By Rana Kamaly Although many people donate money to support orphanages, that money does not actually help deal with the social stigmas or hardships that orphans face in the real world. Community Times speaks to orphans and orphanage managers about their experiences at and beyond the orphanage to see how society perceives them and the challenges they face – even long after they have left the orphanage. According to Salwa, the manager at a girls’ orphanage, nobody knows who the parents of 99% of the children that come to orphanages are; officially, they are considered mag-hool el nassab, or of unknown origin. “We have no clue who their parents are. They are found on the streets, in front of mosques, hospitals or even in garbage cans. They are then taken to a police station. If the police cannot locate their parents, they give them a name and a birth certificate.” She explains that the children are then taken to the social services’ bureau, which is responsible for assigning them to orphanages. She notes that, although most of these institutions are over-capacity, they continue to take in children and “figure it…
