Baby Mary

Finally I was able to hold her in my arms. Our first encounter had been a few days earlier, upon our arrival at Good Shepard’s Fold orphanage on Monday, the 6th.

As we turned into the dirt road, it marked the final 2.5 miles of our long journey, literally half way across the world. From afar we could see the chapel at GSF, as pointed out by the Carolina, the oldest daughter of one of the missionary couples here. Most of were in a mini-bus and the others in a van. Seated at the back of the bus, my peripheral was limited to the right side. As we neared the church, I strained out to take pictures and noticed a few school kids on the side, then more as we approached. Soon the bus came to halt and noticed everyone inside the bus has moved forward to the front. I made my way up there and there was a bigger crowd of school kids, dancing and singing to welcome us. Wow – what a reception. Everyone was mesmerized, the women moved to tears. I then went to the back of the bus to pry out my luggage that held my camera with video capability. It was wedged pretty tightly and gave up. As I spun around towards the front of the bus, there was Mary, a most stunningly adorable baby in the arms of Carolina. I asked who this beautiful baby was and Carolina said she was Mary, the youngest in the orphanage.

On Friday we had dinner at the director’s house and Mary was brought over by one of the employees. She was being cared for separately from the other orphans. She is scheduled for adoption by a couple from Greensboro,NC in a few weeks. She is just a charming, beautiful baby – everyone’s just in love with her. As the days passed, we learned more about her story. She was brought to the orphan at two weeks old, underweight at around 4 pounds. We saw some pictures of her from then and she was so tiny; one picture was of her wearing the clothes from one of Carolina’s dolls. Her mother died not long after birth and refused to feed the baby, as it was suspected she had AIDS.

Mary (to be renamed Zuri) is now beautiful, healthy baby. I look at her with delight and sadness at the same time. The kids at the orphanage are fortunate to be there and Mary is even more fortunate as she will be adopted soon. In the mean while, there are the numerous other children from the villages that are less fortunate. It is sad to see these beautiful kids as they face a tougher life ahead. It makes the heart ache.