A Prayer on the Wind: Final Hurrah

Monday, December 27, 2010

Final Hurrah

We had our goodbye dinner tonight at Fire and Ice, DeeDee's favorite restaurant. As usual Pukar hated everything, and I unusually LOVED my meal. I had salad. We know the owners and have been assured that their 'process' of both employee cleanliness and food cleanliness almost guarantees no 'delhi belly'...we'll see!!! Dee's a maniac about this sort of thing, and it's her second home, so I went for it. Wow...salad. SALAD! I don't get any fresh veggies EVER so this is a real treat. !!!

DeeDee is running around the house now finishing up her packing. Her flight leaves tomorrow afternoon. She has her VISA in hand, and the mega-book of sealed paperwork for the US Immigration Officials upon entering the USA. Wow, don't lose it!!!

Other than almost being run over on the sidewalk by a speeding taxi, then scooping up my kid and kicking the taxi as he went by simultaneously wondering if that was a bad idea, but giving the driver my best 'try me' look, nothing hugely eventful has happened. Oh, well there was the student riot that closed the streets and many businesses for half a day. We were tipped off by the US Embassy, but then our babysitter let us know when it was going to end. Hmmm.

And on the humanitarian front, a bunch of parents went to one of the big orphanages here the day after Christmas and brought all the toys Mattel donated, as well as a bunch of warm clothes and blankets. I didn't feel it would be good for Pukar so I donated and opted to not go, but I have heard that it was pretty heartbreaking and also a wonderful thing to do. Many of the children are waiting for their US families. There was 80 kids in all. It's freezing here now, especially at night, and the kids don't even have socks. One mom told me she was going around and just bundling up the neediest kids. After watching her husband and daughter open presents on Skype all morning and then going to the orphanage, she said it was a pretty huge contrast. Like I said in the beginning, there is SO MUCH NEED HERE, it's almost hard to know where to start and where to stop. It's way beyond anything we have ever seen in the States, honest. And when I hear these stories I'm just so incredibly thankful that I was able to get Pukar out when I did. Again and again, I just feel so lucky.

No more word on the Visa front, but I am hopeful we are still on track.

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THE US GOVT WAS WRONG TO SHUT DOWN ADOPTIONS. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

There were 55 families stuck in the Nepal Pipeline because the US Government had 'suspicions' of 'fraud' and 'serious irregularites' based on a poorly conducted 82-day investigation of 62 orphan cases. That's 1 1/2 days per case. Their findings are rampant with errors, cultural insensitivities and blatant incompetence.

IN THE END, EVERY CHILD WAS ABLE TO GO HOME WITH THEIR FAMILY BECAUSE NOT A SINGLE SHRED OF FRAUD WAS FOUND. NOTHING. ZERO.

THE US WAS WRONG.

Children spent an average of 200 extra days languishing in orphanages, and cost families an average of 25K extra dollars for no good reason.

Both Ends Burning, a non-profit international adoption advocacy group has published an investigative report based on a the findings in an extensive review of the 55 investigations US parents were forced to make to prove the orphan status of their children. They studied over 3,000 pages that were compiled by lawyers and private investigators. Their discoveries are shocking. See the full report by cutting a pasting this link: https://bothendsburning.org/help-out/current-initiatives/re-open-nepal/

On June 6, 2014 we travelled to Washington DC along with many other families and Both Ends Burning to meet with our Senators and Congressman and women. Help us keep the momentum by signing our petition: http://www.petition2congress.com/15574/lift-suspension-adoptions-from-nepal/

We are asking our Senators and Representatives to follow-up with these actions:

1. Sponsor a Congressional Resolution to open re-open Nepal for international adoptions

2. Call for a Congressional Hearing to Investigate the closure of Nepal

3. Enter a floor speech on behalf of us and our children to correct the record

Read the blog notes dated June 13, 2014 to see all the videos, news coverage and links to the report. There is also links to the news below in "Jenni in the News".

ABOUT NEPAL:

The status of women is low in the Nepali society, contributing to frequent abuse and abandonment of wives and children. More complicated reasons for abandonment of children include being unwed, the caste system, poverty, the lack of a social system, unequal access to education, and religion. There are no social services and the per capita income of the average household is less than $350 a year.

With adoptions halted, and orphanages either closed or full to capacity, there is nowhere for these abandoned children to go. Some live on the street, many others die.

I have travelled extensively all over the world but never been to a country where the need is so great. With a total population of 28 million people, Nepal is home to approximately one million orphans.