Thanks so much for visiting us during our journey, Jim, Vickie, Amber, Anagrace and Austin!
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March 6, 2006 Zhanjiang Orphanage Visit
Hello to everyone,
I know that there are many people waiting to hear about our visit today and we are so anxious to share w/everyone.
In Dec 2004 our travel group of 9 families flew down to ZJ to receive our babies. While we were grateful to have the rare opportunity to actually receive our girls at the orphanage rather than the civil affairs office, it was a very short visit, and for me, a very disappointing day because we were escorted into a conference room off of the courtyard, handed our babies, asked a few questions, and then left. We never even made it past the first step. It left many unanswered questions, like where did our girls spend their days, what were their lives like, who cared for them, were they able to have any play time? I knew that I would have to travel back, but never dreamed it would be so soon.
We were told that Anagrace had been found in a market, no note so they estimated her to be a day old. So our goal was to return to the city and find the market in addition to checking her file at the orphanage to see if there was any small morsel of information that we could find to be able to give to our daughter about her life.
Also, since our first trip to China, I have had a very large whole in my heart where I have housed all of the girls who remained behind at ZJ and for those who would drive thru those orphanage gates in the future. Knowing that I could not offer them all a home I decided that the only way I knew how to help them was to get involved. While I had good intentions, the task ahead of me seemed like a large mountain as the ZJ orphanage was not one that allowed foreigners to go inside its' gates often and if you did, there were very few things that you were permitted to see. So myself and some other parents got together to form a core group of parents to represent the ZJ families and our desire to help those children who remain behind. There have been many months since our inception and a lot of hours put into this day leading up to this trip. We organized a fundraiser to purchase items for the orphanage and the families who have adopted children from ZJ stepped up to plate and answered the call! Without their support we couldn't have made it this far. Once the funds were raise, we then started to do a lot of praying that God would start opening the doors. It was my heart's desire that the staff knew that our intentions were good and that we wanted to work together as a team to make these kids lives better, however that may be. We are two countries on opposite sides of the world and it is not always easy for either side to have the trust of ones thoughts or intentions, both being afraid to open up for fear of having that trust betrayed. I hope that makes since to those of you reading this, it's just so hard to put all of this into words.
Fast forward 15 months later, our guide has made her final phone call confirming our arrival the night before and all that's left to do now is to have faith that God will move mountains for these children. God's word is very clear about His love for children and about our responsibility to care for the orphans and widows. It is not a grey area; we are all commanded to do so. So with this, we pressed forward. We drove up to the gate of the orphanage, as we climbed out of the van I could feel my knees were weak. Would we be whisked thru a few doors like our first visit, would we be rushed or made to feel like we our presence was not really welcomed and we were only being tolerated because we came bearing many gifts...the unknown was so overwhelming. I prayed and asked God to give me the grace to get thru it, to give me the wisdom of words to speak and to open the heart of the director.
We waited in the court yard as the guard called up to the director. We took many pictures even though we had been there before, this time there were many elderly people sitting out enjoying the sunshine and there were many disabled children moving around the courtyard. Some in wheelchairs, some w/crutches, and some walking w/severe limps. The director came walking out to greet us, along w/two of her assistants. One I recognized from our first visit, she spoke very good English and her English name is Elsa. We said our hellos and stood in the courtyard making some small talk, looking over the grounds and the buildings. We then presented the album that was made by one of our ZJ mothers. There were pictures of many of the families who had donated to our drive. We were careful to include the Chinese name and their baby pictures to help the staff identify them. It went very well and my nerves were starting to ease a little. As soon as the director shut the book she began to speak to our guide. I could tell immediately tell that the tone had changed and it was now down to business. Our guide said, the director has reviewed Anagrace's fie and there was no new information in there for us. My heart just sank, this did not seem like a very good start. But I just forced a smile and said thank you for checking for us. I immediately went into my business mode and started talking business right back at her. The words just flowed as our guide started to translate for me. The director would nod as she would translate and when I was finished the director said, where does she want to go and what does she want to see--but no pictures of anything inside except for documenting the items that were donated by the families. I was so stunned by her response that my mind went blank for a moment. So I thought--think BIG Vickie, this may be your only chance. So I blurted out, the nursery, I want to see the nursery. She shook her head yes and off we went.
