Future Travel Journal - Day 7

Well, here we are at day 7 and we are all adjusting to each other. Elaine finally showed some more emotion last night and today. I was concerned because she has been so quiet. Well, she has decided she doesn’t like Mike today. He was sitting on the bed and picked her up and she pushed away from him, pushed his hands away, threw herself on the bed and started screaming! GREAT!! We are sorry that it is directed at Mike but at least there is emotion. She has screamed at us a couple of times today when she didn’t get her way. It is great to know that she is a typical two year old! J

We went to an orphanage today. We were supposed to visit two, but one cancelled. We were not allowed to take any pictures but we did get a quick clip of the outside on video. It was exactly as I imagined. I felt physically ill while there; partly because of the smell, but mostly because of how extremely sad it all was. The babies and toddlers where lined up in cribs. The cribs were tied together. There were no mattresses in the cribs, just a piece of cardboard and a straw mat. Kids were rolling and jumping and staring. They had no toys or stimulation. The older kids’ room still had cribs even for the five and six year olds. They had some toys and a TV/DVD. They let the older children out to meet us and they walked around us and touched us. There was a blind little boy they brought over to our family. They pointed at Lani and held up one finger and pointed to the little boy and held up two fingers. Mike rubbed his leg and foot and I rubbed his arms and he started smiling. By the time we left, we were “pinching” his little fingers and he would laugh. I didn’t think Mike and I were going to make it out of there without breaking down! There were some severally handicapped children and Meri held very tightly to my leg! The girls were a little overwhelmed and we went on out so they didn’t get too upset. We hugged them and talked to them and they were very sad. You can’t see this place and not be moved. One of the families’ sons is from this orphanage and they got to go into his old room and meet his Nannies. They took the mom into the office and talked with her and when she came out she was crying. She said that they told her that her son was very helpful and happy and they all miss him. When we went back downstairs to leave, they had set out bowls of fruit for us. Oh, here they hardly have money to buy food for the children and they were giving us food! None of us wanted to eat anything and by then we were starting to cry but the director came over and handed each one of us a banana or orange or persimmon and wanted us to eat. Talk about guilt!

Little Lani is sitting with me in the lobby while I am typing this and she is playing and making “clicking” sounds. This is the most I have seen her move or most I have heard from her yet! Today on the bus ride, she got a big straw and I little straw ( they give straws with all canned drinks) and put the little one inside the big one. This is literally the first time we saw her fine motor skills!!!!! She did this over and over. I was so worried about her poking her good eye with the straw that I almost missed the wonder in this play! Try shutting one eye and putting a straw inside another one! This little girl is smart! She twirled them, twisted them and chewed on them! You don’t know what a blessing it is to see her play with things and interact! I told several families last night how concerned I was and when they saw her today, they were just as thrilled as we were! We are all getting very close, esp. the family that adopted the little boy that was Lani’s room mate.

I don’t want to bore you with more details. There is just so much joy in watching her adapt and except us.

I have included a picture of my first time to wash her hair. She doesn’t like baths so we improvise!

I also have a picture of our guides, Amy and Linekar. They are amazing and they make this trip so pleasant. They are there for all the families, 24/7. They help us with phone calls, laundry, places to eat, and just any thing we need.

 

Happily, the Goff Gang