Actress and Lumos Ambassador Evanna Lynch makes a heartfelt, personal appeal as she introduces Lumos and its work with vulnerable children to BBC Radio 4 listeners.

Evanna, best known for her role as Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter movies, has been a passionate and dedicated Lumos Ambassador for many years.

She explains,

“I got involved in Lumos through J.K. Rowling, who founded the charity. As an actor in the Harry Potter films, I became very interested in the mission to give all children loving homes. I visited an orphanage and when I met the children, I saw there was no animation, no life or energy behind their eyes. They were so neglected.”

Since 2005, Lumos has helped hundreds of thousands of children to be returned to their families or to be placed in a loving family environment including more recently in Moldova, Ukraine, Kenya and Colombia.

Listen to the Appeal and donate through the BBC (donations accepted via the BBC until midnight on Saturday 25^th May 2024):

LISTEN NOW

OR Donate directly to Lumos:

DONATE TO LUMOS 

Almost 200 influential guests gathered in New York to celebrate the work of J.K. Rowling’s international children’s charity Lumos, with entertainment from some of the nation’s top emerging talent, at the City Winery on 21^st September.

On the week of the annual UN General Assembly, where President Biden urged world leaders to stand firm in their support of Ukraine, the evening felt particularly poignant with reflections on Lumos’s efforts providing humanitarian aid and support for children and families in Ukraine. The event included a pre-recorded conversation between J.K. Rowling (Lumos Founder and Life President), Oksana Markarova (Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States of America) and Daria Herasymchuk (Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights and Child Rehabilitation), and on the urgent challenges and dangers facing children and families in conflict.

J.K. Rowling said during the conversation:

“Lumos has been dealing with the rapid evacuation of institutions in Ukraine, which has meant very vulnerable children becoming even more vulnerable in the chaos and carnage of war. Lumos has done a lot, and we’re happy about that, but there is clearly still so much more to do. The war is ongoing, and children are among the greatest sufferers.”

The event provided a call to action for people to donate to commit resources, and thanks to Honoree Sponsors, Warner Brothers Discovery and Scholastic, 100% of funds raised will go directly to support Lumos’s vital work.

For more information about the Lumos Illumination Dinner and Concert, click here.

On International Day of Families (15^th May), Lumos appeals for support to help more children find their place in loving families of their own.

Families come in all shapes and sizes; some families we are born with, and some we make for ourselves. Only a family can provide children with the support, respect, and love that is vital for their development.  Research shows that children who grow up in an institution, deprived of family care, often endure physical, psychological, emotional, and social harm – with effects that last throughout their lives.

Lumos is determined to change the circumstances of vulnerable children around the world and fight for every child’s right to grow up in a safe and loving family, providing the best environment for children to thrive in.

Lumos relies on supporters and donations from around the world to fund its work.  Thanks to the generous support of J.K. Rowling and others, these funds go directly to protecting children around the world.

To find out more about the work and how to help, visit Lumos.

A year on since the war in Ukraine began, Peter McDermott, CEO of J.K. Rowling’s international children’s charity Lumos, reflects on some of their achievements and challenges of the last 12 months, and considers how to adapt their work going forward to best serve the people of Ukraine, and to further their mission to fight for every child’s right to a family – even in the most difficult of circumstances.

Although Lumos is not a humanitarian agency in the strictest sense, as soon as the war began, the charity immediately pivoted to where the need was greatest. In the simplest terms, children and their families needed food, medical and hygiene items. And as many institutions were rapidly evacuated, families needed urgent support.

Thanks to the generous support of donors, and a hugely successful public fundraising appeal, in 2022 Lumos was able to deliver:

• Humanitarian aid to 13,400 of the most vulnerable children
• Educational kits to 7,000 children
• Educational equipment and materials to 28 Inclusive Resource Centres for children with special needs.
• 30 tonnes of fuel for the transportation of children with disabilities, foster families and internally displaced families.

Providing mental health support to children and their carers immediately became a top priority.  The charity delivered trauma training to practitioners across all regions of Ukraine. Through this training, 25,900 psycho-social support sessions have been delivered across the country to children and their carers.

