Agency Update

Mumbai seems like a blur to me. Chennai was a brief visit and I was able to visit an agency just next street to where our house is, they were really happy to receive me but I’ve heard this line before. “We have no children at the moment”. She said they were not taking any application since they have no children but she was happy to add my application to her pile. I was able to charm her with my command of my mother tongue and my last project in India re: the Tsunami. She felt very bad for not being able to help but said she will personally pass my application to the director to see if they could do anything. I plan to see her director upon my return to Chennai.

I was in Pondicherry yesterday and was able to visit two orphanages. Wow what a difference. Pondicherry was run by the French rule during colonization and still has French rules. The city is also very clean and has sidewalks to walk unlike rest of the Tamil Nadu with lack of sidewalks and getting hit by cars and buses.

The first agency was run by the hospital under strict guidelines by a church. Sister Maryanne was happy to see me but the same line “no children” and have couples in waiting list for 3 years. When I told her that I wasn’t looking for a baby but a young child, she warmed up. A strange question throughout India including all agencies asking “what colour do you want your baby?” – Within India there are so much racial standards. The darker you are and less status. India is obsessed with colour – that’s another blog for the future. But most agencies asked me if I minded having a “black child” meaning a child would look like me. I always joke to my family to a white person everyone from India looks brown so it doesn’t matter what shade of brown or black the child is as long as the child is healthy. Sister Maryanne said she might be able to help me and has a young girl who might be dark, yes!

The second agency that I visited was a true orphanage just outside of Pondicherry. It’s run very well. It has two sectors, one division that does inter country adoption and one that houses specially challenged children and adults. The director was able to provide me positive answer which has been rare, and of course the standard questions - sex and colour of the child. She thinks she might be able to help me since she gets many unwanted babies and children and they are granted for inter country adoption. She also asked if I would be able to provide donation for the specially challenged children and I told her that I would.

So far Pondicherry has been positive compared to any of the agencies that I have seen. So please cross your fingers that my phone would ring before I leave India in 3 weeks or even soon after I get to Canada.

I am off to Trichy tomorrow – 5 hours away by train and I am seeing a Christian organization where they seem to be little bit more organized, I have more hope now.