the National Bronze Para-Swimming Medal this summer and has been selected for the National Para-Swimming Team. He is training for the National Championships this January. We are so proud of him and wish him good luck!

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Technical and Trade Training

Five of our boys attended a three-month summer course learning the basics of plumbing at a technical college. They all passed the course with flying colours and earned their certificates. One of our boys has shown a lot of talent in plumbing, and he is now taking care of the basic needs of our houses in this regard.

English Language

Fifteen of our older boys and girls continue to attend English as a Second Language course.

Environmental Training

All our children have joined an environmental group. Their activities and practice this year revolved around keeping our streets clean and litter free. The children also learned about how to use electricity and water wisely. All of our children have attended a three-day workshop on green issues, and some now attend seminars and share their skills and knowledge on environment at other local schools.

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Health

Two of our boys, Hamidreza and Eyilia, both 7 years-old, are deaf by birth. Eyilia has undergone a specialized surgery to implant a hearing porostatis and has recovered nicely. He is attending intensive speech therapy classes. He can hear and say some words, and his vocabulary is growing each day.Hamidreza is scheduled to have the same surgery in April 2015. Nadia and Mojgan, both with some facial deformities are scheduled to have reconstructive cosmetic surgeries this summer.

Building

Our office/library/workshop building is complete and in full use. To accommodate our growing family, we just completed a four-bedroom apartment above the office building, which will house our older girls who are attending university.

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The Centre for Street Children

In 2014, we have helped and continued to support 138 boys between the ages of six and 17 years old. In this centre, we take in homeless boys who live on the streets. We provide the boys a safe home on a temporary basis. They come to us undernourished with a lot of health and personal issues. While in our care, they go through full medical check-up, are feed properly and attend school. We attend to their physical and mental health needs.

During this period, we also assist the boys in searching for their families and determine the reasons why the children become dislocated from their home and family. It is often the case that the parents suffer from illness, addictions and unemployment that the children become displaced from their families.

If there is an opportunity to help rebuild the relationship and return the children to the family, we do so. Otherwise, the children will go to special children’s homes for long-term care. To help kids return to their families, we offer a wide range of support: paying the costs of medicine or drug addiction treatments, schooling, skills training, job placement, mental health treatments, home rental, and even refurbishing or building homes for the families.

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One of our Success Stories

This year, we built a family home for one of the street children in this centre who has three siblings. The father was an unemployed addict, and the family was homeless living in an unsafe, unhealthy self constructed room. The family now lives in a good home with two bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom.

We are even happier to report that the father has recovered from addiction and is attending Narcotics Anonymous classes. He has a full-time job as a street sweeper, and all three children are attending school. The family has come a long way, and we continue to support them.

We are also in the process of purchasing a small derelict house to refurbish for another family with four children. This family has experienced many problems; both parents and the eldest boy were addict who were unemployed and living on the street. They were all taken in, and after may therapy session, they are all recovering addicts now (2 1/2 years clean). The mother is a brilliant carpet weaver who now runs her own business with our assistance and earns money to support her family. The children are all back at school, but unfortunately the father became paralysed after a hear attack.

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Action for Orphans, Email: shifteh@actionfororphans.org.uk Tel.: 020 88700387, Registered Charity No.: 1103939117 Wimbledon Park Road, London SW18 5TU, United Kingdom

Home Visits

Mrs. Diana Khalatbari, a director from the PKCF, our generous supporter and partner, Ms. Adeleh and Ms. Shifteh Tavakoli, both trustees of AFO, visited the children’s homes in August 2014 as part of their annual visit. The visits help to ensure that the organization’s vision is carried through at every level of care for the children while planning improvements for the coming year.

Thank you all for supporting our children !!We could not do it without you.

Wishing you joy and happiness for 2015 !!

Soroush Centre, the Care Centre for Mentally Challenged Children

The Soroush Centre provides 24-hour care for 87 boys and girls. The building was refurbished and painted thanks to one of our great supporters, Dr. Leela Ghafari and Rana Varshoochi Pirouz of PKCF. in 2014, we have seen a great improvement in the quality of care for the children. We have implemented a touch therapy program that focuses on providing love and affection for each of the children. Their positive response to this program has been heartwarming.

We would like to sincerely thank our volunteers who have dedicated their time to this important service.