For the next hour, Dolly learned what it was to care intimately for another human, one who was scarred and soiled in ways that made Dolly’s eyes scald with tears. She and Anna bathed the young woman while she sat in the bathtub and cried. Dolly was gentle with the soap and washcloth. The slave was thin enough that Dolly could have counted her ribs on her back. Next, they washed her hair. At first the young woman was afraid to dunk her head, but Anna explained in broken Chinese that it would make her feel better. After the bath, the young woman trembled as she stood in a clean robe, her hair
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I was deeply touched when I read about the personal care that the mission home staff provided to the women they'd rescued. These women had been treated poorly, abused, and traumatized, and having someone attend to their needs in a loving and caring manner would have been a new experience for them. For some of these women and young girls, it might have reminded them of days gone by when they lived with their mothers, who were now lost forever to them. Please see chapter notes and bibliography for my references.
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