History
ORFACT initially worked primarily for orphans and disadvantaged children on both a national and international level as there was a need to target regions overseas where their governments neither could nor would provide the state security that would fulfil children's basic rights and needs.
Its first projects were particularly disturbing. One of its first major projects took place in Iraq and the Gulf region during the late 1980s (under the former regime) where countless children were orphaned. Their parents were either executed or imprisoned indefinitely without trial let alone any known or fixed term. The consequences were even more problematic where the authorities froze and confiscated the parent's assets. The children were, in most cases, denied both public and private assistance.
Charities like ORFACT had to play an effective role in the battle against a future of poverty and deprivation for these children. It was essential to retain the confidence and filial love they needed until they were able to stand on their own feet.
Our projects in Iraq in the early nineties became our foremost success. They gave us the exposure we needed to gain more much needed support to branch out further to where our help was just as needed in countries worldwide; in other parts of the Middle East and then Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe for emergency relief work.