We're the first group of American families to adopt from this orphanage. Nadia (the woman that runs the orphanage) has had a lot of children adopted to French families, but she was just recently approved to do American adoptions.
Apparently, the French families don't bring donations to the orphanage when they come. They just come get their children.
She was completely floored with all the donations we sent. There was over 650 lbs total in clothes, diapers, formula, books, crayons, etc. She could not believe that we would do that for her.
The women from our agency (Wasatch International Adoptions) had taken their teenage daughters down to help with some of the things that needed to be done. The first thing the girls did was dress all the little boys in boy clothes. You can't be picky about the 'sex of clothing' when you don't have much to choose from. They also pinned outfits together so they'd know which items were a set. :)
We also had a good amount of cash to give her - donated by you all. Wasatch's coordinators gave it to her on our last day and just told her it was from people and companies that wanted to show their support for what she was doing. When she opened the envelope and saw how much was there, she started to scream, "Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus!"
You all are the reason that we were able to do anything. All your support and contributions have made a permanent impact on those children. All those items make one less thing that Nadia has to worry about and one more opportunity for her to spend resources on other needed items.
There's still so much they need. We need to try to figure out a way to get a generator for her. The orphanage doesn't have power all the time and they're in a blackout every other night (literally). Can you imagine 45 kids and no power?? We also need a laptop to assist with getting pictures and paperwork on their end for adoptions.
The agency is going back down in April (they try to go down about every 3 months) so we'll continue gathering items to send down with them at that time.
Thank you again for loving our kids!
2 comments:
So glad that you are back safe and sound. You are sound in body I hope? No eye ickiness right? Safe in mind and soul, probably not so much, as I am sure it was extremely hard to leave those cute little tots. Thank you for sharing the pictures. They are adorable, and you all look like such a beautiful, happy family.
Oh wow! You've been there and now you're home. What great experiences to read about. If you ever feel like sharing it, what did it feel like when you first saw them and held them? Was it what you envisioned? How did they react? I wish I could have been there to see all the children.
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