Whoever you are ... I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.

Blanche DuBois -- "A Streetcar Named Desire"

I've been thinking ... and writing ... about Iraqi orphans lately -- what can happen when international adoption is not an option for kids, how cruel some people can be to innocents, how war often brings out the worst in humans -- and pondering over what, if anything, can possibly be done to help.

This morning, I came across this story about one of the soldiers in the group that found the 24 disabled orphans being slowly starved and horrendously neglected in an Iraqi orphanage.

This man's wife has a brother with special needs, so the soldier had some experience in what can be done that actually helps. He brushed the boys' teeth, and was photographed as he did this for one child. The photograph has touched people with its capture of this simple gesture that meant so much.

Such a small kindness, but one that takes a very big heart.

But back to Blanche DuBois ...

The Tennessee Williams character was hardly an innocent child; the widow of a suicide with a list of issues a mile long, she was out to damage. The 'kindness of strangers" was part of her bigger plan.

The children, though?

How many little ones have nothing but the kindness of strangers to hope for? Strangers that donate money, goods and time may make the difference between life and death on a daily basis.

In some countries ... unfortunately Iraq is not one of these ... strangers can be called prospective international adoptive parents. Those can supply what would seem the impossible -- a family where there was no hope of family.

We tell our kids not to talk to strangers ... that's one of those no-brainers that pops out of parental mouths almost automactially in today's world ... but what about those children for whom strangers are the only chance there may be for a meal, a bed ... life longer than a few months?

If you'd like to be one of those strangers a child may depend upon, check out the following organizations:

No More Victims is an independent non-profit working with children in Iraq.

Childhood Care and Sponsorship Organization in Iraq is another, as is Nintu for Humanitarian Assistance. Child Aid International has an "Orphan Child Sponsorship Program which, "provides donors with the opportunity to help transform the life of an orphan child living in Iraq. Sponsorship covers the healthcare, food, clothing and education costs for the child", and has recently been given a 20,000 square foot site in the city of Basra where they are hoping to build a child care complex that would offer healthcare, and education to orphans.

Medical Aid for Iraqi Children is a UK based charity. Another based in Britain is War Child.

UNICEF's Iraq program says it includes health and nutrition programs for young children and mothers along with water and sanitation, psycho-social care, and early learning, and, "supports a program for the reintegration of street children and children deprived of caregivers in Baghdad, including orphans and runaways".

Reintegration where and into what is a question.

To learn a bit about how and why Iraqi children cannot be internationally adopted, here's the US State Department page on the topic.