14 News, The Tri-State's News and Weather Leader-A Family's Guatemalan Adoption Story

A Family's Guatemalan Adoption Story

(Editor's note: Newsatch reporter Shannon Samson and photographer Dale Vanover were granted unprecedented access as one Newburgh family traveled to Guatemala to pick up their adopted son.)

Reporter: Shannon Samson

New Media Producer: Kerry Corum

With just over three million people, Guatemala City is a cultural crossroads as the largest city in Central America.

Like most capitols, it has its share of plush hotels, office towers and other sights we see here in the United States. But there's one sight many of us fortunately don't see very often. Children begging in the streets.

What many consider to be one solution to this rampant poverty, the doorman of the nearby Marriott Hotel witnesses four or five times a day. Smiling Americans holding newly adopted Guatemalan babies. Antonio says, "Guatemala is a big city. We have a lot of poor people and when kids go to the United States, they have a better life. They have good meals, good food and everything and it's good for the babies."

But before these scenes of joy, there is a period of limbo for these children during the long adoption process. Many children do their time in places like an orphanage run by an American woman who opened her home to the abandoned children of Guatemala nearly 15 years ago. On this day, there are 35 children living in her stately home, each room packed with more cribs than the last. With a staff of fifteen, the place is spotless, the children healthy and seemingly grateful for the even slightest bit of attention as they wait for their new homes.

Chris Huber is with Families Thru International Adoption. "A lot of them have families. I'd say at least 20 or 30 of the children here already have families who are trying to adopt them." As the Latin America program manager for Evansville's Families Thru International Adoption, Chris Huber visits the orphanage to take pictures for his American clients to update them on the status of their adoptive children.

For the last three years, it's been a professional endeavor. On this day, it's also a personal one. Earlier, he and his wife Linda and their three children piled into a mini-van to pick up the orphaned boy they've been trying to adopt for over a year. Instead of living in an orphanage, he lives with a foster family in the city.

For six and a half year old Luis, the face of his adoptive father is a familiar one, but he is just now meeting his three siblings for the first time.

(Editor's note: Some of the quotes below are in Spanish. Their English translations follow the Spanish quotes.)

Chris Huber says, in Spanish, "Te presentas tus hermanos. This is Christian, Libby and Anita." ("I want to introduce you to your siblings. This is Chris, Libby and Ann.")

And then it's mom's turn for a long awaited embrace. The mother Luis has known for the last two years is Silvia Pastor-Hernandez. Married 15 years, husband Rudy works as an electrician, while she stays behind to take care of their two sons and baby sit the children of working mothers.

She says children have always been a part of her life, so it was only natural to become a foster mother. Luis is the fourth such child she's had in her care. "Y Espacio y porque mi esposo le gusta los ninos tambien y porque este hogares un Cristano donde nosotros amamos a cristo y amamos tambien los ninos." ("We have the space and my husband likes children and this is a Christian home where we love Christ and we love children too.")

Dona Silvia takes care of many children, but that isn't her only job. Like many American women, she's a working mother and she works from home, but in Guatemala, it's a little different. Many families have storefront windows from which they sell things. In dona Silvia's case, she sells ice cream. She stands in front of her window every single day.

Shannon asks, "Por cuantos horas cada dia?" (how many hours each day?) Silvia replies, "A las diez de la manana para la seis de la tarde, todo el dia." ("From ten in the morning to six in the afternoon, all day long.")

As hard as she and her husband work, their home is humble, perhaps not by the standards of their neighborhood, but certainly by those in the U.S. They share the kitchen sink with the tenants upstairs. They share their bedroom with one of their own sons and Luis.

Adoptive mom Linda Huber says, "When I talked to him two weeks ago and told him we were coming, he said 'I don't have anything. I don't know how I'm going to take all my clothes and toys on the airplane.' I said, 'Don't worry, we'll take a suitcase to pack all your stuff and I just said 'Do you think that is big enough for all your things,' and he said, 'Oh yeah!'"

He'll be leaving with even more thanks to his new parents who also brought gifts for Luis' foster family. Robbed at gunpoint in their home two years ago, the VCR they lost has now been replaced. Dona Silvia returns the favor by making her guests a meal with turkey, a treat served only on special occasions.

This day couldn't be more special or bittersweet. Linda translates dona Silvia's feelings. "Today is difficult and that she has been asking God to give her the peace to fill up the emptiness that she's going to have once he does leave."

But where Luis is going he will be loved. Within minutes of meeting him and throughout the day, eight year old C.J. can't hide the way he feels about his new little brother.

After hours of playtime have passed, the moment dona Silvia has been dreading finally comes. Luis is so excited to be going with the Hubers, he almost forgets to say goodbye to his foster mom. "Luis?" Linda Huber translates, "For her it's a pleasure to be able to take care of the children and to watch them and to receive them as well as to give them up, because she knows that they're going to a good home and that she's allowed to have them for a short time and to show them love and to have their imprint here in her home and that is something that will never go away."

From his tiny bed, Luis will sleep in luxury in a fine hotel for a few nights before boarding an airplane for the U.S. His new siblings are anxious for him to test the water in the hotel's swimming pool, but he is not yet ready. His new mom says it will take some time. Until then, there will be many precious moments not to be taken for granted.