Atlantic (Final)

The
Atlantic
April/May 2014
The Real Heroes:
Orphans Of The World
By Ana Garduno

T
By Ana Garduno
here are just so many
things that are taken for
granted in life, and not only
in the United States, but
in the entire world. Its simple things,
mostly; things like hanging out with
friends, having your parents drop you
off at a friend’s house, having a nice
family dinner, or even having a lazy
Sunday. But what people don’t seem to
understand is just how fast these things
can all but vanish from their lives. One
second, they’re planning a night out
with the family, and the next, it’s all
The Real Heroes:
Orphans Of The World
gone. This is what my mother, Monica
Roldan, had to experience when she
was just fifteen. Her father died in a car
crash and after that, her life spiraled out
of control. She went from being a carefree
teenager to having to stay home to
help care for her four younger siblings.
And then, a few years after losing her
father, Monica lost her mother to a brain
tumor, leaving her as the sole guardian
of her brothers and sisters.
Monica was born in Mexico
City into a family of seven. She was the
oldest of five children, and was closest
to her dad. She recalls how “whenever

he got home from work, whether it was two
in the afternoon or two in the morning, he
would always take me to eat at a shabby little
restaurant that was a few blocks away,
and it would just be the two of us, laughing
and talking”. Monica remembers coming
home with her dad in the early morning, the
smell of tacos and zopes clinging to her
clothes, her mother screaming at both her
and her father about the time, how Monica
had to go to school in just a few hours.
They’d both promise it would be the last
time, yet the next week, they would find
themselves at the shabby place, eating and
laughing together once more. Monica spent
her days like that; with her family. They
would all eat breakfast together and then
their dad would drive them to school. Granted,
they usually got there late, but having
your dad be friends with your school principal
means that tardies can be overlooked.
The point I’m trying to make is, they were a
normal family. Nothing set them apart or
made them targets to the tragedies they
would have to endure. The car crash that
killed Monica’s father, which occurred
when she was fifteen, was nothing more
than a series of random events, all of which
that led to the fatal crash. And the brain tumor
that claimed the life of her mother?
Nothing more than a bad combination of
genes. No one could have seen it coming.
And in a matter of a few years, they were
both gone. Just like that.
Orphans make up a big percentage of
the world population, and UNICEF estimates
that there are between 140 million
and 190 million orphans in the world, equal

to nearly two thirds of the United States
population. The reasons for there being so
many orphans vary from natural causes or
catastrophic events, but sadly, losing their
parents can happen to anyone, no matter
their economic or social standing. It is estimated
that 153 million children all over the
world, ranging from infants to teenagers,
have lost one or both parents. In America,
there are over 120,000 orphans, while another
400,000 children live without permanent
families, and it is common for children
in foster care to age out, leaving them with
little financial or emotional support, and
27,000 children age out of the system every
year (HHS; AFCARS). In Monica’s case,
she was lucky. She had an aunt and an uncle
who were willing to take Monica and
her four younger siblings in. The kids
stayed in the same house they grew up in,
and while their aunt and uncle helped financially,
Monica was left in charge of caring
for the kids. She had to drive them to
school, feed them, help them with their
homework, and make sure they stayed in
line. Her uncle offered her a job as a secretary
where he worked, so that she would be
able to bring in more money into the household
so that they would afford every necessity
the children may have.
Orphaned children don’t only have to
deal with losing their parents, but like Monica,
they must also tackle all other obstacles
life throws at them (Roldan). They must
learn to be responsible and get jobs in order
to get money to support themselves, and in
Monica’s case, her four younger siblings.
But meeting such needs can be a little more
than complicated, since they usually have
no money or any form of support whatsoever,
and it is because of things like this that
over 1 billion children suffer from at least
one form of severe deprivation of basic
needs such as water, food, and sanitation
(Holt International). Monica and her siblings
had a stable home and a constant supply
of money, but she still had to go to
school every day, usually arriving late, but
unlike in the past few years, it wasn’t because
she was off spending time with her
father (Roldan). Those days were long
gone. She had to make many sacrifices in
order to keep what was left of her family
together. She gave up the rest of her childhood,
and like she said during the interview,
“I wanted to live my life like the teen-

ager I was, but I couldn’t, so it was really
hard”. She spent the next few years of her
life juggling with her job and being the
main caretaker of her siblings. But despite
these circumstances, she attended college
and got her Bachelor’s in Tourist Management.
She became a very successful businesswoman,
and later on married and had
three daughters, before moving to the United
States. Monica had a good life, considering,
and did the best she could with the
cards she was dealt. But sadly, not all orphans
are as lucky as Monica.
Each year, 14,505,000 children grow
up as orphans and age out of the system by
age sixteen, and each day, 38,493 orphans
age out. Every 2.2 seconds another orphan
ages out with no family to belong to and no
place to call home, and in Russia and
Ukraine, studies show that 10% to 15% of
these children commit suicide before even
reaching the age of eighteen. The studies
also show that 60% of the girls become
prostitutes and 70% of the boys become
hardened criminals. A different study reported
that of the 15, 000 orphans aging out
of the system, 10% committed suicide,
5,000 were unemployed, 6,000 were homeless,
and 3,000 were in prison, all within
three years (UNICEF). Life can be hard
enough with the support of family and
friends, but most orphans are not as lucky
as Monica and have no one to turn to for
help, no one to rely on.
Orphans have to deal with their lives
turning upside down in a matter of seconds,
and they have to learn to live with what
they have. They have to work hard and sac-

ifice a lot, and also have to get used to losing their families and all support and comfort.
They lose their sense of security, and besides the few that are adopted, orphans have to
endure a harder life than most, and the worst part of it all, is that they do it all alone.