Irrepressible memories. Vacant eyes. A child being dangled from a third story window. A boy tied to a chair. Children sleeping in layers of clothing to fight off the bitter cold. An infant dying from starvation. Some things your mind will never allow you to forget.Silent Tears is the true story of the adversity and triumphs one woman faced as she fought against the Chinese bureaucracy to help … to help that country’s orphaned children.
In 2003, Kay Bratt’s life changed dramatically. A wife and mother of two girls in South Carolina, Bratt relocated her family to rural China to support her husband as he took on a new management position for his American employer. Seeking a way to fill her days and overcome the isolation she experienced upon arriving in a foreign country, Bratt began volunteering at the local orphanage. Within months, her simple desire to make use of her time transformed into a heroic crusade to improve the living conditions and minimize the unnecessary deaths of Chinese orphans.
Silent Tears traces the emotional hurdles and daily frustrations faced by Ms. Bratt as she tried to change the social conditions for these marginalized children. The memoir vividly illustrates how she was able to pull from reservoirs of inner strength to pursue her mission day after day, leaving the reader with the resounding message that everyone really can make a difference.
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Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage by Kay Bratt is a true story of her experience in China and her time as a volunteer at a local orphanage. It is a story of adversity, setbacks and triumphs as she fought against the Chinese bureaucracy to help the country’s orphaned and abandoned children. In 2003, Ms. Bratt and her family relocated to a rural Chinese village as her husband took on a new management position for his employer. She begins to volunteer at the local orphanage and soon it becomes more than just something to fill her days. She begins a crusade to improve the living children and minimize the unnecessary deaths of the children. Silent Tears is the collection of her journal entries from their four-year assignment in China and chronicles the emotions, hurdles and daily frustrations faced by Ms. Bratt and her fellow volunteers as they strive to become champions for these marginalized children. A story with a message that everyone can make a difference. Big or small, it is still a difference.
Silent Tears is a vivid memoir of strength and determination as Ms. Bratt fights against despair at the conditions of these children and the powerlessness she often feels when her efforts are for naught. She is unapologetic as she describes the conditions these children live in, the circumstances beyond their control that brought them to the orphanage in the first place. Ms. Bratt finds the inner strength to pursue her mission day after day to bring a small bit of happiness to these children’s lives and smiles to their faces. My heart broke as Ms. Bratt talks about the different children who lived there, the treatment they received from the workers and her strives to carefully improve what she saw. I admire Ms. Bratt’s determination to help these children. I also appreciate that she doesn’t gloss over or hide her own preconceived notions and even prejudices as she enters a world so different. It is evident she has a big and open heart for the children she helps care for. I enjoyed the personal letters she included at the end as an update for some of the children she talks about in the book. I highly recommend Silent Tears.
Silent Tears is available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook
All Kay Bratt books on China are great
This is a wonderful book after reading I have now bought and read many others by Kay Bratt
God Bless all the wonderful Mom’s who adopt these beautiful children!
So wonderful that the author shared her experience in a Chinese orphanage. What an eye opener!
I selected this book because I have traveled to China and I have seen how the Chinese government works and how they value life. I will admit that I did have tears while reading this book.
Could not get into this book.
I enjoyed this book up to a point but found it disturbing as well. The author, I believe , was doing what she thought best to improve the lot of the unfortunate, and frankly, abused children, however I couldn’t help but feel like she could’ve done more and found other avenues in which to pursue help for them. Because of that, and feeling myself helpless when reading her accounts of her life in China, I found this book disturbing.
Also I felt she looked down on her temporary Chinese home and the people there. I detected a note of fear from her.
It was a hard read, but I am interested in real life stories, especially right now involving communist countries. Once again, this book makes me so very grateful that I live in the USA.
A testament to the strength of the human spirit to love and keep giving, of all one has within, against frustrating odds and under horrible working conditions, for the love of helpless babies. I cried many tears…both joy and deep sadness.
Her nonfiction books are much better but this gives background on those fiction stories.
“I enjoyed this book as I have always been fascinated with books on adoption, and to see what it is like for these children at this particular orphanage was eye opening. This is a story of a North American woman, who’s husband is transferred to China for 4 years, she also has a young daughter, who has to adjust. While there she becomes a volunteer and main coordinator for volunteer efforts at this one orphanage. Tales of abuses, neglect of these children but also the tons of love, these volunteers have brought to them, and the changes that are made through their efforts.