Starting with an event I would love to attend, and one those interested will have to jump on right away ...

NCLO, a great organization that works with children in Cambodia, is to be the beneficiary of a special premiere of "Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix" near Chicago on the 14th of July ... and the Weasley Twins will be there to sign autographs. Is that cool, or what!

Tickets are only $6, but going fast. For information contact awtodd@comcast.net or the Bolingbrook Rotary Club.

And speaking of films, Naomi Watts of "King Kong" fame will be staring in a film written by the director of "Hotel Rwanda" and based on the book, "We Are All the Same", about a South African adoptive mom who traveled the world with her AIDS-stricken child raising awareness on discrimination.

From "Publisher's Weekly" on the book"

The author, an award-winning senior correspondent for ABC News, has written an extraordinarily moving account of a courageous South African boy's battle with AIDS that is also a scathing indictment of South African leaders who have failed to confront the AIDS epidemic in their country. Nkosi, born in 1989 in the former Zululand, was infected by his poverty-stricken mother, Daphne. As Wooten recounts, Daphne moved heaven and earth to insure that her son would be provided for after her own death and agreed to his adoption, at age three, by Gail Johnson, a white South African, who had met Nkosi at a hospice. A hero in her own right, Johnson nourished Nkosi's strong spirit, which gave out only when he died at the age of 12. Before then, Johnson and Nkosi traveled internationally to gain support for Nkosi's Haven, a home for women and children with AIDS in South Africa.

I'll look forward to this one.

And here's a report on depression in South African AIDS orphans and their carers.

I'm not sure why time and money would be spent on such a thing, but a study was conducted by Oxford University and the Cape Town Child Welfare agency that determined there are "high levels of psychological distress in AIDS orphans".

But ...

“If AIDS orphans are given enough food, enabled to go to school, and given a social grant, it reduces depression and behavioural problems,” said Lucie Culver, who won a conference award for the study.

Am I missing something? It sure sounds like a no-brainer to me.

Staying in South Africa for a moment longer, here's a look at how good intentions do not make for adoption.

It's about a newborn found abandoned head-first in a bucket under a tree in South Africa, eventually placed in a foster home, and the American family that fell in love with her.

Looking at the situation from the angle of love with no agenda, and little knowledge of how complicated the road to adoption is, the family apparently assumed a direct and simple path would be the way to go.

Wrong.

Isn't it interesting how those of us in the adoption world forget how much we've had to learn since we first began stumbling along the international adoption trail?

Here's the State Department's page of information on adoption from South Africa. At this time, however, it is not possible without a five-year residency in the country.

For some inspiration, this story of a Zambian woman who provides care for 3,500 orphans in her country is well worth a read.

Faith's Orphans Fund, "endeavours to meet the holistic needs of orphaned children in Zambia, to enable them to have a chance in life, and in doing so break the cycle of HIV/AIDS and the resulting poverty."

As an example of how anyone can make a difference for the positive, this article about a 91-year-old who spends her time and money knitting warm clothing for orphans in Tblilsi in Georgia makes a great point.

First Lady Laura Bush is to visit an Albanian orphanage run by Bethany Christian Services, and there's hope this will bring attention to the needs of children in that country.

For information on Albanian adoptions, click here.

A look at AIDS orphans in Russia is a heart breaker, pointing out that of the 24 children in the Vladivostok HIV/AIDS orphanage, only 5 receive antiretrovirals, and apparently none get much of anything in the way of affection.

UNICEF has another look at this story here, saying in part:

In Russia, these children are modern-day lepers. Most people are afraid to touch them, to hug them, and give them the human warmth that they so much crave.

Virginia's blog on Russian adoptionM is loaded with information from the area, as is Angela's on adopting from Ukraine.