Meet Dublin born Christina Noble – Children’s rights advocate, charity worker, author, and subject of movie, at Denver reception November 1st
By Rodger Hara, Celtic Connection (Please distribute this invitation to your networks)
Christina Noble is little known in Colorado; Irishman Donal Grogan hopes to help change that when he and his wife Lindsey hosts the Irish children’s rights campaigner, charity worker and writer, for a fundraiser November 1st at their Centennial Colorado home. They invite anyone with a charitable heart and checkbook and will match dollar for dollar every check that is donated at the fundraiser through their company Argon Masking. According to Donal, he had to reach out to Christina to get her to come to Colorado, “Christina had planned to just do each coast cities only on her US trip and she included Denver when I threw the idea out to her so here we are!”
The Christina Noble story is very well-known in Ireland and even more prominent in Viet Nam and Mongolia. She was born in the slums of Dublin, Ireland on Dec. 23, 1944. Her mother died when she was ten and she and her three siblings were put into separate orphanages. She was told (erroneously) that they had also died. When she was 14, she escaped from the orphanage and lived rough on the streets of Dublin and in a dugout she made in Dublin’s Phoenix Park. She was abused, became pregnant and had her baby taken away from her. She eventually made her way to London in search of her brother. There she married, had three children and left the marriage after it turned abusive.
In 1971 she had a vivid dream about children on the streets of war torn Viet Nam calling to her for help. With little money but an abundance of determination and courage, she went to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) in 1989 to answer the call that has become her life’s work. She operates on the principle that “It only takes one person to make a difference.” That courage has led her to create orphanages in Viet Nam and Mongolia and be honored by the Queen of England by being made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. In addition, a film called “The Noble Movie” about her remarkable story was released earlier this year in the U.S. after having won several awards at international film festivals last year.
Originally from Kildare, Donal was delighted to learn that people of Ireland, Vietnam, and America where planning on coming to the Denver reception and fundraiser, “ It would be great if we had people from all 3 countries at the event, give it that International flavor. I was also thinking that Irish people could wear their County shirts for the event.”
The event will begin at 2 PM (the Broncos game starts at 6:30 PM that day, so you’ll not miss the game and the final of the Rugby World Cup is the day before). The Grogans live at 17796 E. Jamison Ave., Centennial 80016. To meet this incredible woman and hear her story from her own lips, Please RSVP to Donal at [email protected] or call him or Lindsey at 303.868.6254 if you have any questions.
Christina Noble’s website is www.cncf.org and movie link http://thenoblemovie.com/