Moving forward, Lumos will continue to protect the most vulnerable children, with a priority focus on children who are at risk of entering the residential childcare system, particularly those evacuated from residential institutions at the beginning of the war and now living with families (whether birth or foster); children with disabilities, and the many children who have been displaced.

This is an opportunity to reimagine a Ukraine where children are not trapped in orphanages, but where families and communities have the resources and services they need to take care of children where they belong – at home. 

Extracted from Ukraine: One Year On, Reflections by Peter McDermott, Lumos CEO.    

The blog can be read in full here.

 

For children in Ukraine, the future continues to be  uncertain, and the present is terrifying. The war has meant that children have been forced to grow up too quickly and be exposed to experiences no child should have to suffer. Many won’t be returning to school this year. Almost two out of three children have been displaced by the war. Schools have been bombed, classmates are now scattered across Ukraine and abroad, and many children face daunting language barriers to learning as they find themselves in new countries and try to adapt to a new way of life. For all Ukrainian children, life as they knew it has changed.

Lumos, the children’s charity J.K. Rowling founded fifteen years ago, is launching a new fundraising appeal to help the children and families of Ukraine, six months on from the start of the war. With the help of generous supporters, Lumos is working to reach as many families as possible and to provide them with the emergency support they need, including:

• Food, medicine and hygiene items such as soap and toothpaste
• Educational resources to support children with their learning
• Psychological support for children, parents and other caregivers.

Above all, Lumos is helping families to stay together, even as their lives are turned upside down.

Lumos has been working in Ukraine since 2013 to help transform the care system. Before the war, around 100,000 children lived in the country’s orphanages and other institutions – despite the fact that over 80% of them have parents who want to care for them.[1]

This is a statistic that often shocks people. But the leading causes of family separation are conflict and poverty, and this war risks unravelling the work that Lumos and others have done to ensure that children can grow up where they belong – at home, with their families. Thousands of families are being cast into poverty, and every day unaccompanied children arrive at Ukraine’s borders seeking safety. Other children, including those with disabilities, remain trapped in the country’s orphanages, facing severe neglect because there are not enough people or resources to care for them. All these children are extremely vulnerable, and in desperate need of support.

Most families who’ve fled Ukraine or relocated within the country have been able to bring only a few belongings with them. Many hope that their stay will be short, that they will soon be able to return home. Few are prepared for the grim reality of the harsh winter that looms ahead.

We must not forget the children of Ukraine, who are facing the most horrendous of circumstances. They need our help more than ever.

If you are able to donate to Lumos’ Emergency Ukraine appeal, you can find out more here.

 

[1] https://www.wearelumos.org/resources/building-rights-based-child-protection-system-ukraine-free-institutions/

Last night, in New York City, J.K. Rowling was honoured with a Ripple of Hope Award from Robert F Kennedy Human Rights. The distinguished award celebrates leaders in their field who demonstrate commitment to social change and reflect Robert Kennedy’s passion for equality, justice, basic human rights, and his belief that each of us can make a difference.  

She was one of four honorees this year, who also included Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi. Previous recipients of the Ripple of Hope Award include Barack Obama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bono, Hillary Rodham Clinton, George Clooney, and Harry Belafonte.

In her acceptance speech J.K. Rowling said: “Robert Kennedy embodied everything I most admire in a human being. He was morally and physically courageous – and I believe, as Churchill did, that courage is foremost among virtues, because it secures all the others.”

She went on to say, “He was a man of both empathy and action. He helped bring about real change and he continues to inspire people way beyond the country of his birth. I’m not sure we can ask much more of any politician, or indeed, human being.” 

“I count this one of the highest honours I’ve ever been given,” said Rowling on receiving the award from Robert’s daughter Kerry Kennedy.  J.K. Rowling chose the first name of her crime writing nom-de-plume, Robert Galbraith, in honour of her hero.

