TORONTO — Every fashionista worth her salt has already got the Birkin bag and the purse-sized chihuahua. And now, thanks to EBay, she can afford to adopt her very own "African orphan'' just like Madonna and Angelina Jolie.

The online auction house has 15 "African orphans'' up for sale -- and as of midday Thursday, they were selling for as little as US$20 each. Human rights organizations, however, can rest easy -- the orphans being peddled on EBay are actually ragdolls made of brown yarn, and come complete with red Kabbalah bracelets on their wrists.

"Anybody who's anybody is adopting an African orphan these days, even if they have parents,'' reads the promotional blurb for the dolls. "It's the hottest trend there is. Yes, in Hollywood, African orphans are the new Louis Vuitton!''

One orphan up for sale is Gbemisola.

"Gbemisola is a girl,'' reads her description. "She's about seven inches tall, made of felt and cotton and stuffed with soft polyfill. She has hand-sewn button eyes, removable clothing and black fleece hair. And she can't believe Danielle Steele came out with a fragrance.''

The seller is April Winchell (www.aprilwinchell.com), an L.A. comic and talk-radio personality who says her goal is to "mock celebrities and the fact that African orphans have almost become trendy.''

Madonna is Winchell's biggest target. The pop icon remains in hot water for her controversial adoption last month of a baby boy from Malawi. Human rights organizations have accused her of using her wealth and influence to bend rules in order to adopt the boy, a charge she has vehemently denied.

A friend gave Winchell a sewing machine a few months ago and she started making celebrity dolls, including an Ashley Olsen model complete with a miniature Starbucks cup and oversized sunglasses. She put the dolls up for sale on EBay to benefit a local AIDS charity.

"I got a lot of requests to make more, and since the holidays were coming I wanted to benefit a children's charity this time,'' she says in a telephone interview. "That's about when Madonna went to the Malawi gift shop and picked up David Banda.

"I decided it would be the perfect subject for my limited skills. Plus, I thought it would be fitting to have these auctions benefit needy American children who are also very deserving.''

Each of the remaining 15 "orphans'' up for sale Thursday has a different identity _ but none of them are particularly fond of one of the season's most talked-about television shows, Winchell says.

"If you read them all, you'll see that some have favourite authors and foods, though none of them really like `Studio 60.' ''

Since Madonna's controversial adoption, some have suggested celebrities are treating African orphans as the latest fashion accessory. Ben Mulroney, Canada's UNICEF ambassador, raised the issue last month on the eve of his visit to Malawi.

"From the public point of view, there's almost a perversion of the family when people reading this in a magazine and seeing it on TV equate adopting a baby in Africa with owning a chihuahua or a trucker hat or a Birkin bag,'' he said.

The EBay listing features digitally edited pictures of Madonna and Jolie carrying the googly-eyed ragdolls.

"After all, these orphans don't need to be fed or clothed, so you can fire the nanny!'' reads the promotional material. "You can even leave them in the car with the windows rolled up while you do Pilates!''

Not everyone has found Winchell's dolls so funny. While she says feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, some have called her racist.

"Another simply told me I was going to hell, which is something I already knew,'' she said.