This morning I was thinking about those two monkeys in cages outside the vicarage next to the orphanage where I picked up Henry. The two monkeys that were so fat and that we sat and watched while waiting for the vicar to finish his breakfast so that we could have our required audience with him. And about how the doctor here at the visa clinic told me Henry was malnourished. The nuns told me he was malnourished. The nanny Bao hired to take care of his son Kevein told me he was malnourished.The workers at the orphanage told Bao they had run out of food to feed the babies and they were just feeding them the watery formula that I had been lead to believe was all Henry could or would eat. Now that he has been on solid food it has been a remarkable change, but I wonder why there wasn't more supplied to them at the orphanage? Presumably he has been in the care of the orphanage for nearly a year, their first report on his health is dated last January.
I'm haunted by those fat monkeys--would Henry have gotten better food if he had been a monkey rather than a human being? Where did all the money from the adoption fees get funneled to? Is monkey food that expensive that children must starve in order to have fat and happy monkeys?
1 comment:
Yes, it is very sad about Henry's malnutrition. We were told the same thing about Ben. Yet, I have heard this from other adoptive parents across the board. The good news is when you get him home, within a month or so, he will plump up. Our pediatrician said that he was happy that Ben had larger head with littler body; the nutrient from the food he was getting was going first to his brain. Keep up the faith; at least he is in your arms now!
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