J.K. Rowling giving her acceptance remarks, and further information about the Ripple of Hope Awards can be found here: https://rfkhumanrights.org/awards/ripple-of-hope-award

J.K. Rowling today helped launch #HelpingNotHelping – a new campaign led by her children’s charity, Lumos, to challenge attitudes towards orphanage tourism and volunteering.

Speaking in London at One Young World, the global forum for young leaders, J.K. Rowling, as Founder and President of Lumos, delivered a powerful call to action to end orphanage tourism and volunteering, which can drive family separation and child trafficking – highlighting that orphanages are a harmful and outdated system of ‘care’ for children:

“Despite the best of intentions, the sad truth is that visiting and volunteering in orphanages drives an industry that separates children from their families and puts them at risk of neglect and abuse. We want this campaign to highlight the extent of the harm that orphanages cause and to put an end to orphanage tourism and volunteering for good.

My message to young people today is yes volunteer – but plan carefully and thoughtfully. Your time and energy are precious: use them wisely and they will help change the world.  Do not volunteer in orphanages. Instead, look at what drives children into institutions and dedicate your time to projects that tackle poverty or support communities with vital services.”

J.K. Rowling was joined on stage by Alex Christopoulos (Dep CEO Lumos), Ade Adepitan as well as two One Young World Ambassadors and self-advocates Ruth Wackuka Waithera from Kenya and Eluxon Tassy, from Haiti. As care leavers, Ruth and Eluxon shared their experiences of growing up in orphanages and called for change in the way vulnerable children are cared for around the world.

Today J.K. Rowling’s children’s charity Lumos has launched a new sweepstake which will give Harry Potter fans a chance to experience the Wizarding World like never before and at the same time help support Lumos.   

One winner and three friends will embark on the Harry Potter Trip of a Lifetime, travelling to four cities around the world for the most exclusive and magical Harry Potter experiences including tickets to the opening night of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in San Francisco, visits to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – the Making of Harry Potter, and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood. The winners will also have the chance to meet Harry Potter film stars Bonnie Wright in Los Angeles and Warwick Davis in London.

Bonnie Wright, a Lumos ambassador, said: “This really will be a once in a lifetime trip for one lucky Harry Potter fan, and the best part is that all donations will support Lumos do their fantastic work to help children around the world to find a family. I can’t wait to meet the lucky winner when they come to LA – so get entering today, and it could be you.”

The sweepstake runs from 3 October – 12 November 2019 and is open to UK and US residents only. Find out how to enter: http://bit.ly/2p2mJ4F

J.K. Rowling has donated £15.3m (inclusive of Gift Aid) to the University of Edinburgh, to help create new facilities and support vital research at the University’s Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic. This donation will help improve outcomes for generations of people with multiple sclerosis.

The Anne Rowling Clinic was founded with her previous donation in 2010, and is named in memory of her mother who died of MS, aged 45.   It has established itself as an integrated care and research facility focusing on MS and neurological conditions.

J.K. Rowling said: “When the Anne Rowling Clinic was first founded, none of us could have predicted the incredible progress that would be made in the field of Regenerative Neurology, with the Clinic leading the charge.

“I am delighted to now support the Clinic into a new phase of discovery and achievement, as it realises its ambition to create a legacy of better outcomes for generations of people with MS and non-MS neurodegenerative diseases.”

Professor Siddharthan Chandran, Clinic Director, said: “This incredibly far-sighted and generous donation will unlock the potential of personalised medicine for people with MS in Scotland and further afield.”

Find out more about the Anne Rowling Clinic here.

J.K. Rowling will join Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, environmental activist Wendy Abrams, and Livongo Health Executive Chairman Glen Tullman as honorees at the 51^st annual RFK Human Rights Ripple of Hope ceremony held in New York on 12^th December 2019.  The Ripple of Hope laureates were selected for their lifelong commitment to human rights and their exceptional work toward a more just and peaceful world. 

Robert F Kennedy Human Rights President Kerry Kennedy said: ‘My father believed that each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot other others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.  We are proud to honor these extraordinary laureates who have sent forth countless ripples of hope to millions of people inspired by their example.’

