Unless......

We traveled 4 hours south today to YouXian - Anna's town. Four hours journey in "developing nation" time. Very different than four hours "going to Tahoe" time.

Unless you've traveled the developing world pictures cannot possibly capture the contradictions - the beauty and the squalor, the chaos and the peace, the backwardsness and the moderninity - that make up such a journey.






There was a thick fog all morning, and combined with the red dirt that seems to be present everywhere it felt more like a journey to mars than to the remote corners of Hunan Province. Or maybe they are one and the same.

Ironcially there is one other woman in our group who has also spent time in Dakka (Bangaldesh...yea, how odd is that huh?), and her comment put it best in my mind: "It's like Dakka, only better". Unfortunately only a few others (like the Huq's) can fully comprehend that reference.

There were 3 other families that accompanied us on our journey today. Their daughteres were from a town farther away and in the opposite direction. The girls had been raised by foster families. Their stories will be different from ours. Because today was the day we alone were able to connect the dots - however few there may be - about the daughter we call Anna....