Moira Kelly

Moira Therese Kelly (born 31 January 1964) is an Australian Catholic humanitarian worker. In 2001, she was awarded the Order of Australia in recognition of her humanitarian service to both the Australian and international communities. In 2012, Kelly received the Victorian of the Year award and in 2003 and 2004, she was nominated for the Australian of the Year awards.

Biography Born in Melbourne on 31 January 1964, In 1982, remained in India with Mother Teresa for six months until her visa expired. In 1994, while in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kelly started Nobody's Children, a volunteer program at a refugee camp. the property includes a purpose-built house with 12 bedrooms where children having surgery and medical treatment can rehabilitate before returning home to their families. The Children First Foundation has brought children to Australia for medical treatment from countries including Albania, Djibouti, East Timor, Indonesia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, Nigeria, Zambia and the Solomon Islands.

Awards and recognition In 2001, Kelly's humanitarian work was recognised with several awards, including the Prime Minister's Award for outstanding community service, the White Flame Award from Save the Children for her service to disadvantaged children, and she was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in recognition of her service to both the Australian and international communities. and in 2003 and 2004, she was nominated for the Australian of the Year awards.

A Compassionate Rage is a 2001 documentary film by Film Australia and Alan Lindsay following Kelly for 18 months on her missions overseas as she tries to organise medical treatment for sick and injured children.

In 2013, Kelly founded Global Gardens of Peace, a newly humanitarian organisation based in Melbourne to provide safe play and garden areas in post-war and third-world countries. Alongside a team of dedicated volunteers, the inaugural garden is to be established in Gaza City in Palestine. She was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2014.

During a 2017 concert of Coldplay, the band performed the song Imagine with Emmanuel Kelly in recognition of Moira Kelly's work.

Twins Herself a twin, Kelly is now the legal guardian of the originally cranially conjoined twins from Bangladesh, Trishna and Krishna, separated in 2009 in a 38-hour operation at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital by a 16-member team of specialist medical and nursing staff led by Wirginia Maixner, director of neurosurgery at the hospital. Their birth mother, a twenty-two-year-old student completing final exams at the Keshobpur Agricultural College in Jessore, gave the twins up for adoption in a Dhaka orphanage.

Kelly is also the adoptive mother of Iraqi-born brothers Emmanuel and Ahmed Kelly. The brothers, born with "severely underdeveloped limbs" due to chemical warfare, were discovered by Kelly in 1998 at the Mother Teresa Orphanage in Baghdad. Ahmed, a quadruple amputee and swimmer, represented Australia in the 50-metre breaststroke, 50-metre backstroke, 150-metre individual medley, and the 100-metre freestyle at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.

Emmanuel Kelly was a contestant on the 2011 season of The X Factor. He was cut from the competition on 11 September 2011, "after forgetting the lyrics several times during his performance." Following his appearance on The X-Factor, he met with producers and auditioned for The Glee Project.