We were able to take the 90 minute drive to Dingxi this morning. I was so taken with the landscape. I was so surprised that it was so agricultural. I imagined a desert, I have been looking at photos of Gansu province and it seemed pretty arid. This is a big agricultural area. We saw lots of crops. As a matter of fact Dingxi is famous for potatoes. Our driver told us it is the best place in China for potatoes. It was so interesting. The highway was in a valley with mountain ranges of each side. In the valley was a variety of crops (corn, potatoes, alfalfa, onions, orchards. . .) and it seemed like a small operation. There were smaller areas for each crop without a defined shape, just where they happen to be. Many of the crops were also terraced and I saw a few workers dressed in traditional farming attire out walking the crops. There were small and modest homes placed every so often within the groups of crops. And in the distance, maybe a mile or so away from the crops, there were these huge industrial milling and processing centers and 6-story buildings, then nothing. This set up was all along the way, we saw maybe 12 little communities like this. I was born in Idaho and have seen my far share of crops and farming, and I have never seen anything like this. I tried to take some photos, but they are a little blurry from the moving car.
This is the Yellow River outside of Lanzhou.
We arrived at the orphanage around 10AM and stayed about an hour. We got to meet more of the nannies and also another one of the directors. It was fun to give them the gifts and our guide also brought a lot of fresh fruit. I was just impressed with the staff. We had our photo taken out front and they seemed pleased to see us. The building has been there since the 1950s and one wing is used for the orphanage and the rest of the building is used apartments for the elderly. I got the impression that some were apartments for seniors who need financial assistance and a portion of the housing was a nursing home.
I was happy to see a place that was cheerful. There were bright colors and it was clean. There were only about 25 kids. I would say about half of the children were two and under. All of the children had special needs. There was one little girl that melted my heart, and if our 8 passenger vehicle wasn't already full, I would be very tempted. She was abandoned with a huge surgical scar on her abdomen. No one knows why the scar is there or what happened to her. Some of the other special needs were downs syndrome, "back problems", neurological and other common and uncommon needs. I can only imagine how challenging it would be to care for all these children. I think they do a marvelous job. They really survive on donations.They do not place children very often for adoption. The director was holding a little girl and said her file had been submitted and was waiting for 3 years. They said our family has been the only family to adopt a child so far this year. They said they had a "few" foreign adoptions a year. And "almost never" have domestic placements.
It was clear that Will was loved deeply. They showered him with affection and asked all sorts of questions about what medical procedures he would have done when we got home and what medical intervention would do for him. We told them about the process to fix his club foot and they asked if he would ever walk "normally". We pointed to Jacob and said he had the exact same thing, right club foot, and it was fixed perfectly. They seemed amazed that Jacob ever had a problem and were very pleased that such results were possible. They asked us to email updates of his progress. They were very thankful that we would take good care of him. It was a very sweet and earnest sentiment.
On the tour they showed us his old crib and it was fun to see him interact and feel so familiar with it all. He also loved a baby walker, loved it. Since we have had him his core strength has seemed so weak, but in that walker. . . the boy can move! It's great to see that he can be so active and happy in a familiar surrounding. Since being with us he has been very reserved and reflective. (As I think most children would be.) Seeing him with his friends and nannies was a wonderful sight. I am so glad we got to go.
All and all it was a great day. The older boys had fun and took lots of pictures with the instant camera. Will seemed so loved and I know they did their best. An orphanage can never replace a family, but if he did need to stay there. I am so grateful it was as good as it was.
We also got to see William's finding spot. When he was left it was at a bus stop by a government building. They were able to share a photo of what he was wearing that day. He had a special warm blanket and also had some formula and special cream for his hands and feet. Our guide told us that usually birthparents who leave a child by a government building do so because they hope a government employee with find them and want to adopt them. Government employees are considered very prosperous and well off. They were not able to parent him but I think they wanted to best future possible for him. He was found in the morning after a huge snow storm. They named him "Chen", which means morning in Chinese. His last name is "Fu," meaning from the children's welfare institute. I loved finding out more about the orphanage and about the first 17 months of his life. It really was a privilege.
2 comments:
What an amazing visit! Thank you for sharing. You will be able to tell him so much about his time there when he gets older!
So wonderful!!
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