Christina Noble
by Radiyah Shakur
Dubliner,
Christina Noble is like a cat with nine lives.
Her dedication to children and charitable work is a
direct
result of the tough life she endured.
 Born December
23, 1944 in the slums of Ireland, Christina was
one of three siblings raised by her mother, and neglected
by a father who swindled away the family’s
money on alcohol. When her mother died at age 10,
she and
her siblings were split and sent to different orphanages.
Throughout the four years she spent in the institution
she was force fed information that her siblings
were dead. Christina eventually escaped, and literally
slept in a hole she dug out in Phoenix Park in
Dublin.
During
her time on the streets she was gang raped, bearing
a son named Thomas who she was forced to give up
for adoption three months later.
When Christina was eighteen she then left for England
to be with her brother. This is where she met and
married her husband, with whom she had three children
Helenita, Nicolas and Androula. The relationship
proved itself dreadfully unhealthy, suffering physical
abuse and infidelity. The trauma Christina experienced
later led to a miscarriage, a failed attempt at suicide,
and to shock therapy for mental breakdown and depression.
It was Christina Noble’s first-hand experience
with knowing how unbearable children’s institutions
could be, with poverty, and with living on the street
as a child that motivated her to found the Christina
Noble Foundation for Children. The first foundation
was established in Vietnam in 1989, where its network
and reach has expanded greatly since then. Set up
in Ho Chi Minh City, CNFC provides shelter, education,
health care and most importantly love for less advantaged
children in Vietnam. In 1997, Christina established
a second foundation in Mongolia for street children
and orphans as well. She still remains heavily involved
in the CNFC’s work, and continues to improve
the lives of disadvantaged children in these countries.
Autobiography 'Bridge Across My Sorrows' published
in 1994, and her follow-up called 'Mama Tina' which
was released world-wide in 1999
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