Thanks so much for visiting
us during our journey,
Danny, LeeAnn
and Caroli! |
October 28, 2005
Orphanage Trip |
As
LeeAnn mentioned in yesterday’s post, Derek and I traveled to the
orphanage in QingLiu county, Sanming city. The trip was the most
amazing venture I have ever taken. We were considered by the locals as
dignitaries and were accorded all the hospitality they had at their
disposal. It was moving to see where little Caroli slept and the
courtyard where they would walk her. I also had the privledge to eat
water buffalo hooves. Like I said this was an amazing trip.
Let me start at the beginning.
We left the hotel at 8:00 in the morning on what was supposed to be
a five hour trip. Traveling were myself, Derek (the other dad), Sylvia
(our interpreter), and Mr. Xie, the director of the orphanage. We drove
across town and took a highway west into the mountains. The highway
part of the drive was about three hours and included passage through
many tunnels cut through ever higher mountains. Some tunnels were
several miles long. The mountains at first were like those near
Pasadena but quickly became bigger as we traveled.
After a brief rest stop we got off the main road and headed into
the recesses of rural China. I was amazed at the scenery. We seemed to
travel along a river. The further we went the deeper the river gorge
became until finally the river disappeared altogether. At the bottom of
the river basin we noticed tiny villages and plenty of farmland. Mostly
they were growing rice and since it is harvest time here the workers
were very busy in the fields. They were also busy on the sides of the
roads. Every so often brown rectangular shapes would appear on the side
of the road. They were drying the rice there. Workers were using hand
made brooms to spread it around. Sometimes we could see chickens in the
rice helping themselves before the rice was sent to market. We had to
be careful because the farmers use the road to herd all of their
animals. Water buffalo were plentiful and were generally seen being led
by older men and women. We actually saw a man herding geese and another
trying to redirect his goats to another field.
All this time My. Xie was on the phone (try to get cell service
like this in the US!). As it turns out he was busy arranging
lunch for us in a small town on our way to the orphanage. The rode to
the town was very rough and it took us two hours to get there from the
highway. Upon entering the town we were flagged down by two men on a
small scooter. As it turns out, one of them was the local orphanage
director and a good friend of Mr. Xie. We followed them to a storefront
where we unloaded ourselves out of the van.
Mr. Xie’s friend was visibly excited and was talking much faster
than Sylvia could interpret. He was telling us how excited he was to
have us there and that he was honored to provide us lunch. After a
round of introductions we were led to the third floor and into a small
room. A round table was set and there were three other men in the room.
They were local businessmen who help the orphanages. They were also
excited to see us. As we were seated on either side of the host Sylvia
explained that we were considered dignitaries and the local businessmen
wanted to meet us and spend time together. Meanwhile, Mr. Xie’s friend
was giving instructions to servers. Shortly after that the procession
of food began. The table had a large lazy susan in the middle where
they would place each dish. Items were brought out one at a time and
our host would explain what it was and place some of the dish in a
small bowl for us. We had 12 dishes served and we ate some of all of
it. Included in the feast was soy bean skin, water buffalo hooves, a
mixture of eggs, mushrooms vegetables and shrimp, bamboo, fried shrimp
(still in the shell and you don’t bother peeling them - they’re too
small), taro, taro dumplings, a vegetable soup, water buffalo meat,
fish (the whole thing - fins and all), fried rice and Chinese pancakes.
To wash it down we had hot rice wine and bottled water. There were many
toasts and lots of pictures. It was also emphasized that all of the
food was local and that the fish and shrimp came from the local
river.
After lunch we traveled another hour on roads that continued to
worsen. Finally, we arrived at the orphanage. We were greeted at the
gate by the entire staff. Even though we were eager to go inside we had
also come to understand what it meant to these people for us to be
there. You see, we are the first Americans to ever visit here. And only
the third and fourth couples to ever adopt. The workers were very
excited to see us and we had pictures made in various groupings and
finally with each individual worker.
There was a man videotaping the entire thing and he could hardly
hold his camera still. Sometimes they would forget that we do not speak
Chinese and would all be talking to us at once.
When we entered the orphanage the worker who had found Caroli
grabbed my arm and too me to a empty bed and pointed to it shouting,
“Li Wie! Li Wie!” I had been led to my daughters bed.
The room was small and had openings for windows, but
no glass. There were only four beds there and one large one for a staff
member to sleep in. As it turned out this was a small orphanage and the
four beds were all they had. The stuffed toys donated by the other
couple adorned the wall. There were few toys. The floor and walls were
bare concrete. The place was amazingly clean.
We were given a brief tour which led us to another building where
we found seven very old Chinese residents playing a version of Chinese
cards. This was the senior side of the welfare institute. We were then
told that the staff had prepared fruits and bottled water for us. The
entire staff met us in a large room.
We communicated as well as we could. They wanted assurances that
we would send pictures so they could see the progress of the children.
It seems that more lives have been touched than just ours. I made the
promises and will keep them. These are truly wonderful people who are
doing as much as possible with very limited resources. I am thankful
that our little girl was in their care. The obviously love her very
much.
Before we left we were shown a wall which had a large framed group
of pictures. Across the top were large pictures of each of the four
babies that had been adopted, and under each was a picture made of the
parents and child. Derek and I couldn’t believe it. It was another
humbling moment in a series of humbling experiences that day.
As we drove home it was getting dark. The rice on the side of the
road was dry and being swept in to small piles to be bagged and sent to
market. Six more hours and I would be back at the hotel, forever
touched by the kindness and sincerity of these people. And knowing that
someday the whole family would return so that Caroli could meet some of
the people who cared for her and loved her so much. |
| Family Poster In Orphanage |
| Rice Drying On The Sides Of The Road.... |
| Rice Piled For Bagging... |
| Hand Sock For Neck Rash Scratch Prevention |
| |
