For the last few weeks I have been reading a book that has been hard to read. This book forces me to face the harsh realities of a Chinese orphanage. It tells, what is likely, the story of many orphaned children. It is a story that is dark, bleak and void of HOPE. Silent Tears by Kay Bratt is taking me on a journey that is uncomfortable. I don't enjoy thinking about the first seven years of my daughters life. Those years hold a lot of question marks for us. I fear,as I read this book, it answers some of those questions; answers that no mother wants to hear.
In a Chinese orphanage, children with disabilities can encounter great rejection. Cleft babies especially have difficulties. Not only will a cleft baby not receive the same attention as the healthy babies, but the chance to receive proper nourishment is next to impossible. As bottles are transferred from crib to crib, a cleft baby receives the same amount of time to feed on the bottle as a healthy baby does. With a bottle propped in their mouth and the lack of ability to suck, they may not even receive a drop of milk. The reality is that many die due to the lack of nourishment.
What would save that cleft baby's life? A surgery? Yes...but even simpler, someone to hold them, squeeze the milk into their mouth, and patiently feed them enough. Or simply, specially made bottles to aid a cleft baby in feeding. Unfortunately, resources are limited in most Chinese orphanages. Resources of both funds and arms.
Was my daughter in one of those? What were those days like for her?
"To be born with a facial deformity in China means that the child will never have the love of a family or be accepted by society. These girls may never have a chance to fulfill some of their dreams." - Kay Bratt, Silent Tears
Haddie HOPE...yes, God gave her what she needed, when she needed it. He sustained her, physically and emotionally. She may have encountered dark and bleak days, but there was always HOPE, because there was always God.
Are you the hope for a child? Are you the one to fund, hold, feed?
I am so thankful that for 7 years God raised others up to provide for the needs of my daughter, to give her a future and a HOPE!
This HOPE that she had is what motivated her to bound up to a worker from our adoption agency and eagerly ask her if she could find her a fa
mily...we all know that a family had already been found!
