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Mafe and Angie\u2014two Colombian orphan girls who spent the month of July in the United States with the hope of being adopted and finding a better life\u2014had never before boarded an airplane. For both, the challenge was daunting.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy stomach hurt from all of the nerves of taking the plane,\u201d said Mafe. \u201cWe flew to Texas, then to Los Angeles, and then San Francisco\u2026There were six [other] girls, but six girls stayed in Los Angeles and then two of us; Angie and I went to San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through Kidsave, a program that helps international orphans find adoptive families by giving them the opportunity to visit the United States, San Francisco couple John Rodgers and Diana Lara-Rodgers hosted 14-year-old orphan Mafe, while San Jose\u2019s Aurora Rozo and her family hosted 11-year-old orphan Angie. The girls arrived in Northern California on July 3, and flew back to their native homeland on Aug. 3.<\/p>\n
\u201cMafe has been living in a Colombian orphanage for several years,\u201d said Rodgers. \u201cWe are excited to introduce her to family life here in California. We take so much for granted when we grow up around family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Founded in 1999 by Terry Baugh and Randi Thompson, Kidsave caters primarily to older children who are less likely to be adopted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are really wonderful children who are typically overlooked,\u201d explained Elizabeth Spier, Northern California volunteer coordinator who has been involved with the program for 10 years. \u201cBy bringing them to the [United States] to spend the summer with host families, the children have a chance to meet people who may wish to adopt them.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Kidsave\u2019s website, the program \u201chas worked in the USA among hard-to-place foster youth, in Russia, Colombia and Sierra Leone. It is also very successful when used to help large numbers of foreign orphans find a family in a new culture accustomed to adoption, such as the USA, Canada, and Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lara-Rodgers, who is from Honduras, and her husband found out about the program online and decided to apply in January\u2014they were approved in March. The process involved filling out a form with questions about their lifestyle, their family relationships, and the reasons why they wanted to be involved in the program, as well as a home study and visits from a social worker to certify that they could provide a place for the child to stay for a month. The couple would see profiles of children that could potentially come to stay with them and they would rank their preference, but they would not find out who would be coming until later.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe picked out two summer camps for [Mafe]. One is in the Mission Cultural Center and you know that they have like 100 children, and we were pretty lucky because one of the teachers\u2026speak[s] Spanish,\u201d said Lara-Rodgers. \u201c[Mafe] has been practicing hip-hop in the morning and in the afternoon, she has been taking photography and she has been very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mafe enjoyed getting to know San Francisco and the surrounding areas. One of her favorite activities was going to House of Air and seeing the ocean for the very first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI give thanks that [Kidsave] chose me for the program because not all children are given this opportunity,\u201d said Mafe.<\/p>\n
Angie stayed with the Rozo family in San Jose, who have been Kidsave hosts for the last three years.<\/p>\n
The Rozo family has enrolled Angie in a summer camp and has also been doing normal family activities such as birthday parties, spending time at the pool, ice-skating, bike riding, trips to the beach and canoeing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been trying to give her as much of a family experience as possible. They [Kidsave] ask us to give them as much of a normal experience as possible,\u201d said Aurora Rozo. \u201cThis means that we have to do chores like make our beds and clean the room.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to get a manicure and a pedicure. I have them painted pink, red, white, black, and yellow,\u201d said Angie. \u201cIt was my first time and I liked it.\u201d<\/p>\n
During their last weekend in the United States, the girls went to a barbeque hosted by the Rozo family with friends as well as the Rodgers\u2019s family and their friends.<\/p>\n
Rozo didn\u2019t hesitate when asked what counts as her favorite experience in working with Kidsave.<\/p>\n
\u201cBreaking through to them and feeling that they feel comfortable with you,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[su_slider source=”media: 27539,27538″ limit=”25″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_menu][\/su_slider] Mafe and Angie\u2014two Colombian orphan girls who spent the month of July in the United States with the hope of being adopted and finding a better life\u2014had never before boarded an airplane. For both, the challenge was daunting. \u201cMy stomach hurt from all of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":27539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3929],"tags":[5939],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-27537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-kidsave","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n