A Holt International adoptee reports from the Paralympics in Beijing

by Kari Banta

Kari Banta is one of many young wheelchair athletes that the U.S. Paralympics Committee invited to write an essay on what disabilities mean to them—for a chance to go to Beijing. One of 25 winners from hundreds of entries, Kari traveled to Beijing as an observer of the games with Justin, her older brother, who provided assistance in posting these reports. This was a dream come true for Kari, who was adopted through Holt International at the age of 5 from Thailand.

Wednesday, September 17:
The most fun we’ve had at an event was wheelchair rugby. We watched the United States play Australia for the gold, and we won (also the United States has never lost to Australia). The crowd was nuts, faces painted, even louder and crazier than the sitting volleyball game. It seemed like every American in Beijing showed up. So what is wheelchair rugby? There are four players on the court at a time; the wheelchairs are bulwarked with all kinds of metal plates; and the goal is to wheel the ball past the back line of the court. Just like you’d imagine, they crash, flip, fly and do anything they can to get the ball into the end zone. It is not a polite game, and not one that you can play without being willing, even eager, to hit the floor hard. What’s interesting is that it’s the only sport in which women can compete on the same team as the men. The bronze-medal game (between Canada and Great Britain) had two women playing, and they were really good. We didn’t get back to the hotel room until after 11:30, and I fell asleep as soon as I hit the bed…. Read the rest of this entry »

A Holt International adoptee reports from the Paralympics in Beijing

by Kari Banta

Kari Banta is one of many young wheelchair athletes that the U.S. Paralympics Committee invited to write an essay on what disabilities mean to them—for a chance to go to Beijing. One of 25 winners from hundreds of entries, Kari is currently in Beijing as an observer of the games with Justin, her older brother, who is providing assistance in posting these reports. This is a dream come true for Kari, who was adopted through Holt International at the age of 5 from Thailand.

Friday:
We’ve made it here safe and sound, spent the night in a freezing cold room (they gave us warm blankets, though), and taken showers in the crazy shower/ bathroom… there’s no separation between shower and the rest of the room. The highways all have flower-boxes along the sides of the rails. There are trees and bushes and flowers growing everywhere in the perfect 75, sunny, light breeze, but smoggy-smells-like-faint-burning-rubber city. We have to walk 300 yards to the Bird’s Nest stadium, which is such a pain—I mean, why can’t we just rent a room in the Bird’s Nest? Well besides that we are located on the Paralympic green our hotel is great. I tried to buy contact solution yesterday, which was a fun exercise in not communicating. I figured out how to say “cleaner” and brought my contact case, but the word I was using seemed to mean something akin to “Windex.” We’ll repeat this experiment in the grocery store, where I’m sure fewer people speak English. Okay, off to breakfast and then the Water Cube to watch swimming and then later, sitting volleyball. Read the rest of this entry »

Holt International adoptee Kari Banta is one of many young wheelchair athletes that the U.S. Paralympics Committee invited to write an essay on what disabilities mean to them—for a chance to go to Beijing. One of 25 winners from hundreds of entries, Kari will travel with her older brother to the Paralympics, to be held in Beijing in early September, all expenses paid. This is a dream come true for Kari, who was adopted by Julie and Steve Banta at the age of 5 from Thailand. This is her winning essay.

I was born in Thailand and was adopted and moved to Texas when I was 5 years old. I was born with spina bifida, and when I was 3 months old, I had surgery to fix my spinal cord in Chang Mai in northern Thailand. After the surgery, I couldn’t move my legs. The orphanage got me a handmade wheelchair. It was a metal chair with tires that always went flat. I used my wheelchair a lot outside. I crawled inside. I crawled up and down the stairs. I crawled around in the orphanage.

When I came home, I got a new wheelchair with tires that didn’t go flat. I also got braces and a walker. I put them on and walked around the house, school and outside.

A couple of weeks after I came home, I started kindergarten. I didn’t know any English. Read the rest of this entry »

by Peter Feaver, Holt adoptive parent

Bangkok, Thailand—Even in a city famous for its exotic sights, sounds, and smells, we draw a few gawkers ourselves; I guess we provide some sights, sounds (and maybe even smells) that folks around here are not used to experiencing. We are a merry band of about 30 or so: some 14 beautiful Thai children aged 8 to 23 and a motley crew of 15+ Westerners aged, well, we best not say.

We are spending a little over two weeks on the Holt International Thailand Family Tour, reconnecting with this land that we love, with these people that we love—the birth country of these children that we love.

The tour is only in its fourth official day, but we have already had more emotional highs than an Oprah After School Special. We have visited some of the great monuments of Bangkok: the Grand Palace, the summer palace at Ayuthaya, the ancient palace at Ayuthaya, and a welter of wats (Thai for “temple”). We have been told a college-course’s worth of Thai history, but probably only remember the Clif Notes version: “and then the Burmese attacked again.” Everywhere we go, the Thai people have lived up to the billing, “a land of smiles.” Read the rest of this entry »

Pakkred, Thailand—Holt International adoptees and adoptive parents are currently embarked on Holt’s Thailand Family Tour, led by Holt senior executive Lisa Vertulfo. Adoptees are visiting their birth country with their families, exploring Thai culture, customs, history and the diverse landscape in addition to reconnecting with their foster families, childcare centers and the Holt Sahathai Foundation.

Adoptive mother Lisa Cahill reports:

“Today the Thai Family Tour visited Pakkred Babies Home. Pakkred houses about 300 children (infant to 5 years old) in the care of the Department of Public Welfare (DPW). Holt has worked there for about 20 years. Our family also visited Pakkred 20 years ago when we adopted our twins Don and Will, now 25. We returned in 1995 to adopt another boy, Ae, who was 8 at the time. We have been fortunate to return several more times over the years, and today Ae returned once more as a young man of 23.

“The most important impression that my husband Larry and I shared today is that of the tremendous strides in the quality of care. Read the rest of this entry »