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
The countryside between
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
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
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
With love and tears - Angie
2 Comments:
Dear, Dear Angie,
Thank you for sharing your orphanage-trip experiences. We laughed (the bus ride!) and cried (to think of all those babies lying in cribs) and gave thanks to God for cheerful caregivers trying their best to care for those many babies. How fortunate are those who are adopted by families such as the Northrups of Goshen, KY! We send our love and prayers to all of you
and especially to Chloe Grace, one of the fortunate ones! Mom N.
By Anonymous, at January 9, 2005 at 12:22 AM
You have the capability of descriptive writing that makes it almost seem that we are there along with you. My heart is just aching after reading about your experiences! Aching to think of those babies needing 'forever families' and aching with joy that Chloe has you guys! Do you remember me saying that I have a dear friend in Missouri that is getting her sweet baby Kylee from China? I got their itinerary and they are in China now...will be receiving Kylee on the 10th in Changsha(?) and then staying in the White Swan hotel!! Praise God one more empty crib! xo, Leslie
By Anonymous, at January 9, 2005 at 1:56 AM
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