The characters
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By John Towriss
Special to CNN.com
Pursuing an international adoption can be a daunting prospect when you're in a country in which you have no familiarity with the culture, don't speak the language, can't read the signs and have little ability on your own to navigate the legal system required for the adoption.
The people who will help you -- whether provided by an agency or helpers you meet along the way - will become the characters who populate the stage of your adoption drama. I thought it might be interesting to run down the roster of people on our adoption team here in Astana and Almaty, Kazakhstan.
1. Svetlana. She's our senior coordinator, and is as kind and big-hearted as anyone you'll ever meet. In her 50s now, Svetlana is a former journalist who once did a story on international adoptions and was so moved by what she saw that she quit her job to work full-time in helping Kazakhstan's children. It's so obvious when you see her with the children. She does this not for the job but because she cares so deeply. Carole and I simply love this woman who also coordinated our first adoption, and we've enjoyed a wonderful reunion with her this week. Svetlana's husband Yuri is also a journalist, and although he speaks little English, he and I have enjoyed many conversations about world events. Perhaps Svetlana's real gift is her insight into the system and her ability to doggedly push our adoptions through the bureaucracy. She does this while maintaining an excellent level of contacts high in the government and gets clear respect from everyone who works with her. She's spectacular at her work. We didn't get to see her much on this trip, as she spent hours away from us gathering and preparing documents. They've all been in perfect order. In my book, she's one in a million.
2. Madina. She's one of our coordinator-translators. Madina is a young university student studying international relations. Her English is excellent, making her a good translator for both documents and conversations. While she only works at this part-time with her school schedule, she has been with us every day and always accompanied us to the children's house when we went to see our children. She hates Britney Spears, Back Street Boys and 'N Sync, but loves the band Creed. There seems to be no problem our group can throw at Madina that she won't tackle with enthusiasm. Along with her partner, Anuar, she has been our main minute-to-minute coordinator, working under Svetlana's guidance. One night, the ladies of our group got together and took Madina to buy a pair of purple boots she'd confessed to wanting a few days before. She was thrilled. Our last image of Madina is from the Astana airport. As we hurried through security to make our flight, we left Madina on the other side -- unable to come with us. Left on the wrong side of security, she sobbed openly at not being able to say goodbye. So we turned around and went back and hugged her goodbye through the security clearance walkways.
3. Anuar. Like Madina, Anuar is a young student studying international relations and wants to be a diplomat someday. Whenever we had a problem of any kind, Madina would aggressively rush in. But it was Anuar who would often come behind with cool diplomacy and get the issue resolved. I'd say he's well on his way to someday being Kazakhstan's foreign minister. Together, they made the perfect good-cop, bad-cop routine. We noticed that Anuar always liked to dress in nice suits, so when the ladies took Madina to get boots, the men took Anuar to a men's shop to buy some ties or other accessories. After much thought, Anuar settled on a beautiful pen set of silver and blue. We told him he'd look good signing his first peace treaty with that pen. It won't surprise me if he does.
4. Dr. Alma. Dr. Alma is the head doctor at the children's house in Astana. When we have visited our children, she'll usually make the rounds and I marvel at how she'll quietly work a room, encouraging one parent here or offering a suggestion there. There are dozens and dozens of children in this orphanage, yet she knows them all by name and on sight. Watching her hold a child, whisper in its ear and caress a cheek is to watch deep love in action. We'll probably never know how many children have found comfort in her soft voice.
5. Sonia. Sonia is our translator-coordinator in Almaty. Svetlana actually lives in Almaty but while she's in Astana with us, Sonia keeps the paperwork moving in Almaty. When we are in Almaty, Sonia takes on the role of Madina and Anuar, helping us through the airport and to our appointments each day. Sonia is very quiet but has a way of getting things done. When we arrived at our hotel after midnight in Almaty, it was Sonia who found us help to get all our bags and babies up five flights of stairs (no elevator here). I'd wondered where she'd found this guy to help us -- when she told me the next day that he was her husband, poor guy.
John Towriss has been with CNN for 21 years, a journalist covering stories the world over. He is deputy bureau chief and director of news coverage in CNN's Washington bureau. Towriss can be reached at TOWRISS@aol.com
