Budapest awaits
I leave early tomorrow morning for Budapest, Hungary, for a week of vacation with my family. How many people get to type that as an introductory sentence, eh? Though I'm not here to brag about my good fortune in having my family come out to Central Europe while I'm but a hop-skip-jump away. Well, alright, maybe I am, but there's other things I could mention, too.For example, I'll only be gone until the 19th, but I'm going to miss all the kids anyway. It's a wonderful thing to see these kids every day, morning, noon, and night. I get there just after they get up, and most nights I put them to bed, too. Being here all summer lets you see breakthroughs.
You see, the workers at the orphanage are, by and large, lazy. They also play favorites. They'll only pay attention to one kid, and take them home on the weekends, play with them, give them special attention, and try to adopt them. But when they find out that they can't adopt them, they turn their backs and ignore them. No kid should have to be rejected again.
But then each summer workers come out and play with the kids, talk to the kids, discipline the kids, really pay attention to the kids. And the kids begin to thrive. It's wonderful to see. Alena no longer looks scared, and she'll run trustingly into a worker's arms. Geta is recovering from her second rejection. The twins are learning that they don't have to cling to the workers. It's unbelievable how suddenly it happens. For weeks they don't talk, and then suddenly they always want to be in your arms.
I'm gonna go to pieces at the end of this summer.
posted by Ben Wyman @ 7:32 AM
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