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Rat-Children of Shah Daula

According to a centuries-old tradition, barren women who worship at the shrine of the Sufi saint Shah Daula, in Gujrat, Pakistan, will become fertile. But unless they donate their first-bor... [more]

Ratahi, Topsy Stewart

Ratahi was a tamaiti whangai of Arthur and Iwingaro Stewart in Gisborne, New Zealand. As a young woman she moved to Wellington, where she helped found the Maori Women's Welfare League, and ... [more]

Ratana, Raniera Te Ao Hou

Ratana was the son of Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana, the founder of the Ratana church of New Zealand, which draws its membership overwhelmingly from the Maori people. His father died in 1939 and... [more]

Ratana, Tahupotiki Wiremu

Ratana was born into a relatively prosperous rural Christian Maori family connected to the Ngati Apa and Ngati Rauru tribes. He was adopted by Ria Hamuera and brought up on family land at T... [more]

Reagan, Michael E.

Reagan is the adopted son of President Ronald Reagan and his first wife, the actress Jane Wyman (they were divorced in 1952). He is a politically conservative talk-show host and has also be... [more]

Reagan, Nancy Davis

Reagan was adopted aged six by her step-father, Loyal Davis, after her parents' divorce and mother's remarriage. She was a successful Hollywood actress from 1949 to 1956, but she gave up he... [more]

Rees, Ebenezer

Rees was orphaned as a boy and raised by maternal relatives in Cwmtwrch, South Wales. He had little formal education and became a coal miner when he was 18. He became prominent in trade uni... [more]

Restavecs

In Haiti a particular form of child slavery is practiced, where very young children are sold by their poverty-stricken parents directly to another family, to be used as domestic slaves. In ... [more]

Reynolds, George

Reynolds was born into poverty in Sunderland, England, went into an orphanage-workhouse when he was eight and came out at 16, illiterate and unskilled. He became a common criminal and was s... [more]

Richardson, Anna Ryder

Richardson was adopted as a baby and had a happy childhood. She has been a model and a fitness instructor, but in the early 1990s she began an design business (although she has had no forma... [more]