Late night musings

Hello faithful readers
Last Suday at the market, I had a nice conversation with a young Colombian couple. I was putting Jon Felipe's brace and shoes back on after he had played for a while in one of those inflatable play structures, and this nice couple asked me if I had just adopted Jon and if he was from Bogota. I told them I had and he was from Ayudame. They too, they said In there limited English, had adopted their childern here in Bogota and they hauled two cute kids out of the trampoline to introduce them. They had noticed Felipe they said becase of his leg which is very obviously disabled when he isn't wearing his brace. And when they saw him with Luke and I they knew he must be adopted. I don't know how they could tell, he looks just like Luke don't you think. We talked about adoption and how long it took for Felipe to get us as a family, and they were thankful that we were willing to accept him because the older he gets the less chance for adoption he would have had. They told me there weren't many oppoertunities for people with disabilities in Bogota. They wished me well as we parted company. It got me thinking about other disabled people I had seen here in Colombia.
Now I think I've told you that busking is a high art here in Bogota. But they are not the only people you see working the busy intersections. There are windshield washers, and vendors selling everything from cell phone accessories to plantane chips and cigerattes at all intersections that have stop lights. And this is a dangerous industry because traffic in Bogota is terrible. It might not be as bad as Dakah, Bangledesh but here is what you will see here. Lane lines are ignored, if you can fit four cars across a two lane road then it is a four lane road. To merge onto a busy road you play chicken with the oncoming traffic and keep inching out until someone slows down and lets you in. If you get your front bumper there first you have the right of way, unless you hesitate. If you can get there faster by going the wrong way on a road, that's ok. As soon as a traffic light turns green everyone must honk their horns. There are no rules for motorcycles they can go anywhere they want, they zoom between traffic, and at stop lights they all go to the front of the line. Throw into this mix big diesel busses which stop anywhere to pick up passengers and horse drawn carts and it gets pretty exciting, which is why pedestrians generally stay our of the roads. Except for three groups of people, buskers who juggle or twirl of tumble at red lights and then try to collect coins before the green light. The unemployed who work as vendors walking up and down the rows of cars, and beggers who knock at your windows as you wait. Some are just poor people looking for a hand out, some are disabled and they limp or push themselves along on carts or skateboards. But the most daring man I saw was blind and he would listen for traffic to stop and then with his white cane tapp his way along the rows of cars knocking at all the windows asking for a few coins. He looked to be of late middle age although it was hard to tell for sure, and I was most amaized that he had survived in Bogota traffic long enough to reach such an age with his disability.
I'm not sure when children age out of orphanages here in Colombia, whether it is at 14 or 16. And I don't know what Jonathan would have learned in the special school for disabled children if he were to grow up here. I know that he is 7 and very curious about the world around him but cannot read or write yet. And I know that he would never get the opportunity to go to regular school. The young couple I met at the market seemed to think that I was giving him a life with much better opportunities beyond begging at street corners. And I guess that's why I'm here. Kathy and I didn't travel here becaue we were desperate for another child or felt unfulfilled, we didn't do it to feel good about ourselves or win accolades. We came here because we believe that God's children shouldn't have to beg for coins on street corners.
Love from Colombia, Dwight and the boys