The truth about orphanages and how God changed my perspective
Elyse Ellsbury
By Elyse Ellsbury
Tomorrow is my birthday. I will be 14 years old. Fourteen years ago, I was left outside the gates of an orphanage in China.
I have been in America for 5 years. I am nervous sharing this, but it’s important so I will try my best.
I want everyone to know that life in an orphanage sucks!
It sucks to go through hard things alone!
It sucks to have no family!
It sucks to be hit and burned!
It sucks to be in the hospital alone!
It SUCKS to be told you are worthless!
The nannies constantly told me that I was fat, that they didn’t want to lift me, I just took up space, and I should die.
My life changed
When I was 7 or 8 years old, I thought about committing suicide.
Then one day, when I was almost 9, I heard I was going to get adopted and everything changed.
My family loves me. They brought me to Iowa and I became a part of my family.
I have 8 sisters and 7 brothers.
I have a wheelchair now.
I get to go to school.
I do para taekwondo.
I have learned so much!
The best part is mom and dad taught me about God.
A day of special meaning
I was baptized on my mom’s birthday three years ago.
Elyse Ellsbury
When mom and I got out my adoption papers to find out where I was left, we realized that the day I was baptized was also the day I was left at the orphanage all those years ago.
The same day!
To be honest, I have been mad at China and the orphanage for two years.
I didn’t get to go to school.
I didn’t get to play outside.
They hit me all the time.
I held a baby when he died and no one cared about the baby.
My foster brother couldn’t be adopted.
There was so much hurt and pain there.
Changed perspective
One day at vacation Bible school, a girl asked me where I was born.
I told her my name and that I grew up in an orphanage in China.
Elyse Ellsbury, 14, tells her story during a Faith Storytellers event in November 2019.
She told me she wished she lived in an orphanage because she wouldn’t have to do anything and people would do everything for her.
When I told her they hit me, she said, “So? My mom hits me too!”
When I got home, I asked my mom: Why did people think living in an orphanage was a good thing?
She told me it was because people just didn’t understand how bad it really was.
I decided that being mad doesn’t change anything. I want to make changes.
I want people to know that everyone matters. I want people to know what orphanage life is really like. I want people to know that kids need families.
I used to think I wanted to make a difference when I grow up. Then I had a dream where if I had moved faster, I could have saved someone’s life.
I felt like God was telling me I shouldn’t wait until I grow up.
God’s calling in a dream
I have two sisters who use wheelchairs too. We were all adopted as older kids. We want to help kids like us.
We decided to start a group called Chairs4Change.
We want to have people donate their change to help Love Without Boundaries, a nonprofit that helps orphaned children. My parents are on the board and I have seen the difference they make.
Love Without Boundaries is the group that helped Jasmine and I find our family.
My dream is to raise one million dollars. When Amy Eldridge from Love Without Boundaries told me what we could do with one million dollars I was so excited.
We could fund 200 cleft surgeries, 90 heart surgeries and build a school for 200 kids.
I want my dream to be so big that people know only God could do that.
I believe every life matters.
I believe God has been with me through everything.
I believe I have a purpose.
I believe every child counts.
I believe a little change can change the world.
Elyse Ellsbury, 14, started a group called Chairs4Change, which is committed to raising $1 million for Love Without Boundaries, a international nonprofit that helps orphans and impoverished children. Elyse was adopted thanks to their help, and her parents Dan and Lisa currently serve on the board.