La Gloria Orphanage Trip

December 16th, was the first time I ever visited an orphanage in my entire life and the experience was a powerful one. The Latino/a Social Work Caucus and the International Social Work Caucus took a trip to the La Gloria Orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico. The purpose of the trip is to take the orphanage donations and to spend the day with the children. The trip for me was an amazing one as it was filled with so many mixed emotions. As I sat and rocked one of the infants to sleep I couldn't help but wonder how his life would be in ten years, or in twenty years and how his development would be affected by living in an orphanage with no parents. Rocking the baby to sleep was one of the hardest experiences I have ever had as a social work student. As I sat there with the baby in my arms, I recognized that he embodied or represented so many vulnerable children. The emotions were so overwhelming that I began to cry. In hindsight, I realize that I wasn't just crying for him, but I was crying for all of the children that I have encountered who are vulnerable and who need an adult that will protect them and love them.
While holding him I began to wonder what my life would have been like if I didn't have my mother, and suddenly I was filled with gratitude for having had her guidance, love, and presence consistantly throughout my entire existence. I then began to do some self-reflection and began to think back about the countless times that I have told people, "Oh, I grew up with just my mother". Never again will I use that phrase, because I now know that all I needed was one person who was always there to care for me, and I was lucky enough to have my mother for that. Recognizing how important my mother's presence was in shaping who I am helped me recognize how much I can affect a child's life through adoption. I have always considered adoption in the future when I am in a committed relationship with a life partner, but my experiences with the children in the orphanage truly solidified my desire to some day become an adoptive parent. As we left the orphanage we had to process our emotions as a group, and although we left with a sense of satisfaction for having come out to spend a day with the children we all left with a certain level of sadness as we left them behind. The one consolation that I walked away with is the commitment with which the orphanage serves the children and the commitment of the caucuses to continue working with the orphanage for years to come.