Even If It Hurts, Don't Turn Away

This wont be easy to read, and you will probably leave this blog with a hurting heart.  But I would just like you to remember that this is the everyday reality for these kids, they don't have the option to turn their eyes away, they can't pretend like it's not happening, because they live it.  So please, even when it hurts, don't turn away.

The life of orphans in other countries is far from what you may think.  Most days are spent in their crib, with no interaction, no toys, these kids are lucky if they get their diapers changed even twice a day.  With nothing to their name, they live on borrowed time, waiting for something, or someone to come along and change their everyday routine.   If the child is lucky they will get a care taker who sees something special about them, and pays a little more attention to them than the other kids.  But most days are spent alone, in a crib, chewing their hands, or hitting their head trying to feel something, anything.

Please, don't stop reading, don't turn away.  Remember, this is their life that they cannot escape from.

Feedings are scary to think about, I've heard stories, and watched documentaries of feedings.  The older kids have gruel shoveled into their mouths, so fast they don't have time to swallow.  I wonder how many older kids dread feeding time for fear of choking? But yet they know that might be the last time they are aloud to eat for who knows how long.  Babies, and children who don't have the ability to sit up are laid on their back in a crib, with the bottle propped up, as this think substance pours into their mouth faster than they can swallow.  Not having time to breathe, causing them to aspirate this think gruel into their lungs, but since they cannot sit, they cannot cough it up, and often times get so sick from this.

Please, don't stop reading, don't turn away.  Remember, this is their life that they cannot escape from.

At the age of 4 their time runs out, and they are made to leave what's been their "home" for the past years, they are sent away to an adult mental institution, where their heads are shaved, unneeded medicine is given to keep them quite, and they are tied to a crib for hours on end.  Statistics say that most children who are sent away to an institution wont last their first year, and I believe it.   In most cases it's extremely hard to adopt children once they have been transferred, because their institution directors don't see their value, and don't see the point in letting families rescue them.

When a child is born with a special need in other countries, they are deemed worthless, and parents are told that their child will never contribute anything to society.  Or in some cases the families aren't able to provide the proper care for their child, and doctors *convince* them that the orphanages will be able too.  I hurt for those parents, the ones who are trying to do what's best for their child, and have no clue what the orphanages are really like.

So, this my friends, is why Kaitlyn and I fight for these kids.  This is their reality, their fate, and without advocates, and willing families, these kids will die in the hands of people who could careless about them.  Without you, and me, these kids will pass away without ever knowing what it's like to feel love, or to have mommy snuggles, and a daddy to wrestle with, they will know nothing other than the lies that have been fed to them over the years.  They will believe the lies that they are worthless, unwanted, a burden, and have no purpose.  You, and I know that those things aren't true, and we know that they have potential, and are wanted.  Will you fight with us?  Will you join us, and help end this horrible injustice?  In the words of Eric Ludy  "We will rescue these little ones"