A Visit to the Orphanage…from Pete

Pictures of our day...very out of order, but I am way to tired to organize! Charlie and friend at orphanage.
Us at the Twin Towers Buddist Temple
Director, ex asst. director, us, new asst director, ayi at Qing stature...1000 years old!
Close up of us at Qing temple.Charlie's bed!!!! It was empty, so they added the blanket and pillow so we could see how he slept.

Charlie's favorite Ayi (nanny)
Playground at orphanage
View of orphanage building Sad Charlie at Buddist Temple

One of the twin towers at the temple. Ex-asst director, Katherine (guide), us, Director, Ayi

Pete with Charlie's new friend who will go home to Loudon County, VA in 6 weeks.
Charlie and Xie Xuan (Ella) who will go home to Washington State soon!
Lisa with the girls...Xie Xing (has a family but I don't know them), Xie Ju (going to Rhode Island), Xie Xuan (going to WA state)
Director, us, ex-asst director. We bought the orphanage 2 washing machines, diapers and formula as a gift.
Charlie's finding spot (which was on July 26, 2006...he was 4 months old)

More pics...

Well today was truly a once in a lifetime experience…we spent the day in Quanzhou at Charlie’s orphanage. It was fascinating and we’re really lucky to have seen it. We thought it would be a rainy and windy day w/ the Typhoon making landfall today…but the Typhoon went much further south, so we were treated to a clear, sunny…and yes…HOT day on the road. Quanzhou is about a 2 ½ hour drive south of Fuzhou on the coast….we felt lucky to get their safely. With Charlie on our lap, we passed one very, very bad accident involving two trucks. One was piled so high with boxes you would not believe it…another had boxes full of some liquid in bottles. Both trucks contents were spilled all over the highway and one trucks passenger side was missing. Then about 5 minutes later a speeding care drove past. We then passed him 5 minutes later as he was facing the wrong direction on the highway! He had apparently spun out!

We drove directly to the orphanage in the middle of the city. It is actually a pretty spacious orphanage…it includes not just an orphanage, but also a “retirement home” for senior citizens. The staff were, of course, very excited to see Charlie again…they had told us that he was a favorite of the Nanny’s and that he was spoiled there…but you had to see the doting and fawning to believe it!! Most of the younger children were “at home” while the older kids were at school, so we did not get to meet all the kids…but the staff gave us a great tour of the dormitory and we were able to hang out with all the little ones. We gave all the kids “pencils and pads” and “dumdum lollipops”…I think the lollipops were more popular. Katherine, our guide tells us this is one of the best orphanages she works with…the conditions are clean and spacious and the staff are very caring (we’ve included some pictures here). The children seemed happy and Charlie came alive when we went up to the orphanage. He ran to all the children and staff and looked in the rooms. He even comforted one of the children who was crying in a crib. Lisa was particularly struck by a brand new baby girl who was brought to the orphanage the previous night. She had a very severe cleft lip and palate. She was very tiny. She asked the staff if they had the special cleft bottles…yes, yes they said. That didn’t satisfy her. She then asked if they knew how to feed her and that she needed a lot of time to finish her bottle. Yes, they said. Then later at lunch, she brought the baby up again. This time she told Katherine that she was so concerned because she knows the difficulty of taking care of a cleft baby since Clara was born with one. That seemed to make them understand why she was so worried about this little baby girl.

We were also very happy to be able to meet 4 children who are in the process of being adopted. The first is a little girl going home to Washington state. The second a little girl going to Rhode Island. We were so happy to meet a little boy who is going home to Loudon County, VA in about 6 weeks. Lisa has made friends with the mom through all her yahoo and email connections. This little boy does not live at Charlie’s orphanage, but a neighboring one. However, the staff were nice enough to bring him to our orphanage so we could meet him. All the things the staff did for us was above and beyond. Our adoption experience can only be described as extraordinary.

We certainly owe a sincere debt of gratitude to the entire staff of the orphanage, not only did they care for Charlie, but they really pulled out all the stops to provide us access to the orphanage. But the hospitality did not stop with the orphanage tour…the staff (Director, Vice Director, Nanny, and Former-Vice Director) spent the entire day with us touring Quanzhou. The tour started with a quick spot at Charlie’s “finding place”…they took us to a small alley off a major commercial road downtown…although we are hazy on the EXACT location, we were able to get an idea of where he was abandoned. From there we went to an awesome lunch in a local hotel. We were in VIP Room 19 for a private lunch with the group. The lunch was a lot of fun and included some new “delicacies” in my gastronomical tour of china – shaved giant sea clam, and cow’s stomach…they were both very good.

After lunch we all piled back into the vans (2) and headed across town to “Two Towers” Temple (this is not the actual name, I just can’t recall it now). It was a very interesting stop, The temple is very large and flanked by two tall, ancient stone towers…the area is filled with giant (and probably very old) Banyan trees…very neat. From there we drove up into the local hills/mountains to visit another ancient religious site…it is a very large stone statue (over 1000 years old) located in a quaint hillside garden…Charlie was pulled along on this entire tour…multiple stops, 100 degree heat, and eight adults pulling him this way and that…by the end he was clearly on his last bits of energy and slept a good portion of the way back to Fuzhou.

A quick note from Lisa: we got Charlie to laugh! We were very worried about our return to the hotel. Charlie was clearly looking for his ayi when the van stopped. He whimpered and cried. When we got to our room he let loose crying again “Ayi, Ayi!” he screamed. We thought we were in for it for the night. We quickly went to dinner at the hotel and it was if a different boy came out! He was silly, laughing, chatting away (don’t know what he said though!). However, when we got back upstairs, he got into his usual “have to have things my way or no way” routine. He yelled when I said he couldn’t put his open coconut milk on his favorite spot on the couch (I know, bad mommy) and he cried harder when I tried to move him over so I could sit, too. He eventually fell asleep sitting up (for the second night in a row). We decided better to let him fall asleep peacefully than traumatically in bed for now. I think we need to start setting some limits on him though…we tested him and he clearly was crying to get his way. Not big things, but the little things.

It was a great day…educational and perspective changing. We certainly learned that no orphanage in China is alike…we are so fortunate that Charlie was lucky enough to be placed with such a caring and professional group. You can tell by the seriousness of the post that it was a very important day. So much happened…we are still soaking it all in. Thanks to everyone at Li Cheng District Quanzhou City SWI.

Entrance to the orphanage with staff.