The orphanage building itself is fairly new and the outside is beautiful. This building was able to be built due to the amount of international adoptions that they have done over the years. The old orphanage still remains and is used to house the older special needs children. We climbed onto the elevator and went to the 4th floor. The floors are set up like a hotel that has the hallways on the outside and the rooms all off to one side. The first few rooms that we went to were two offices, the first was for office staff, the second had 4 desks, one sitting behind each other. These are the director's assistants. The next room was the director's office. Besides her desk there was a sofa and chair. She asked us to sit down after which she came over with an arm full of photo albums. Here they were albums filled w/pictures of photos of the girls that had been adopted from there that the parents have sent to her throughout the years. Personally, I feel that she wanted me to know that she does receive the pictures and that she does keep them. So we sifted thru the pictures and then off to the very next room.
Honesty, what I expected to see when I went into the nursery was an empty room w/rows of cribs that were empty. But when we came to the doorway I know that my heart must have skipped a beat. There lying on the floor were babies--lots and lots of babies!! The director bounced into the room, went over to one of them, scooped her up in her arms and started to talk and play with the baby. Of course I was standing back keeping my distance. She walked over to me w/the baby to show her to me and my first reaction was to reach out to hold her. And she handed her to me. I could hardly believe what was happening; it still feels like it was all a dream ~ a wonderful dream!
The nursery was divided into 3 rooms, only to be divided by a wall of windows, so you could see thru all 3 rooms. The first room that we entered into housed the infant’s 7-12 mo old. There were cribs lined all the way around the room, but most were empty because the babies were on the floor which is covered by a rubber play mate. There were probably15 babies that were scattered all over laying and there were 4 nannies sitting w/them with big bowls of congee (only 1 spoon per bowl which explains why when one gets sick, they all get sick).
The second room housed the newborns to 4 months of age and the back room housed the 5-7 month olds. In the back two rooms the cribs were lined up in rows, with each row consisting of 2 cribs sitting side by side. The babies were all lying on their backs and most were awake as they were waiting to be changed and then fed. The babies' diapers consisted of a piece of cloth, looking very similar to shop rags. The nannies would whip them off and fling them into a large pile than replace them as if moving in fast motion. They would then put the bottles in the babies' mouths and once they started sucking they would prop them up w/their blankets.
Once the director had handed me the first baby I had made up my mind that I was going to keep going until the director said it was time to move on--that never happened. I started in the first room and went from crib to crib. Jim followed in behind me and then Amber (our 16 yr old daughter) followed him. We all 3 visited every crib, picking up and holding those sweet precious babies. If a baby was sleeping I would take a few minutes to rub on her cheek and on her soft little hands. Crib by crib, row by row, not one single baby was left untouched. We loved on them and prayed over each and every baby in that nursery---all 94 of them! It was truly the most amazing experience I have ever had. By the time that I was to the third room of babies I was beginning to feel myself starting to loose it emotionally. It was everything I could do to keep myself pulled together and not to cry. I had to keep fighting off pictures of Anagrace lying in one of those cribs. I just prayed for God to give me the strength to finish the task and He did. When we were finished, there were 94 infants under the age of 1, plus 2 babies that were sick and were sitting off to the side w/IV's hooked up to them. We didn't get a head count of the nannies, but are guessing that there were around 8 o 9 of them. All in all, the babies were in good condition, the nannies are to be commended for the work and care that they do day in and day out, and the facility was very clean. The babies were covered with big down comforters, their cribs were stainless steel w/a thin padding of foam covered w/a sheet, and there were bumper pads on all of the cribs. While we were there, a doctor was making his rounds to check on some of the babies who were sick. He had a nurse following behind him carrying a little caddy filled w/meds. After checking the babies he would tell her what med to give and she would administer them.
I'm sorry that this post has been so long, but this journal not only is being used for all of you to follow along on our journey, but also as means for the Zhanjiang families to read about my visit, and as a personal journal that I will be able to keep for my children to read once they are older. So I will continue on with the details if the rest of our visit.
