“Maybe they are not able to tell you the exact date, month or year, but they can tell you when their Saint’s Day is , their religious holiday or when their mum is supposed to get them. Maybe on arrival they are not able to read or write, but they are able to tell you the words of a love song they composed for a friend leaving and ask you to write it down so they can give it to her as a gift before she goes. Maybe a victim brought in wearing ankle socks and ballet shoes in mid November won’t know when she was born, nor exactly how old she is, but she will know her baby is five months old and that she gave birth in summer, that she still drinks milk from her mother’s breast and she is happier when she is next to her. Children of the Shelter. Children living on the margin of society, saved from the edge of life, from rapists, from abusers, from pimps, from careless parents, saved from slums, picked up from roadsides…”
Excerpt from "Our Children", Melanija Stoin Petrovic
Parallel to a glittering world of glass buildings, Rolex watches and designer cloths, there is a dark side of human society that obscures the spark of the child souls. The world of crime, greed and lowest desires plastered by rapists, paedophiles, and criminals of all kinds, who want to profit from purest and holiest of human treasures – the children.
However, the sparkling light in the deepest of the child's soul still exists even in children exposed to the darkest of human behaviour. Children’s shelters try to rekindle this light, often fighting the battles, which sometimes seem to be endless and without hope.
While not everyone can work in shelters, NPO or orphanages, we can all support the work of these people, who are on the barricades day-in and day-out, just to bring back human values there where values are almost forgotten.
Read more about Social Initiatives of the DoKa Foundation https://www.urban-nun.com/social-initiatives