Thanks so much for visiting us during our journey, Jim, Vickie, Amber, Anagrace and Austin!
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March 16, 2006
Well this will be our last post from Nanjing. We will be packing our bags this evening and will fly out to Guangzhou for the last leg of our trip. We are anxious to get to Guangzhou and do some serious shopping!
Today we loaded up and headed for a visit to Austin's orphanage. We had mixed feelings about it, but knew that we needed to make the visit so we could get pictures of where Austin spent the first 2 1/2 years of his life.
Before we arrived, our guide explained to Austin that we were going back to the orphanage to visit and so he could say goodbye to all of his friends. She explained to him that he would be going back home with his family. He reached over and grabbed a hold of my hand--yes, he understood what she had just said to him.
The orphanage grounds were just beautiful! Nanjing Orphanage is considered to be one of the best orphanage in the entire country of China. The director was standing outside the building to greet us as we were unloading. I could feel Austin's grip getting a little tighter as we started to head inside. They took us into the office where there were 4 or 5 desks, including the deputy director's. There was a board on the wall which had tags hanging from it. Each tag had a number and writing on it. We were told that these tags represented each child that was housed at the orphanage. We presented our orphanage donation to the deputy director and then our gifts. Then it was onward for the tour. The director again explained to Austin that he was just there to visit and that he would be going back home with us. He nodded that he understood, but Jim and I were both starting to get a little nervous.
As we were walking over to the other building, we could see some of the nannies with a few of the little ones outside in the courtyard taking a walk. The babies were too small to walk on their own, but we were told that they were getting some fresh air and exercise--what a wonderful sight to see!
As we went into the courtyard of the children's building we saw about 5 children sitting at a little table getting ready to have a snack. It was evident that these children were all mentally disabled. Jim stopped to take some pictures, it was so nice to be given the freedom to take pictures of anything that we wanted, including the children. They started up 2 flights of stairs. We were told that the building that we were going into houses the 2-5 yr olds and that they had just moved into this building because they are doing remodeling of the original facility. As soon as we got to the top of the 2nd flight of stairs we saw a group of children sitting in a room watching some type of video. As I started to walk in Austin freaked out! He planted his feet and he was NOT going into that room. So I picked him up and tried to console him, but there was nothing that I could do. Our guide and the director both kept trying to explain to him that he was not staying but he kept pushing them away, he did not want to hear anything that they were saying to him. He just cried and cried. It was a horrible scene. Jim tried to hurry and take the pictures so we could keep moving. Then if matters were not already bad enough the news had spread that we were there with Ausin and it didn't take long that we were surrounded by a bunch of nannies. His main caregiver tried to take him out of my arms but he was hanging on for dear life. "wa I knee ma ma" he kept saying to me (I love you mama). My heart was being torn apart, this was not how I had envisioned this visit at all. The caregiver was very upset and started to cry herself. I know that it had to hurt her feelings that she had loved and cared for this little boy for so long and after 3 days he didn't want anything to do with her. Finally Jim spoke up and said we have got to get out of here, well that was a good idea but I had a crying toddler attached to my body and about 5 caregivers pulling at him from all different directions. Finally Jim just started pushing me from behind so we could keep moving down the hallway. They took us into another room, there were 2 separate rooms, each having about 12 beds in them. They showed us which bed was Austin's. He didn't seem to care one bit. I tried to talk to him about how great his room was and how nice is was that he had a big window beside his bed. Unfortunately it didn't help. As we turned around to leave his room one of the caregivers had brought in a little girl. Come to find out the little girl slept beside Austin and was one of his best friends. Austin was still sobbing at this point but managed to say, bo bo (the little girl's knick name). No smile, nothing, he just wanted out of there. As we were leaving, they showed us a very large wooden cabinet with a curtain that hung over the front. Inside of it were piles and piles of clothes for the children. Needless to say, the clothes were all in very good condition and they were clean and folded neatly. It is obvious that Austin had been very well cared for. And even though the visit was very upsetting, I'm still glad that we did it. It was so good to see the love and care that all of the children receive there. The staff were all in nice, clean uniforms. All very well groomed and professional looking. And while it was an upsetting time for Austin, I hope that someday he will be able to appreciate the photographs that we were able to get for him so he can have some documentation of the first 2 1/2 years of his life.
As we were loading up into the van to leave Austin started waving bye bye to all of the staff and for his main caregiver, he finally gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I think that it made her feel a little better, but he never did let her hold him.
Once we loaded into the van, he was back to his old smiling self again. He climbed up into my lap, told me wa I knee mama and fell asleep. He's upstairs taking a nap right now, afterwards we are going to the park to play for a while. The weather has warmed up and the sun is shining. We're looking forward to finally being able to spend some time outside.
Thank you all for your continued prayers. Next time we post we'll be in Guangzhou where we're hoping for sunny skies and warm-short weather.
The Bennetts
