Tuesday, July 10, 1990

Just found a journal entry from July 10, 1990, when I was in Jamaica doing volunteer work. I was 15 years old.

Today we didn’t go to the building site in Sunderland. Instead, we went to an orphanage. It was very sad. There were around 50 children between the ages of 8 months and 12 years old. Some of them were adorable, but it’s really sad how parents just leave their children. One cute little boy was found by a river. Others were left at the door. The saddest story is that of an 11 year old girl named Georgia. She was carried in a suitcase for SEVEN years. The orphanage got her when she was 9 years old and she weighed only 20 pounds. She is still very small and extremely skinny. She’s grown 20 inches in the past year and a half and she can stand on her own now. I cradled her in my arms like a baby and fed her pureed food out of a bottle. She is only 4 years younger than me. Her story really touched my heart. It was a good experience visiting today although quite depressing.

I spent 3 summers in my teenage years volunteering in Jamaica. “Why Jamaica?”  Tourists don’t go up into the hills and live with the Jamaican people. They don’t see the extent of the poverty, the happiness nor the real culture of this fascinating country. When I was at that orphanage, only one child (out of 50) had an adoptive family coming for him – an adorable healthy 2 year old boy. I was heartbroken for all the other children I met that day. I always thought I would adopt from Jamaica (it turns out the process is extremely difficult although not impossible). From that day on I have had a heart for orphans. Today, I volunteer more than 40 hours per week giving orphans a voice since they cannot speak up for themselves. That pivotal day when I was 15 years old changed the course of my entire life. Not only did it influence my “career”, but it also influenced how I would become a parent. Holding Georgia in my arms and trying to imagine what she had been through made me feel such despair Yet, knowing that one little boy would soon have parents gave me hope.

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