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In Jeni's Words...

How It All Started
Losing my father at a young age, I had always felt empathy for children who are missing their parents. It is heart breaking to try and relate losing one parent as opposed to losing both. Making it a goal in my life to help these children, I took the opportunity to learn how I could make a difference for these children.

I became a Board of Governor’s member for Opportunity International, which is an organization that provides loans, savings, insurance, and training to people living in poverty. During this period of time I flew to Florida to hear speakers from around the globe discuss their situations and how big of an impact they are able to create with small donations. Having a better idea of what needs to be accomplished, I flew with a team to Uganda to visit displacement camps, orphanage schools, and the result of this trip was the beginning of Opportunities for Orphans.

Opportunities for Orphans is my contribution to orphans all around the world. My goal is to provide children with scholarships and schools with grants so orphans may have a brighter future. I have laid the groundwork and I hope you join me in moving this project forward.

Mission Statement
Our mission is to provide for the overall well-being of children orphaned in the world through developing and supporting programs that promote health, maintenance, support and education for orphans.

Opportunities for Orphans
Opportunities for Orphans is a non-profit charitable organization working to give orphans the funding that will offer them a chance for a better education. We are dedicated to making sure our funding will foster educational and economical growth. Educational institutes and organizations will be required to demonstrate how the money will be used to create leaders in their institutions.

Who is an Orphan?
According to UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/protection/index_orphans.html

Orphans and vulnerable children are deprived of their first line of protection – their parents. Reasons include having temporarily or permanently:
  • Lost their caregivers or guardians (orphans).
  • Lost contact with their caregivers. For example, street children, unaccompanied displaced or refugee children.
  • Been separated from their parents. For example, where parents are detained or children are abducted.
  • Been placed in alternative care by their caregivers. For example, children with disabilities or children from poor families who are placed in institutions.
  • Been kept in prolonged hospital care. For example, on grounds of health status, such as HIV status.
  • Been detained in educational, remand, correctional or penal facilities as a result of an administrative or judicial decision. For example, suspected or convicted offenders or child asylum seekers.
  • Although the reasons vary greatly, separation from parents and family is usually detrimental for the overall well being and development of the child. In addition, placement in institutions is often not the best solution for separated children.
Children without the guidance and protection of their primary caregivers are often more vulnerable and at risk of becoming victims of violence, exploitation, trafficking, discrimination or other abuses. In conflict situations, involuntary separation from both family and community protection, sometimes across national borders, greatly increases the child's risk of exposure to violence, physical abuse, exploitation and even death. Surviving children face malnutrition, illness, physical and psychosocial trauma, and impaired cognitive and emotional development. Unaccompanied girls are at especially high risk of sexual abuse. Meanwhile, unaccompanied boys are at high risk of forced or 'voluntary' participation in violence and armed conflict.
  • In Central and Eastern Europe alone, almost 1.5 million children live in public care .
  • In Russia, the annual number of ‘children left without parental care’ has more than doubled over the last 10 years, despite falling birth rates.
  • Conflict has orphaned or separated 1 million children from their families in the 1990s.
  • An estimated two to five per cent of the refugee population are unaccompanied children.
  • An estimated 143 million children are orphaned by one or both parents. (‘Children on the Brink 2004. A Joint Report of New Orphan Estimates and a Framework for Action. UNICEF/UNAIDS/USAID. July 2004).
  • The number of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS is expected to jump to more than 25 million. In 12 African countries, projections show that orphans will comprise at least 15 per cent of all children under 15 years of age by 2010.