Another Orphanage

I went to an orphanage today. There's not a lot to say about this one, except that it made me really, really sad. As a community outreach the local charity group I belong to raised money at a bbq for this particular orphanage and then made up some little baggies of toiletries. Mostly they were bags of toothpaste, toothbrush, comb, wash cloth, soap, shampoo, etc, but each also had a bag of gummy worms and of crackers in it, too. These children were quite young--I'd say that the oldest one was maybe 10 years old--and so the toiletries were passed over for the treats. After the bags were all opened the caregivers collected all of the toiletries and set them aside, so any intention of each child having their own baggy was sacked. However, I think that going in as foreigners, we tend to look at distribution a little differently. The workers were putting aside the goods until they were needed, and I think we were hoping that each child could hang onto their own and use it as needed. I guess in the big picture this doesn't make sense, because eventually all those toiletries will get lost and mixed up anyways.

There were children from one month old to probably 10, mostly boys. There was one girl in particular, Nadia, who came to me as I sat on the floor and just leaned into me and eventually over my lap. Who can say no to a snuggle with someone who takes the initiative? I didn't do much as my camera is broken and there wasn't much to do except chat with the kids, so I sat there and watched. What caught my attention was how the young children were helping the younger children. I saw a three year old holding a juice box for a one year old, and a five year old opening the gummy worms for a three year old. The children were a little dirty and some had open, oozing sores, but overall they looked reasonably healthy.

What made me sad is the rumours that are told about this place, how the man who started it isn't necessarily accountable for what comes in, and it's thought that donations have been sold (ie/ toys, etc) for whatever reason. From the outside looking in, this doesn't look good. Who knows what's true and what's not. Maybe they are selling toy donations so that the kids can eat and for diapers and formula for the babies. Maybe they're making money off the donations and using the profits for themselves. Who knows. All I know is that there is an orphanage that is raising about 40 kids, most of whom are under the teen years, and that this is just a small representation of probably hundreds of other orphanages just like it here in Indonesia.

Out of curiosity, when we first moved here I spent a few hours googling adoption in Indonesia. What I remember is that you can foster a child for 2 years while living in Indonesia, during which you have a home check done and someone checks the child periodically. After the two years an authority (can't remember which, gov't or the orphanage head or both) says whether or not you can adopt that child. If it's yes, then the paper work starts. If it's no, then you have to give up the child at some point. This seems like a pretty heart-wrenching way of setting up an adoption.

Thanks for reading.