Trip to Shao Guan and the Orphanage

Thank you so much for your messages and encouragement. I miss you all so much! Much more than I miss American beds and food.

Yesterday was a very long day. There were seven families out of ten that were represented in the group that made the trip to Shao Guan. We left on the bus at 9:30am and returned at about 8:00pm – lots of experiences in between. We traveled through Guangzhou first. It was interesting to see more of the city. We passed a TV station and a train station. Things look similar but different. To get out of the city we had to pass through a toll gate. The traffic was moderately heavy. Driving is interesting here. The bus driver drives as though he is driving a small car instead of a tour bus. He changes lanes often – trying to weave in and out of the slower traffic and everyone is constantly beeping their horn – as if to say I am passing you so get out of the way – or move over can’t you see I want to get around? As a passenger it is better not to look too closely or your heart will be pounding the whole trip!

The countryside between Guangzhou and Shao Guan was mostly rural – we drove for about 2 ½ hours between the two cities. We saw lots of rolling hills and some farms – a few people working outside. There were many small and poor buildings in groups here and there. The road we were traveling on was very similar to an American freeway – but with toll gates about every 25 miles. The outskirts of Shao Guan were very old and dirty with many run-down buildings, but as we got farther into the city there were more new and modern looking buildings. The one thing that is so very different here than in America is the mix of buildings in one location. You can have a brand – new modern building surrounded by dirty slum-like conditions. In fact this seems more typical than many new buildings grouped together. We pulled off to the side of a bridge once we were in town and waited for the orphanage worker to come and guide us to the orphanage. After about 15 min a little white van pulled up and we followed it the rest of the way. We passed through the main part of downtown – which has a river running through it and is very pretty. The area around the orphanage was very dirty and run down. The road leading up to it was dirt and gravel. But then in typical Chinese style, you arrive at the actual building and it is a modern new looking building with a large front gate. This building is the government social welfare building, not just the orphanage. It was surrounded by several other buildings where they care for the elderly and disabled people. It was very quiet outside – almost as if there was no one there.

We went upstairs to the top floor using the elevator. The elevator opens into a hallway area with glass doors leading into a playroom. This floor had two big rooms – the playroom and a bedroom. The playroom had a few older children playing – there was a slide and a little tunnel you could crawl through. Also there were about 5 ride-on animals on springs like we have at outdoor parks in America. In this room there was also a TV with some type of cartoon playing. There were about 6 nannies that came to greet us. They all seemed very happy that we had come to visit and were cheerful and smiling. You’ll see in the pictures they are the ones wearing the blue coats. Both of these rooms had marble/tile floors.

We were allowed to take pictures and videos with no problems. The bedroom had about 75 cribs in it. All of the cribs had babies in them except for the ones our babies left just a few days ago. Chloe's was the only one from our group whose crib already had another baby in it. They were arranged in double rows around the room. The babies were arranged by age, with the youngest ones 2 to a crib and the older (5mos+) in a crib by themselves. Every baby was covered with a big quilt and had on several layers of clothes. None of the babies had on diapers like we are accustomed to. Chinese baby clothes have a split in the middle so there are no snaps or anything. The babies had a piece of cloth covering their bottom and then a piece of plastic – it almost looked like a piece of a tarp – covering that. All of this was held on with a piece of string tied around their waist. I only saw one toy in one of the cribs. There were bright pictures painted on the walls and the curtains at the window were cute kid patterns. The positives about this orphanage were that the workers were cheerful, and it was mostly clean. But there were so many babies and so few workers! There were only about 10 walkers total in the playroom and most of the other toys there were only appropriate for older children. I asked if the nannies were assigned to care for specific babies. All 6 nannies share the duties of caring for all the babies. It really made me sad to see row after row of babies with no one to belong to. I don’t believe that the babies had much if any opportunity to go outside. There just aren’t enough workers to manage. It seemed as though the babies spend most of their time lying in their cribs. The nannies have their hands full changing diapers and feeding everyone – so I think that beyond having their basic needs met the babies are mostly left to entertain and comfort themselves. If we could have all stood in that room and if it were possible I think we would have left with as many babies as we could carry. I prayed that God would move even at that moment to prompt people to come for those babies and that the doors would open for the Chinese government to allow even more adoptions.

There were several older children who were playing in the playroom while we were there. They followed us around and were fascinated with our cameras. They loved it when we took their pictures and then showed them the image on the digital screen. We were told that one of the little boys was going to America soon (Praise God!), and that the older girl that we saw was special needs with a heart problem. It was very sad getting on the elevator and leaving all of those precious babies behind – several of us were crying on the way down.

Mabel, our wonderful, awesome guide, had a list of all of the places that our babies were abandoned and she made arrangements for the orphanage worker to accompany us to show us where each place was. What a privilege and blessing that God gave us the opportunity to see and capture this little bit of our daughter’s past – painful as it is. Chloe was left on a bridge. When we arrived there I was amazed that anyone could abandon a baby in such a busy place and not be seen. I wonder if she was left at night when it was dark. The intersection where she was left was as busy and full of traffic as the intersection of Hurstbourne and Shelbyville Road. I was able to get out of the bus and stand there for a moment. There was a group of men there who might have been waiting for a bus or something. They all stared at me and were talking and pointing. Mabel said that they were wondering why so many foreigners were in Shao Guan but she did not tell them because she said they would follow the bus in curiosity. I was able to take several pictures and a brief video – I found it very difficult to imagine leaving a 2 day old baby there, but I know that Chloe’s mom wanted her to be found. That is why such a busy place – so I am choosing to believe that she cared so much that she was willing to risk being seen (in such a busy place) to make sure that her baby would be found quickly. The other babies in our group were all found in different places - a factory, a middle school, a supermarket store, and one right outside the gates of the orphanage. When we finally arrived back in Guangzhou and I was able to hug Chloe and see her sweet little smile I was so thankful that she was not lying in a crib far away – waiting for someone to belong to anymore. She belongs to us!

With love and tears - Angie