The Ripple of Hope Awards recognise leaders from government, business, advocacy and entertainment who are dedicated to advancing positive social change.  Past laureates include Barack Obama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bono, Hillary Rodham Clinton, George Clooney, Harry Belafonte, Tim Cook, Tony Bennett and Robert de Niro.

On 12^th December, J.K. Rowling was made a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, for her services to literature and philanthropy. She accepted the esteemed award from the Duke of Cambridge during an investiture at Buckingham Palace.

The century-old Order was founded by King George V in June 1917 as a reward for outstanding achievements in the arts, literature, music, science, politics, industry or religion. It is a special award held by no more than 65 people at any given time, and one which recognises services of national significance. J.K. Rowling was made a Companion of Honour this year along with Sir Paul McCartney, Delia Smith, Sir Terence Conran and others.

Of the honour, she said “to be included in the distinguished and diversely talented company of the other Companions of Honour, especially as a female writer, is a particular privilege.”

Earlier this week (10^th July), J.K. Rowling spoke in depth to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour about why she was compelled to set up her own non-profit organisation, Lumos, named after the spell in the Harry Potter books that brings light to the darkest of places.  Lumos helps some of the world’s most disadvantaged children with the goal to end the harmful institutionalisation of children.

During the interview, J.K. Rowling talked movingly about how there are estimated to be 8 million children living in orphanages or other institutions around the world and how shockingly 80% of them are not actually orphans. These children are voiceless and, hidden from the world, they are vulnerable to abuse and neglect:

“These children are so hungry and thirsty for any kind of one-on-one attention that they will run and cling to total strangers…It’s a window in to why the figures show us that these institutions are often centres of trafficking, and horrendous exploitation.  And when you have witnessed the attachment disorders of these children – which have been brought about entirely by being institutionalised – you realise just how vulnerable they are to unscrupulous people.”

The author went on to explain the overwhelming reason these children are placed in institutions is poverty.  She highlighted some of the ways in which Lumos helps to transform these systems of care, working with experts on the ground, to provide support in the community and social services so that children can return to their families:

“…so the family, themselves might need day care, so we will repurpose the institution for a day care centre.  But the child’s going home every night.  The institution is often a major local employer so many people, who are not bad people, have huge vested interest in keeping the institution going.  We can retrain these people to be district nurses, social workers and carers and foster carers and so forth. …So far Lumos has retrained 30,000 professionals across 34 countries.  And we’ve got 18,000 children out of institutions.  There are cases where a child can’t go home.  We estimate 20% are orphans.  We would firstly look in the extended family – can we support the grandmother or the aunt to take the child?”

Lumos is committed to making family care for all children a global reality by 2050.

In addition, J.K. Rowling called on well-meaning donors and volunteers, who are inadvertently propping up the system of orphanages around the world, to donate and volunteer differently following a recent report by Lumos on the situation in Haiti published in The Guardian.

“One of the things that Lumos has taught me is be very, very careful how you give.  Because even if you are giving with the best of intentions, you may inadvertently be doing harm.  Very, very well-meaning donors, who are inadvertently propping up a system that we know, with nearly 80 years of hard research shows that even a well-run institution, even an institution set up with the best possible intentions, will irrevocably harm the child.”

To learn more about Lumos visit www.wearelumos.org

 

J.K. Rowling’s international non-profit organisation Lumos has had an incredible year, supporting work to transform children’s lives in 21 countries, on four continents; reuniting children with families; saving lives through urgent medical care; protecting children who have been abused or trafficked and helping governments transform their systems of care.

Lumos is not an emergency response organisation, but in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, Lumos did what it could to help.  Partnering with local government and NGOs in Haiti, Lumos has reached children in orphanages and vulnerable families affected by the hurricane, providing emergency food, clean water, medical care and protection for more than 1,500 children.

In the desperate struggle for survival, one 14-year-old boy was shot and seriously injured at a food distribution point.  Lumos’ partners helped get him vital medical care and set about finding his family.  He is now in a stable condition and reunited with his mother.

