SWI Visit

Liam had a very special visit to his SWI today. As I had written before, we didn't know how this was going to go and we weren't going to be able to meet his foster family. What a surprise for Liam!

Liam's foster mother, who lives nearby, just happened to be walking by with her present foster child

 in front of the SWI and recognized Liam! (This is what we were told by our guide.) She was so happy to see him and said he looks just the same as when he was 2! Liam was happy to see her. It warmed my heart. This is the woman who raised him for the 2nd year of his life. She saw his first steps and heard his first words. She told us stories about teaching him to walk. He walked late, but she would take him to the mountain and let him walk and walk. Before he could walk, she would carry him on her back or front in a pack. He was a very easy baby.

We went to see the room where Liam was for six months before that. The baby room is sponsored by Half the Sky -- now The Sky. It is a US charity that makes sure there are more nannies per baby. As in Kyra's SWI, all of the children in the orphanage are now special needs. Kyra's orphanage only had 7 children. There are 500 children at Liam's SWI and 500 in foster care. 99% are special needs.

Liam is giving baby rattles to the nannies for the babies.

This would have been where Liam would have slept as a baby.

Liam handed out finger puppets and wind-up toys to some kindergartners. We also gave toys and fruit gummy snacks to the children at Kyra's SWI, but I didn't get any pictures. All of the children were so happy to get treats!

This dear little guy wanted us to wind his toy again before we had to leave.

I could have stayed all day and all week and played with the babies and children. It was so hard to leave them there.

Liam got to say goodbye to his foster mother.

She was happy to see him healthy and happy and well taken care of. She told him to be good and study hard.

We went to a meeting room to meet with the new director. They had this sign projected on a screen.

The director had a gift for Liam. It was a photo album with pictures of the SWI and his room and cribs there.

We spent a long time in the meeting room with doctor, nurse and staff who were all there when Liam was. They asked questions, looked at the photo album we gave them of Liam growing up and told them stories. They were so happy to see Liam healthy, well taken care of, and getting a good education. They were very impressed with his Destination Imagination accomplishments.

We were invited for a special lunch at the SWI with the staff. They were happy to see how much Liam likes Chinese food.

Then we took some farewell photos.

Liam was very happy with his visit. I could tell he felt special. All the staff said many times that they would always be his SWI family and would always care about him. They want him to come back and visit whenever and as often as he wants to. It touches me to the core that they still care so much.