Today we were all up for the 4 hour trip (one way) to the place Aliyah called home for all but five days of her first eight months before joining our family. This place was the Yangxi Social Welfare Institute. We had a chance to meet the assistant orphanage director, the nannies, and see the cribs where each of the six girls adopted by our group from this orphanage slept. It was a very emotional and rewarding day.
First the journey there began at 8:00am. This was early for Aliyah, Liz and John. Before this we were getting out by around 9-9:30am. So the early up and out required a little more planning plus we had a 10 hour day ahead of us to plan meals and such for Aliyah. All this went without a hitch so to our friends we have a fighting chance of being on time to events. We traveled a little west out of Guangzhou and then south. Getting out of a big city and seeing the other part of China was interesting in itself. We crossed many large rivers including the Pearl River which is the 4th largest in China. The land is tropical with farms of rice, vegetables, sugar cane and ponds for raising fish. There are a lot more of these ponds than I ever expected. We traveled through some lush green mountains along the way that were very beautiful. The roads were quite good highways for most of our journey. You can see the cities growing by leaps and bounds. Newly constructed multi-story apartment houses being built right up to the farmers rice patties and fish ponds. I personally expected more rural areas between the cities, but the areas near the highway were pretty built up.
The assistant orphanage director who had delivered the children into our arms on September 18th and meet with us the next day greeted us as we arrived at the orphanage. She is a wonderful woman with a great heart for the children in her care. Four of the six children that came to families in the group made the trip and she was excited and happy to see them. She checked on each of the little ones and asked us questions regarding them. She asked about the fever Aliyah had the day after we received her (which she had pointed out to us) and was happy to she was over the fever. All the families sat around a table and had some fruit while we spoke using our guide and an interpreter. We learned that the orphanage has around 70 children at one time including some children that are disabled. She shared some comments on each child with the parents as we compared what we had experienced with our children and how they behaved at the orphanage. The director again described Aliyah as very active and fun. She was a little surprised that Aliyah was struggling to get to sleep as we had observed. She suggested feed her right before bed (which we were doing) and a nightlight. We were amazed at how much she knew about each child.
Next she invited us to go up to the room where our children had stayed. There were a total of 35 cribs in the room (not all cribs were full). She showed us the crib Aliyah had stayed in and told us that for some time she shared a crib with another girl who was recently adopted. Those parents had told her they would seek us out to make a connection with the girls. And there was a picture of the two of them on the camera they had returned to us. You could see the excitement of the nannies as they came to their particular favorites. It was heartwarming to see the happiness of one nanny to see Aliyah again and to know how well loved and cared for these children are.
Next it was on to the finding places of each of the girls. Aliyah was first. Not more than three blocks from the orphanage, along a very busy road in front of the Forest Bureau, Aliyah was left by the boxwood bushes lining the road in a box by a man. Another man immediately found her and reported this to the police who took her to the orphanage. It was emotional to be there (Liz had tears in her eyes) and have only a few moments to take it all in. We gathered a twig from the bushes and took a sample of the soil from the ground and it was over. We repeated the process for each of the five families. Then we dropped off the assistant director who with tears in her eyes waved goodbye.
As we departed the, Amy, our guide who has done this for 10 years explained that this assistant director and orphanage are different than most of the others. We were truly lucky to have our daughter in their care. The assistant director encouraged us to send pictures to the orphanage as Aliyah grows and we will. I know because of their hearts for the children they will appreciate it.
For any other families given the opportunity to go to the orphanage where your child stayed and see the finding spot, take the opportunity no matter how long the trip it will be worth it.
The crib room
Finding spot
The 4 girls who made the trip
Aliyah looking at her orphanage crib (wood bedding is traditional for children in this part of china)
