Imagine this … 20 babies with 1 caretaker … and these are special needs babies. Feedings even became survival of the fittest, bottles would be propped up in cribs and little babies had to do the best they could to feed themselves. This was happening just over three years ago, but today, every baby that needs to be is held and fed. These babies aren’t developing like they should, basic motor skills and development doesn’t happen at the rate it should because babies lay in their crib or a bouncy seat most of the day, or on the floor or wherever else there is space. There are not enough caretakers, even today, to meet all the needs these babies have for physical touch and just play time. Currently there are 3 caretakers at one time attending to the needs of 24 special needs babies (some of these babies are only premature, but the rest have anything from Down’s Syndrome to Autism to Cleft Lip to Spina Bifida to Cerebral Palsy to Brain Injury to anything in between). There aren’t even enough cribs for every baby, several of the smaller babies share a crib. This isn’t a home. It smells like chemical and hospital. The walls are bright, although mostly white, and the play area seems inviting enough, but that one corner of the baby room is such a stark contrast from the rest of the room. The rest is row after row of metal frame cribs. And where are the babies? Not in the inviting corner… Most of these babies don’t even know emotions … no joy, no sadness … just emptiness. All of these babies were abandoned. No one was there to “ooo� and “ahh� over how cute they are or to give them love and kisses. They were left with no one, some were even left to die, and now they may live their whole life in this institution, that’s not fair. Once these babies reach the age of 14, they can no longer be adopted and their future doesn’t look so bright. God is supposed to be a father to the fatherless, I know He is. I have to believe that, because thinking that these babies aren’t loved isn’t an option. These next few weeks are going to be emotionally draining. Thinking about this just makes me want to scream and cry at the injustice of it all, but I have to hold it together. For me, this is merely a glimpse into the lives of the orphaned, but for the orphans, this is their life unless by some miracle they are adopted. For that I will continually pray. Please join me in praying for the disabled children in China who are in need of a home. No one should have to grow up in a government institution (in China or anywhere). Please pray.
Written after our first visit to the center we would be working at for the month:
We went to the center today. It felt so cold and institutional; that’s not a home. There are five main groups at the center: babies, toddlers/preschoolers, older girls, older boys, and adults. The organization we are working with is a partner at an already existing center that houses disabled children and adults. The organization we are working with is a registered Christian organization in China that joined with this center in 2009 to improve the care provided to the children at the center, by increasing and training staff to meet more than just the basic physical needs of the children.
