Pakistani Game Show Gives Away Totally Fabulous Prizes – Abandoned Babies!

I wanna win a baby! I wanna win a baby! A television show that airs during prime-time in Pakistan called Aman Ramazan that has been compared to The Price Is Right gives contestants many fabulous prizes, such as motorbikes, laptops, microwaves, washing machines.. and babies! According to CNN:

The baby girls given away on the show were found by an NGO, the Chhipa Welfare Association, which says it receives up to 15 abandoned babies a month.

“Our team finds babies abandoned on the street, in garbage bins — some of them dead, others mauled by animals. So why not ensure the baby is kept alive and gets a good home?” said Ramzan Chhipa, who runs the organization.

“We didn’t just give the baby away. We have our own vetting procedure. This couple was already registered with us and had four or five sessions with us.”

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There is no official adoption law in Pakistan so the couple will have to apply for guardianship at a family court. I’ve often said that I would happily take any baby that someone abandons somewhere, and this is true, all though I find the idea of giving away babies on game shows like they are toaster ovens amazingly bizarre. It’s good that they interview the couple beforehand and maybe it just so happens that the couple is desperate for a baby but it’s just so weird. The host of the show also had this to say:

“These are the disenfranchised babies that grow up to be street kids and used for suicide bombing attacks. We have tried to show an alternative,” he said.

“Telling people to take these kids off the rubbish on the streets, raise them and make them a responsible citizen, not to destroy society through terrorism,” he said.

I am all for giving abandoned babies loving homes and keeping them safe, but the idea of having them given away on tv shows is just a bit too strange for me. I would think there has to be another, less public way of doing this. But I would still happily take one.

(Image: CNN)