Hope from Orphan to Belonging
Hello, my name is Flora Zulu Madu and I am going to tell you about my journey toward hope. Let me start by telling you about my first Mom. I don’t know much, because I was less than two years old when I lost her. One day she got sick and she brought me to an orphanage. She said that she would be back, but she had tuberculosis, and she could not come back. They tried to find my relatives, to look after me, but months passed and none were found. Even though I was with 160 other kids, I still felt alone. This was a time of hopelessness.
Let me tell you about my life in a Zambian orphanage. It was a very full place, but there were not a lot of people to run it. My age group had 40 children and 6 ladies to watch us. They had to do all the cooking and cleaning and since they could not afford diapers you know there was a lot of cleaning! We ate n’shima. It is a white paste made from corn flour. In the morning it was served very watery and we drank it. For the late meal it was more solid and we could pick it up and eat it by hand with some meat. Even though they gave me what I needed, I still knew that I was missing something.
Then one day some strangers came along. There was a man, a woman, and 2 boys.
They started to visit me every day and they were scary! Later they were allowed to take me out of the orphanage. At first I didn’t care to go, but later I learned to hate going back. Going with them meant bed forts, playing in the pool, movies and…… feelings.
Going back meant loneliness.
In the next months I remember many visits to doctors. It seems I had some things wrong, the most serious was signs of tuberculosis, the same disease that killed my first mom. If left untreated it is not likely that I would have made it to adulthood.
After 6 months the people that started as strangers to me were now my family, (my mama, my dada and my boys). The time that it took to feel like I belonged was about the same amount of time it took to make the adoption official. I do not remember the court or any of those details, but I do remember being very proud of my passport and Canadian Citizenship. Having a family who loved me gave me hope.
Flora Zulu Madu