Children in developing countries are deliberately being blinded by their family in a desperate attempt to attract the sympathy of others.

Mgr George Grima, founder of Moviment Ġesu Fil-Proxxmu, a charity which cares for thousands of orphans in Brazil, Kenya and Ethiopia, can confidently say he has finally seen it all.

“I was recently told of a boy who was taken to the woods and poked in the eyes with thick indigenous thorns because the family could not make ends meet. They were so desperate they told their youngest son they would have to blind him and send him to beg on the streets,” he said.

The cruelty does not stop there. Another problem is the demand for flesh of albinos to be used during occult rituals.

“Witchdoctors are found in more or less every village and insist that albinos have medicinal, or rather magical, properties and unfortunately, children born that way are killed by superstitious families and sold,” Mgr Grima continued.

And because girls are cast aside by society, they are often abandoned by their family.

He added: “I recently met a young woman who was terrified of having a baby girl during one of my daily hospital visits. Naturally, she was attached to her unborn child, regardless of her gender, but was scared her husband would throw it out.

“However, I managed to convince her that if she had a baby girl, I would accompany her home and talk to her husband. Sure enough, that is what she had and we planned to leave the next day. When I went to pick her up, the nurses told me she had gone home alone. But my happiness that she had plucked up enough courage to face her husband was cut short when I found her being handcuffed by the police close to the hospital. She had killed her baby girl,” Mgr Grima continued.

“During my hospital rounds, I pick up one or two abandoned newborn babies a day and I recently found a young boy behind my door holding what turned out to be a frail newborn baby in a bundle of rags,” he said.

Recognising this desperate situation, AX Foundation has decided to organise a concert to raise funds for another orphanage that Moviment Ġesu Fil-Proxxmu is building in Kenya.

Featuring renowned international singer Adina Romana and a variety of local artistes and bands, it will be staged on December 11, at 8 p.m., at the Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre in Ta’ Qali.

Tickets, which sell at €10, €15 and €25, are available from the MFCC, Yorkdale Stationery in Naxxar, Tip Top in Fgura, and Aurora Theatre in Victoria. Visit www.ticketline.com.mt and or call 7934 5667.

To donate €2.33 or €4.66 send a text message to 5061 7365 or 5061 8083 respectively.

kbugeja@timesofmalta.com

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