From 1923 on, AGBU leaders grappled with an all-important practical question: many of the boys and girls in its care had grown up and had to leave the institutions in which they had been raised, yet needed help negotiating this crucial stage of their lives, somewhat like the help others received from their parents as they took up their places in society. Once they left the orphanage, these young adults required assistance in order to become independent and find work in the alien environment that was now opening up before them beyond the institution’s walls. While the AGBU did not presume to replace the orphan’s dead parents, it felt that it had a moral obligation toward each of these adult orphans. Hence it decided to set up a guidance program for its wards in order to smooth their integration into society.
The AGBU was in fact faced with the problem of social integration almost everywhere, not just in the case of young adults leaving its schools and orphanages. Thousands of isolated young people, especially those in NER’s Near Eastern orphanages, were left to fend for themselves after reaching adulthood: the American organization did not have a policy of providing them aid and guidance. The AGBU was particularly concerned ... Read all
Integrating Adult Orphans into Society
The wedding of Yeranuhi Kevorkian, an orphan from Beirut's Kelegian-Sisvan orphanage
(Coll. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).
A shelter for adolescent girls opened by the AGBU in Cairo (Coll. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).
Orphan apprentices from Beirut's Kelegian-Sisvan orphanage
(Coll. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).