Maiya's Orphanage in Vung Tau

Just thought we would talk a bit about Maiya's orphanage.

I would say in Maiya's room there were about 12 cradles, 2 hammocks and 3 play areas. All the babies in Maiya's room were roughly the same age.

Each baby has their own"crib", although it looks more like a jail cell. They are actually a stainless steel cradle, so they don't have much character. They aren't as bad as I made them sound. Inside the cradle is a bamboo mat, with a blanket. The blankets are piled up and used to prop up the bottles.

The hammocks were kind of cool. They had a couple babies swinging in them, and apparently the babies get the hang of it, and start to swing themselves.

The play areas were...sad. They were basically a stainless steel bed frame, covered with a very thin bamboo mat. They would set 3 or 4 babies on the mat in the mornings for a "play time" of course most of the babies couldn't real get very far. What we found odd was that alot of the babies could almost touch their behind with the back of their heads. They would follow you around the room, and arch their backs to the point you wouldn't think possible.

There were a few toys, but I am not sure how much they are utilized. Since their are only a few caregivers we think their time is spent caring for the immediate needs of the babies rather than focusing on playing.

In Maiya's orphanage, the caregivers were extremely committed and loving. Although there was a communication barrier with us, the babies responses when the caregivers were around was really apparent and clearly showed their attachment.

Although it was hard to see Maiya living in conditions that to us seem basic and poor, we are just so thankful that, more importantly, we know she was so well loved. The "nounous" and the director of the orphanage love these babies dearly and are so happy when they find loving homes to go to. And we know this was true for Maiya as well.

Most of this was written by Brett. So it is edited and critiqued. There will be a Brett only blog coming when I can sneak out.

see ya.

p.s. adoption ceremony has been finally scheduled for Monday. Go with the flow!!!