A Bitter Sweet Day

Today we went to visit Nicole's Foster Mother. It was the strangest experience I think that we have ever had. What we didn't realize when we asked to meet her is that it isn't encouraged by the orphanage and if the family insists, they charge an astronomical fee. Our translator arranged a secret meeting through an orphanage worker (for a small fee of course, but only about a third of what the orphanage fee would have been). We picked up the woman in a van about a block away from her home and drove to a remote spot nearby. She was clearly thrilled to see Nicole, who went right to her. She refused to even look at John or I or even Alex. We had researched some questions to ask so we weren't caught off guard and had written them down...even our guide looked surprised! Clearly they didn't know us!

We learned essentially what we already knew, that Nicole had been a very healthy baby with no concerns other than the cleft. We thanked her numerous times for taking such good care of Nicole, which was really the primary purpose for the visit. We were able to take some quick pictures of her (which I am not going to post as I suspect that she could lose her job if any authority found out). I felt so sad for her as she got out of the van and said goodbye to Nicole for the last time. I looked back as we were driving away, and she was watching the van go... I can only I imagine what was going through her head as this funny little girl who she had raised as her own for the last 18 months was being taken by strangers to the other side of the world.

The pics below show where Nicole was abandoned (on the front steps of the centre for the physically challenged) and of the orphanage, the others are of the city where Nicole lived up until Sunday. A very bitter sweet day indeed!!

















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