Day 8 In China- 3 Years Ago

February 8, 2006

Orphanage Visit

This day I had been dreading. But I was going to make myself go, because I wanted to be able to tell Molly about it when she is older. I think what made this trip today even worse for me is we were the only family going on this trip. Molly was the only child referred from this orphanage on this trip. So Shirley hired a driver and and a local guide to occupancy us. The guide is nice enough (I forget her name) but she spoke broken english. The driver was nice enough but I think he was a race car driver at heart!!

The trip took about 2 hours and was mostly highway traveling. The city of Shenzhen is mainly a industry town. It was not as "pretty" as Guangzhou or Beijing. After a few wrong turns we made it there. The orphanage is off a busy highway, with a guard and gated entrance. The building itself is new looking and well kept. The staff met us by the van and couldn't wait to get a hold of Molly. We were lead though to the courtyard/ playground area. The orphanage has about 5 stories to it and you could hear children all around. We were not allowed to photograph the other children. We were taken to Molly's room. The front area was basically a empty room with a wooden floor and some toys and walkers around. Very neat (they knew we were coming) and organized. Through a door was the bedroom area. Cribs on one side and toddler beds on the other.

The bottom picture here is the bed Molly slept in. Her name was still on the foot of it. She did not want to be on this bed! We visited with the staff as they passed Molly around getting a hug from her. There were several little kids here. Most were crawling around our feet. I am told many have special needs with heart defeats. It is very difficult to see these little ones. I bent down and hugged on some. Most were a little frightened of us. But as we prepared to leave the room, one little one in particular laid on the floor at my feet and cried. Very sad for this new momma that would take them all home if they let me! The photo on the top is Molly's primary Nannie or caregiver at the orphanage. She did not want to let her go (even had some tears when we left).

We were taken to the office area and offered hot water to drink. The guide and staff were trying to find directions to Molly's finding spot. So we talked to those who could speak a little English and I fixed Molly a bottle. I had switched her to the Playtex bottles that take a bag in them. The nannies and folks there were so amazed with this. They were bringing people in from I don't know where to see it. Finally it was time to leave. I used the bathroom before we left. My first squatty potty. It was clean enough I guess. But when I washed my hands at the sink the water ran out onto the floor under my feet to a floor drain.
So we got back in the van and started looking for Molly's finding spot. The traffic was horrible! Sights were a little scary for me and the guy was driving like a mad man. We had to stop several times for him to ask for directions. At one point he slammed on the breaks to keep from hitting a dog. This sent us to the floor and Molly started to cry (I wanted to too). They had the heat on in the van and it was 70+ degrees, so I was sweating like a pig and holding on to Molly for dear life. (no car seats or seatbelts in china) She was getting tired of it too. At one point I looked at David and said I wanted to go back to the hotel. But the driver kept to his task and we finally pulled over to the side of the road and announced we were here. Huh? Sure enough the guide read her paper and agrees with the driver. So we get out. We walk to the corner and under the street light (in the top Pic) near the bushes in a cardboard box is where a police officer found her. She was wrapped in a yellow towel. The police station is located just opposite of this corner. This tells us her birth mother wanted her to be found and be safe. The bottom photo is us standing in front of that police station. In another direction is a farmers market. We are stared at by a lot of people but none ever approached us. Finally we were on our way home.

I were glad the day was over and back at the hotel. Some of the families gathered in the hotel hallway to exchange orphanage visit trips with eachother. At the end of the day I was glad we went.