The Caregivers
This has been the most amazing trip. Boeden is wonderful, healthy, bright and happy. He crawls. He laughs. He grabs on to furniture (or people) and pulls himself up to a stand (he is learning to stand for himself!)
The people that care for him are angels. There is really no other way to put it. To give you some context, imagine there is a constant flow of little beings coming in (no different than any other orphanage in any other country). The caregivers prepare all the meals. Change the diapers. Care for sick little ones. Prepare the next meal. Do the wash (no dryers—only clotheslines). Some of them also do the facilities work. The structure is in GREAT shape. Floors, walls, lights, carpet; all of it cleaned everyday and quite impeccable.
The facility itself is 3 stories and has numerous rooms of infants, babies, toddlers and up to 4 year olds. There are a number of outdoor swing sets and sand boxes as well. During our stay we have seen the wrought iron fence repainted a fresh green and yellow. In Boeden’s baby room there are roughly 10-12 total babies ranging in age from 6 months to just over a year (the young ones are not yet eligible for adoption). The Baby Room itself is comprised of many smaller rooms. A sleep room that has 12 cribs and some nice chairs to sit in. A common room where the babies spend some of the waking hours (crawling or in walkers or sleeping in a large custom crib). This common room also has a changing table, and other furniture where all the clothes are kept.
Between the two rooms are a kitchen and a cleaning room. The kitchen is where all the meals are prepared and the cleaning room is for us to wash up before we handle our little bundles of joy (it’s occasionally where little tussies are washed off).
There are about 2 Nannies and 7 caregivers in our room and they seem to rotate a bit. The Nannies run the show but they all care and give tremendously to these little beings. Food, cleaning, comforting, changing; they take care of these babies as if they were there own (Laura and I think they have a particular fancy for Boeden).
Down the hall is where we go to play. That, conveniently, we call the Playroom. It has many toys, a swing, rings, shelves and shelves of toys, matting, and chairs. It’s quite large and can accommodate many families at one time. It also has an air conditioner, which, for the most part we are not allowed to use (despite that restriction, lets just say that room is cooler than most). Our friends The Sinclairs and their son Tristan are in the same Baby Room and Play Room, which is nice (we’ll share more about them later).
Today I was really just going to post some of the MANY pictures I have taken and possibly add a few words about what it’s like for Laura and I here. When I think of the care and attention given to Boeden I have to thank our guardian angels for placing him here. We do our best to honor these women (99.9% of the people working here are women) in every exchange or greeting so they know how appreciative we are. We just wanted to share all of that with you.
The people that care for him are angels. There is really no other way to put it. To give you some context, imagine there is a constant flow of little beings coming in (no different than any other orphanage in any other country). The caregivers prepare all the meals. Change the diapers. Care for sick little ones. Prepare the next meal. Do the wash (no dryers—only clotheslines). Some of them also do the facilities work. The structure is in GREAT shape. Floors, walls, lights, carpet; all of it cleaned everyday and quite impeccable.
The facility itself is 3 stories and has numerous rooms of infants, babies, toddlers and up to 4 year olds. There are a number of outdoor swing sets and sand boxes as well. During our stay we have seen the wrought iron fence repainted a fresh green and yellow. In Boeden’s baby room there are roughly 10-12 total babies ranging in age from 6 months to just over a year (the young ones are not yet eligible for adoption). The Baby Room itself is comprised of many smaller rooms. A sleep room that has 12 cribs and some nice chairs to sit in. A common room where the babies spend some of the waking hours (crawling or in walkers or sleeping in a large custom crib). This common room also has a changing table, and other furniture where all the clothes are kept.
Between the two rooms are a kitchen and a cleaning room. The kitchen is where all the meals are prepared and the cleaning room is for us to wash up before we handle our little bundles of joy (it’s occasionally where little tussies are washed off).
There are about 2 Nannies and 7 caregivers in our room and they seem to rotate a bit. The Nannies run the show but they all care and give tremendously to these little beings. Food, cleaning, comforting, changing; they take care of these babies as if they were there own (Laura and I think they have a particular fancy for Boeden).
Down the hall is where we go to play. That, conveniently, we call the Playroom. It has many toys, a swing, rings, shelves and shelves of toys, matting, and chairs. It’s quite large and can accommodate many families at one time. It also has an air conditioner, which, for the most part we are not allowed to use (despite that restriction, lets just say that room is cooler than most). Our friends The Sinclairs and their son Tristan are in the same Baby Room and Play Room, which is nice (we’ll share more about them later).
Today I was really just going to post some of the MANY pictures I have taken and possibly add a few words about what it’s like for Laura and I here. When I think of the care and attention given to Boeden I have to thank our guardian angels for placing him here. We do our best to honor these women (99.9% of the people working here are women) in every exchange or greeting so they know how appreciative we are. We just wanted to share all of that with you.
posted by Geoffrey Horowitz at 12:02 PM
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