Twenty Years of Unraveling: The story behind the Washington Post investigation at a world famous charity

In 2016, Ted Neill published his award winning memoir, Two Years of Wonder, about his time living and working at an orphanage for children with HIV/AIDS in Nairobi, Kenya. In 2020 he reconnected with the same children, who were now young adults.

What he discovered was horrifying.

The young people who had grown up and left the orphanage reported physical, emotional, and sexual abuse that had taken place in the two decades since Neill had left in 2004.

Together, Neill and the survivors worked to document and expose the abuse and neglect that had shattered the lives so many children.

When members of Catholic religious orders and supporters of the orphanage sought to deny and cover up the allegations, Neill and the survivors turned to the Washington Post and, eventually, U.S. federal investigators to get their stories out to the world.

Twenty Years of Unraveling is a record of those efforts and the challenges survivors faced while they sought justice.


About the Author: In addition to his time living in Kenya, Ted Neill has worked for CARE and World Vision International in the fields of maternal child health, education, and child protection. He has written for The Washington Post and Recovery Today and published multiple novels.