A peek into their reality

We have 5 days left for our giftaway! We WILL still be continuing to sell Jacob's artwork and if we get the funds needed we will use whatever money we would be receiving towards another family who is in the process of adopting. Truly we do hope to help other families struggling such as ours in fundraising.

Our wonderful pediatrician signed a letter requesting our petition be expedited. This is great news however it is only half the battle. We still have to hope that the USCIS is convinced that our petition should be expedited. Please pray that they do!

I was reading another blog of a family that adopted two little girls from the same orphanage that Joshua is in. They are the Reynold's family and I really love reading about their experiences in the same region my little guy is in. I guess it makes me feel somewhat connected to how he is and his surroundings. I thought I would give you a glimpse of this part of the world. Sort of a peek into their reality.Here are their words:


Since our bladders had been given the treatment on the ride over, our translator asked for a restroom (she needed to go also).  We were pointed to the hospital a block away.  We trooped over to the hospital and found the restrooms.

It was unbelievable.  The restrooms:  1) had no toilet paper   2) had no toilet seats    3) were some of the filthiest things we had ever seen (gas station restrooms included)  4) had NO sinks for handwashing 5) didn't flush.   To flush the toilets, you had to go scoop a pitcher of water out of a bathtub and pour it into the toilets.  Yes, you heard me right.  The hospital had no facilities for handwashing in the restroom.  Kelly and Violetta saw several nurses use the restroom and leave - but without handwashing because there were no sinks.  The hospital was very dimly lit and was overall a fairly dirty place.  One woman we passed on the staircase had her dog (unleashed) following behind her.  Every clinic, every health center, every hospital, even every veternarian's office I have ever seen in America is far cleaner.   Both Kelly and I thought to ourselves "Is this why 'Marlena' died during heart surgery?"   As far as we know, it wasn't at this hospital - but to see that this level of poor sanitation could exist in one hospital opens the door in our minds that other hospitals could also be thus.  If this is how the normal people are treated - how much worse do is it for people with disabilities.
AND
 On our death-defying trip back to the city, we saw something hunched over in the road.  We couldn't recognize it.  When we got closer - we couldn't believe it.

An old babushka woman was standing in the middle of the road with a hammer and a long chisel.  She was chipping a hole in the middle of the road.

To reiterate:  on a road that already looked like the Air Force used it for target practice, an elderly woman is standing in the road with a chisel and a hammer making ..... ANOTHER HOLE.
AND
The people over here do not have "Do not litter" as part of their social understanding.  Yes, there are trash cans in the downtown area.  Yes, people use them.  However - people think nothing of just throwing trash out of their cars.  They think nothing about just dropping litter on the ground.  Even in the nicer parts of this city there is an impressive amount of garbage on the ground.  While traveling by train, there are large piles of garbage occasionally and almost a continual string of small litter (cans, cigarette butts, paper, etc).  The trains actually have a sign on some of the windows that is a bottle going out the window.  There is no slash mark on the picture - you are actually encouraged to throw the bottles out the window because it saves space in the (singular) waste can on the train carriage.  The toilets on the train also dump human waste straight onto the track.  The air pollution is impressive also.  Factories pour heavy smoke into the air.  There are no emissions controls on the automobiles either.  The air quality is lousy and our nasal mucous is very dark.

All the restaurants allow smoking.  In the restaurants there are "no smoking sections".  These are often populated by smokers.  In any case, a smoking section in a restaurant is like having a peeing section in a pool.  Every time we go to a restaurant we spend the next day congested due to the large amounts of smoke.

Hopefully it gives you a glimpse into this far away country. Why I worry that Joshua may get sick and be taken to that very hospital. Maybe it explains how some of these children have died. Truly these children do not have a chance unless they find families to take them away.