Son?

Sukumar Ranganathan — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:02:00 GMT

The only son of poor parents goes missing.
The parents don't know it, but he has been kidnapped.
The kidnappers sell him to an orphanage run by a Non Governmental Organization or NGO.
The NGO, though an intermediary, "sells" the boy to a wealthy American couple who are only too happy to pay generous facilitation fees despite suspecting that all is not kosher about the deal.
The boy grows up thinking he is American.
Then, many years later, the boy's parents find out, through the NGO that is now being investigated by the police, that he is alive and in the US.
What should they do?
Be happy that their son is enjoying a life they could have never provided for him?
Or try their best(est) to get him back?
Tough question, and it is at the heart of this amazing article by Scott Carney.
I remember an executive who had once served as the head of a prominent Delhi-based NGO telling me that most organizations in the business lived off children -- real and virtual.
Most NGOs, he said, make up children, have their educational and other needs sponsored by rich donors in the US and Europe then have those fictional children write letters to thanking the donors for their support.
Still, that's a whole lot better than doing what the NGO in Scott's article did.

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A Daily Download : kidnapping

Son?