Lumos also had to work quickly to protect vulnerable children.  In the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster, the risk of child trafficking increases dramatically, because so many children have been separated from their families. Children in orphanages and hospitals are at increased risk of being taken by organised criminals.

Lumos and partners are documenting every child in 50 of the orphanages most affected by the hurricane to ensure they have the basic care they need and to reduce the risk of the children disappearing.

This would not be possible without the funds raised by the thousands of people who supported the WeAreLumos Worldwide campaign, which launched in September with a special gala performance of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and a Facebook Live interview with J.K. Rowling. The campaign concluded in November with thousands more supporting an online CrowdRise campaign and a benefit screening of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

https://wearelumos.org/news/jk-rowling-and-eddie-redmayne-captivate-audience-conversation-about-children%E2%80%99s-non-profit-lumos

To find out more:   https://wearelumos.org/post/message-jk-rowling

 

BBC 6 Music Host Lauren Laverne talks to author and Lumos founder J.K. Rowling to officially launch the campaign ‘We Are Lumos Worldwide’. The campaign shines a bright light on the lives of the eight million children living in orphanages worldwide  and the work Lumos is doing to help bring them back into family life. Lumos actually means light – and you can play your part by wearing the campaign T-shirt with this message contained in a lightbulb: “We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already.” (Who’d have thought you could fit so many words in a lightbulb?)

Lumos – www.wearelumos.org

On Tuesday 10th December, the Lumos Maxima charm bracelet sold at Sotheby’s London for £20,000 in aid of J.K. Rowling’s children’s charity Lumos.

Based on designs by J.K. Rowling, inspired by her Harry Potter books and handcrafted by Edinburgh jeweller Hamilton & Inches, the charms were cast in sterling silver before being finished by hand with gold highlights and precious stones, eleven in total, with a twelfth, the wand acting as a fastener.

The buyer, Scottish businessman, Alan Fergusson said;

“J.K. Rowling said before the auction that she was certain the sister bracelet would go to a very nice woman, and she can be confident the bracelet will be treasured by Yvonne and my family for generations.

“My wife absolutely adores the Harry Potter series and she now can’t wait until Christmas day to open her present.

“As someone who supports a number of charitable causes, it has also been very pleasing to back a charity which creates opportunity for so many disadvantaged young people across the world.”

Lumos – www.wearelumos.org

On Tuesday 8^th October 2013 J.K. Rowling attended the official opening of the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic, at the University of Edinburgh.  The Clinic was formally opened by the University’s Chancellor, HRH The Princess Royal.  Patients with multiple sclerosis and other neurological diseases are already benefitting from the research clinic, which has been operational since earlier this year.  The Clinic was founded following a substantial donation by J.K. Rowling, and is named in honour of her mother, Anne Rowling, who died of multiple sclerosis aged 45.

J.K. Rowling said in a statement:

“I am moved and elated to see the Anne Rowling Clinic formally opened today by HRH The Princess Royal. Having observed the plans for the Clinic develop and expand to fulfil the needs of patients, clinicians and researchers, I am now very proud to see the building finished and operating as the beating heart of this centre for excellence. Thank you to everyone who has been involved in its creation and operation.”

To find our more about the clinic, visit the website.

Image © The Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic

In 2010, J.K. Rowling donated £10 million towards the foundation of a new clinic at the University of Edinburgh.

The Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic will support patients with multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases, as well as conducting major research into neuroregeneration. The facility is named after Jo’s mother, who died of multiple sclerosis aged 45, and will open officially in 2013.

In 2005 J.K. Rowling co-founded the Children’s High Level Group (CHLG) with Baroness Emma Nicholson MEP, inspired by a press report she read about children in caged beds in institutions in the Czech Republic. In 2010 the charity became Lumos, and changed its remit slightly. Lumos works to end the systematic institutionalisation of children across Europe, and to see them placed into safe, caring environments.

Lumos works on projects in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Moldova and Montenegro and, over the coming months and years, hopes to expand its work to even more countries. The Lumos vision is a world where all children are raised in a safe and caring environment; where none are placed in large, uncaring institutions.

Lumos – www.wearelumos.org