Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Tomorrow is my first day working at the foster home at New Day this year. Almost exactly one year ago, I had my first experience there.

The following is my journal excerpt from last year, dated January 14, 2008:

I have never been a huge fan of children. Their runny noses, nasty food, and screaming are not appealing to me. However, the other day, it all hit me. I was working with the children over at New Day. There was one little girl who kept following me around. Her name is Savannah. She is a six year old dwarf. Savannah was abandoned by her family at the gates of a local orphanage when she was two years old. She lived at the orphanage for three years until New Day took her in, in hopes of finding a family to adopt her. When I arrived at New Day that morning, Savannah came up to me. She grabbed my hand, looked up at me with her two missing front teeth and ponytails and smiled. She grunted, signaling that she wanted me to pick her up. I did. When I had her in my arms, she grabbed my cheeks and molded my face into a way that she found quite humorous. She could not stop laughing, and her laugh wasn’t a quiet kind one, but a laugh that squeals. I could not help but laugh, too. She then wanted down and she kept running from me, hiding behind toys. When I would chase after her, she would laugh, and run again. After about an hour and a half of playing, I had to leave for the evening. I waved ‘good-bye’ to her. She grabbed my hand, and looked up at me. “No,” she said in Chinese. I told her I would try to come back again. As I closed the door to the playroom, I looked back and saw her looking out of the window at me. Savannah’s nanny, Elva, opened the door and Savannah came running to me. She held onto my leg. Elva translated, saying that Savannah did not want me to leave. Savannah spoke again so I asked Elva what she was saying. “She called you ‘brother,’” Elva paused. “And said, ‘Please come back tomorrow.’”

Yesterday I was standing in the courtyard in front of our house. In the distance I saw the foster home nannies pushing strollers towards me, returning from a walk in the village. As they approached, I saw Savannah. She still looked exactly the same. And apparently I did too—she began staring at me in recognition. As they turned the corner to the foster home she turned her head around and continued looking at me until I was no longer in sight.

Tomorrow I will work in the foster home.