Sunday, December 23, 2007

Marine Adopts Disabled Iraqi Orphan

The A.P. has run a touching story about a U.S. Marine who adopted an Iraqi boy from an orphanage in Iraq. The boy, Ala'a, has cerebral palsy. U.S. Marines visited the Mother Teresa Orphanage in Iraq where Ala'a and other children were cared for by Catholic nuns. The Marines played with the children and one of them, Captain Scott Southworth, became acquainted with Ala'a. Ala'a seems to have adopted the Captain first, as he began to call him "Baba," Arabic for "Daddy."

Ala'a was only 9 years old and weighed only 55 pounds. When Southworth was told the boy would be moved to another institution in a year where his future would be bleak, Southworth impulsively offered to adopt him.

Read the whole story. It's a very touching story for Christmas. God bless Captain Scott Southworth and his new son, Ala'a! They are both home now, safe and sound in the United States of America.

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