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'We shall overcome,' they sing at Sandra's happy home

CHARLOTTE JACQUEMART
"My name is Saddam and Bush is looking for me," the nine-year-old boy shouted out, grinning at visiting reporters and turning somersaults in the air.
Saddam, born in 1994 and named after the deposed Iraqi president, is one of the 73 children living in the road No. 7C house in Uttara.
Together with their baba (father) Jatindra Kumar Das and his family, the children form a big happy unit.
Jatindra is the director of the orphanage in the house No. 2B, sponsored for over 30 years by Sandra Simpson, a Canadian. Her foundation, "Families for Children", has a chapter in India.
The Families for Children in Dhaka since 1972 has grown out of the need to help two lakh rape victims of the 1971 liberation war.
In 1972 to 1984, up to 1,500 "war babies" were also adopted abroad for free, which is no longer possible as the law of adoption changed in 1985.
Simpson puts around 10,000 Canadian dollars into the Dhaka home a month. The money is spent on food, rent, salary, school and health, among others, for some physically challenged kids.
"We can host as many as 100 children," Jatindra said. "We have
kids of all ages. Their mothers find their way to our home -- mostly hearing from others."
Most children are not real orphans. But their mothers sent their kids to the orphanage for free adoption, as they were not able to take care of them themselves.
Mohammed is one of them: his father died before his birth and whose mother was desperate as she had already two other children to raise.
The children live in three locations of the centre that has a second small unit, where older girls are living. The second unit includes a special care section for the physically challenged children whom the orphanage has never refused to accept.
One more home, just recently opened, is situated in Rupganj, about 30 kilometres off the capital. The youngest 10 members of the family are enjoying life out there in a beautiful landscape -- fishing, swimming and boating in a pond. A peaceful place, far from the madding crowd in Dhaka.
Ajite Kumar Das, the eldest son of the family and in charge of the finances of the home, is a little worried about the future. "Sandra Simpson is getting older. What will happen once she is not there any longer for help?"
The orphanage is recognised by the Bangladesh government but does not get any financial support from that side, he adds.
During a Star City visit to the orphanage, some children, clinging to the visitors, have gathered to sing: "We shall overcome" and also some Bangla songs.
They show their visitors around -proudly: the bedrooms, shared by six to eight children, the classroom furnished with wooden benches, English books and booklets, and the heart piece of the house -- a new
computer-lab with ten PCs, sponsored by Finland.
"Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft games," listed little Saddam, unwinding in the background, obviously proud.
For Saddam and his brothers and sisters, it is bliss to be there: had they been not in the orphanage, they would have worked instead of playing, laughing and going to school.
What they hear and learn stimulates them to have plans for their own lives, once they are grownups. They would like to become artists, doctors and teachers. And some are crazy about sports. "I would like to become a gymnast," says Ratull. So does Saddam -- if George W Bush does not catch him before.