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OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, August 12, 2009 · 10 Living Oakville Beaver LIVING EDITOR: ANGELA BLACKBURN By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Phone: 905-337-5560 Fax: 905-337-5571 e-mail: ablackburn@oakvillebeaver.com Road to helping kids in Mygoma begins in Oakville Everyone has to start somewhere. Sudan-born Honeida Salih is hitting the ground running with her new non-profit organization Mygoma Support. Children at the Mygoma Orphanage in Sudan, who the group hopes to help, are also at the start of a rocky road. While cold calling, seeking sponsorship, liaising with a foreign country and weeding through bureaucracy is a challenge for the Oakville university student -- it's nothing compared to the future faced by the orphans housed just outside of Khartoum, who are deemed unacceptable by their society because they are illegitimate. Salih, a second-year University of Toronto political science student, moved to Canada with her parents at age one. She was raised in St. Catharines and Oakville before her parents took her back to Sudan for some language and cultural immersion. She returned to Oakville for Grade 12 at Iroquois Ridge High School before attending university. While in Sudan, Salih said she saw poverty, crime and different ways of life -- but was not aware of the Mygoma Orphanage. Last January however, a friend told her to check out a video on the internet about the orphanage. That ignited the spark of Salih's lifelong dream to help those in need, into a fullblown inferno. "It was the most amazing thing I ever saw in my life. It was so sad," said Salih. "I think of other charity groups like Amnesty International. They had to start somewhere. Michael Jordan did not make his high school basketball team and he was the best player in the NBA. It never stopped him," said Salih, adding, "People do do it." Salih is starting with the Mygoma orphanage as it is a cause that struck at her heartstrings. The orphanage has existed since 1961. It came close to being closed when up to 75 per cent of the children coming out of it were dying. It had fallen victim to those who stole from the orphanage and children, rather than providing care, to the point that many of the kids were mute because no one had interacted with them. marriage is taboo. It leaves few options for young women who find themselves pregnant. In days past, a woman who had an illegitimate child often left it at the roadside -- for pickup by police who would take it to the orphanage. Since a recent fatwa stated women wouldn't be charged, but could opt to choose punishment or not, if they dropped off a child at the orphanage, it has become easier for women to take the baby there -- even if they face family pressure to take punishment in this lifetime rather than the afterlife, said Salih. The Oakville resident said she was "overwhelmed" by travelling to Sudan where people walk by poverty. "As a child, I wanted to change the world. As I got older, reality set in, but still the idea was in my head," said Salih. While Salih believes she will one day open a shelter or more, this is where she'll start. She was hoping to raise more than $1,000 at a charity soccer tournament and barbecue held last weekend. For information, or to donate, contact www.mygomasupport.co.ca, mygomasupport@gmail or honeda.salih@utoronto.ca. RIZIERO VERTOLLI / OAKVILLE BEAVER A HELPING HAND: Oakville resident Honeida Salih with an image from the video, Witness Orphans of Mygoma, a video that changed her life. Things have since changed, but still with limited resources, the orphanage turns over children by the age of five to Alsajana, another orphanage, according to Salih. Salih said Mygoma Support intends to funnel aid to both institutions. "It's the same kids," she said. Culturally, illegitimate children have no place in Sudanese society. Their mothers are punished and the children unwanted. Adoption is not allowed in the Western sense and adoptees are a social stigma. "They are children, children with no parents," countered Salih, noting while she is Muslim and was raised in the Islamic faith, she does not understand the cultural interpretation. "It's a mentality that is difficult for me to understand. It doesn't make any sense to me," said Salih, noting it goes against how she was raised and, in her opinion, clashes with Islamic tenets. Prostitution is a huge issue in Sudan and Salih admitted it is a large contributor to the orphanage's intake numbers. Sexual relations before