Day 11

Day 11

We visited Bubbi in the village yesterday. The kids had a blast. The night before going all the girls got so excited about picking their outfit and accessories to wear. It was like being a kid again, watching them all play dress up and asking the older ones if that outfit worked or if they should switch necklaces etc. Miraculously we all were dressed and out the door by 10AM, not bad considering. Loading up the bus with the strollers for the kids, the umbrellas, the bottles of water, the snacks, oh yeah, the kids too… it was quite the process, but I will say I was uber impressed with how smooth this whole process went. Everybody just had their own job and we went.

Upon arriving, we had arranged for a wagon rickshaw to take me back to the mud huts because the path is very very narrow and rough terrain and parts of it the path has disintegrated almost completely with the weather. So I climbed on and had Michelle sit next to me to hold me on, because we all know how good my sitting balance is.

We visited with Bubbi and watched the storm. I had Sonali laughing so hard after we ate lunch, it was a full blown belly laugh. Gosh I love that kid. Once we got back to Shishur Sevay we were all pretty dirty and tired so we showered, had some fresh samosas and got ready for bed.

Today, I woke up late and observed some of the kids classes. I am continually impressed by the quality of care and compassion I see from the staff, teachers, massis and the sisters among each other. Michelle and I had a great discussion this morning about Sonali and both of our impressions on what she gets versus doesn’t get and different teaching methods to try with her. My take on it is, the kid doesn’t get enough credit for what she can do. Sure, it will take her a lot longer to make a connection than some of the others, but I am convinced she is able to. I am convinced that she recognizes people’s faces – after touching them or smelling your hand or looking right up at you.

Probably the biggest challenge that I see with her is getting the staff and teachers to understand the importance of patience. She is the type who will pick it up eventually, but it will take a very very long time and there may not be a clear indication that she is on the same page as you. It is very easy for a teacher to get discouraged or to keep trying different things, when what she really needs is that consistency to begin to piece it all together for herself at her own pace. The concept of play therapy is also new to a lot of the teachers I’ve seen coming in the door here. They claim to understand it, but yet they want the kids to sit and follow directions as if in grade school. For these kids, that won’t happen for quite some time. But, they do genuinely care, and that makes me happy.

The rest of the day was spent talking with Michelle, playing with Ganga – I showed her pictures and videos from Beijing, she was pretty psyched about that.
My brain is constantly thinking and going a mile a minute in a million directions. It’s very hard to capture even some of these thoughts, let alone make sense of them. The brain dump is as follows…
What happens to these kids in the future? What happens to those who have not been rescued/saved? What about those who don’t have an advocate? What damage is irrepairable by love for adoptees? Is international adoption really a good thing? How do you teach others positive interaction and ways to foster language development when there are tremendous language and literacy barriers? How do you decide which battles are worth fighting? Lots of questions. Okay, time for bed!