Guest post from Chelsea

This was the Superkids team that traveled to China this Summer.  See that girl with the red hair?  Well, that is Chelsea who is our special intern.  She has been working in the Gladney office for almost a year.  She was our intern on the Superkids trip.  She took literally thousands of photos, played with and hugged the babies and supported the team in every activity.  I think to say that going to China changed Chelsea's life would be an understatement.  She found a deep connection with the children we saw and she formed a bond with everyone on the team.  I can't say enough about how wonderful the team was, but Chelsea demonstrated, purpose, focus and maturity well beyond her years.  In this post Chelsea shows her deep commitment to these children.  Here are Chelsea's reflections as she advocates for a very special boy!

Hua Hua was the last child that came into our assessment room on the first day of our journey. And he changed me. Maybe it was his round cheeks and his one blue eye, or maybe it was how his hands could do all the same tasks though they looked nothing like mine. But really, I think it was a sense that he needed me that created this change in my heart.
So when Pat asked me to write a post about Hua Hua I jumped at the opportunity. Hua Hua represents so much of what originally drew me to orphan care. There are hundreds of thousands of children—like Hua Hua—abandoned all over the world because of a disability or because of the social and economic burdens of raising a child with special needs. And from now on, whenever I think of these children, I will always see Hua Hua’s sweet face with his contrasting dark brown and ice blue eyes.
I sat near Hua Hua that day in the Shanghai Children’s Home and told him how special I thought he was. And as I sat, I listened to our team’s medical volunteers and the orphanage staff discuss whether or not Hua Hua has normal eye-sight (which all signs seem to suggest that he does by the way) and someone  from the orphanage mentioned the use of colored contacts to “correct” his mix-matched eye color. This bothered me. I thought to myself—“What a shame.” Why change Hua Hua? He’s exquisitely unique and special and perfect just the way he is.
And that’s the mission of Superkids—to care for children without reservations. Hua Hua doesn’t need to be changed to be loved, but he does need a family. And if you love him, I promise this miraculous little life will change you. I know because he changed me.

For more information on Hua Hua or any of the children seen by Superkids, please contact Pat Marcus PT at patriciamarcuspt@gmail.com.