As Kidsave celebrates its 25th anniversary, we are speaking with Kidsave alumni—many who have families of their own now—retired staff, friends, dedicated volunteers, and families formed through Kidsave across the years as we celebrate 25 years of love and family.
After a six-week trip turns into a 10-year stay, a Colombian jetsetter reflects on her journey from America to Europe
By Sara Bunch
“I hate the word ‘orphan,’” says Cindy Cook, with passion in her voice and tears in her eyes. The word’s negative connotation stirs up memories of feeling unloved and unwanted while living at a Catholic orphanage in Colombia. “When I was 13, my parents saved me from my horrible childhood. Especially my mom, who has been the most important person in my life. Before I met her, I had no concept of what love means. I had never seen it before.”
Now in a beautifully furnished home in Eindhoven, a city in southern Netherlands famous for its technology and design innovations, 32-year-old Cindy is roughly 6,000 miles from where she started—and a million miles from where she imagined she would be.
During the summer of 2004, Cindy and her older half-sister were asked by nuns at their orphanage if they minded being separated for six weeks. Since partnering with Kidsave, the nuns were gauging the children’s interests in spending a few weeks living with a family in America through the Summer Miracles Program.
“My sister and I didn’t have a close relationship, so we agreed to go our separate ways that summer,” Cindy recalls. Warned that she may not get adopted, the nuns advised Cindy to think of the married couple she would be staying with as her godparents.
While Cindy was imagining the activities she would be involved in during the Summer Miracles Program, John and Lucia Cook were about to embark upon an unforgettable journey of their own. While John already had three grown children from a previous marriage, Lucia’s fertility struggles limited her experiences with motherhood. At the time, Cindy’s soon-to-be-aunt, Shirene Miller, who serves as Kidsave’s data manager, had suggested that John and Lucia explore adoption.
After spending the summer in the U.S. through the Summer Miracles program, Cindy returned to Colombia. Not long after settling in back in her home country, the nuns told her that the Cooks wanted to adopt her. Cindy initially declined the offer, admitting that she constantly changed her mind during the year that her paperwork was being processed. “On bad days, I would say I can’t wait to get out of this place,” she shares. “But on good days, I didn’t want to be adopted because I didn’t want to leave the only home I knew.”
On July 31, 2005, Cindy moved from Colombia to Connecticut to become a Cook. “The first year was so difficult that I cried all the time,” she explains frankly. “I didn’t want to be there because the Cooks didn’t speak Spanish and I didn’t speak English, so it was hard to communicate.”
As a way to help her daughter assimilate to a new culture and language, Lucia regularly prepared Colombian dishes and purchased Spanish-language music CDs produced by Colombian artists. The two also communicated through a digital translation device and attended numerous Kidsave events together.
“Adoptive parents should remain in touch with the other children in Kidsave because that helps us feel more at home,” Cindy advises. “And embrace the culture of where your child is from because that’s what I missed most when I first moved to America, and my parents were great about connecting me with my culture through food and music.”
Cindy was also nervous about attending school. In Colombia, education was neither encouraged nor enforced by the nuns. In fact, she didn’t learn how to read until she was about 10 years old. In the fall of 2004, the Cooks enrolled Cindy in a bilingual middle school, where she made friends with other Spanish speakers her age.
She spent the next four years at an all-English-speaking parochial school, where she often experienced loneliness and bullying until finally developing meaningful friendships with her peers. Upon graduating high school with honors, Cindy received a scholarship and enrolled in Connecticut’s Jesuit-affiliated Fairfield University. As a college senior, she spent a semester in Spain and worked as a teacher’s assistant at a bilingual school, earning her degree and living in Europe full time. She now lives in the Netherlands, where she enjoys a rewarding career in the field of information technology.
“I am the person I am today because of my mom. I am really grateful to Kidsave for giving opportunities to older kids because that doesn’t happen very often,” Cindy says. “Many of the other kids at the orphanage fell into a life of abuse and prostitution. But my parents saved me. I don’t know where I would be without their love.”
Unfortunately, Lucia died of cancer in 2020. “I had a horrible childhood in Colombia, but losing my mom has been the hardest experience in the world,” Cindy shares. “I am eternally grateful for all the love she showed me.”
Since Lucia’s death, Cindy has embraced a closer bond with John. They see each other at least three times a year, both in Europe and Connecticut. For their next visit, Cindy plans to return for two weeks in spring 2024 to see her family. This will be her first trip back to the United States in quite a while, as the heartbreaking loss of Lucia has made this type of travel uniquely challenging.
“My mom had a lake house growing up and she loved it, so my parents bought their own lake house in 2011, and that’s where we celebrated Christmas together,” she says. “But now it’s almost impossible for me to go there without her. And I missed the last two Christmases because it’s too painful now that she’s gone.”
Christmas 2023 also coincided with the first anniversary of another death. Cindy’s half-sister passed away in December 2022 in Colombia after decades of living with a brain tumor. Although she was not adopted by the Cooks, the family generously paid for her health insurance and college tuition once she aged out of the Catholic orphanage. John and Lucia’s love was extended to Cindy’s sibling, a world away.
When asked about the moment she discovered what love is, Cindy reveals that it happened at Disneyland in California when she was a teenager. “My mom and I were walking through the park a few feet apart. I was feeling so comfortable and calm that I caught up to her and put my arm around her arm, and we continued walking with our arms linked together,” she says. This gesture, which left a stunned Lucia in tears, was the defining moment that they both knew Cindy finally felt a deep sense of belonging.
“My mom told me later that was the moment she intuitively knew: this is my daughter and she’s home. And I felt the same way: finally at home.”
Kidsave’s 25th Anniversary
Join us as we celebrate our 25th anniversary at the Kidsave Miracles Gala! Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now. Are you a Kidsave family who wants to share your story? Learn how here.