After visiting the nursery we went back out onto the hallway. One of the director's assistants went to get the 2 washing machines that the families had donated for the orphanage. We took pictures and then moved back downstairs to the ground floor. We were taken to the old orphanage. We were shown the dining hall where the older special needs children eat. There was a large kitchen next too it and then a storage room where food supplies were kept. We then went into another room that appeared to be used for storing supplies. There we were shown boxes and boxes of the clothes that had been purchased with the families' donations. Some of the clothes had already been removed and the children were wearing them!
We then went to a lower level where the laundry is done. There were 4 very old commercial type washing machines. 2 very large piles of diapers and then 2 huge dryers. The first looked very old and looked to me like it was well beyond it's life expectancy. Then sitting beside it was a beautiful new commercial dryer. $5,000 US dollars to purchase! The families were originally going to purchase 6 washing machines, but when the 2nd of the old dryers broke down, it was decided to use some of the funds, along w/some of the orphanages $ and buy the dryer. While Jim was busy taking pictures, Elsa and I were chatting away. She told me that the dryers run almost non-stop 24 hours a day and because of that they break down frequently. So all of the families who donated should feel so proud that we were able to help in such a BIG way for this orphanage! Also while we were chatting away I decided to ask her about Anagrace's file--again. She said that there was not a note left and that she rarely sees this happen. I asked her if she could tell me which part of the market Anagrace was left since it was so large and she said the commercial construction market--we DID visit this one and had taken pictures, PTL! I asked her if there was anything else in there that she could share and she said that there wasn't. I am just so thankful for this young lady, she really is a wonderful girl. When I asked her if she liked working there she got this big smile on her face and said, oh yes! As soon as I'm finished at the end of the day, I go to the nursery and visit with the babies. It was evident that she really does love her work and the children. Needless to say, God answered many prayers and in a big way, today the mountains were moved and are now hills that need to be climbed.
After the laundry room we headed back out into the courtyard and discussed the purchases that were going to be made w/the money that we had established for the older/special needs children. It was decided that one of the computers that recently went on the blink would be replaced. Additionally we would have school supplies purchased for them, and the remainder would be used for hand held radios w/earpieces. The reasoning for this is because these sn children range in age all the way up to high school. They are not functioning enough to be able to leave the grounds, so I felt that the radios would give them access to the outside world, whether that be with music or the news.
Our visit was winding down and the director asked our guide if there was anything else I wanted to see. I thought a few minutes and than asked--what about the babies that are older than one and are not considered special needs--can I see them and where they live. There was much discussion and I can only assume that there were some negotiations going on at this point. Finally my guide said come on, you go. So off we headed for the elevator again. When we walked in, there were only a handful of children ranging in ages 4-8 (I'm guessing). They had just finished eating lunch and were helping to clean up the lunch room. Each child had their assigned tasks, but quickly dropped what they were doing to come out and see the visitors. It was hard to tell if they were boys or girls because they keep the girls hair cut so short. But they sure were cute! There were several of them that were wearing the new clothes and the director was quick to point this out to me. As we were chatting I happened to look inside the room and there was this beautiful little girl who had kept working at her task inside so I asked the director if I could see her. This little girl was beautiful! She had a repaired cleft lip and had a short little bob haircut. I asked, why hasn’t this little girl been adopted. The director said that she had Hep B. I told her, you send that girls file up to the CCAA and I guarantee you she will be placed within a month. The director didn't seem to be agreeing with me. I told my guide--you tell her I said to send that girls file up, what will she be out by processing it. If it sits and no one adopts her, then no one is out anything--nothing changes. But....if I'm right then the little girl will have found a family. The director didn't say yes, but she also didn't say no. So we will keep this little girl in our prayers and our group will try to follow up on her.
Like I said earlier, I'm sorry that this has been such a long post, but there was so much to tell and so many people who were waiting. I hope you all enjoyed hearing about our visit to the orphanage and I would ask that you keep all those children in your prayers. For their health, for their comfort as they continue to live in the orphanage, but especially for more families to step forward who are willing to adopt these precious children and give them the forever families that they so much deserve.
We know that all of you are waiting on pictures, they're coming soon, I promise! Thank you for all of your prayers and support. Anagrace is doing just perfect and we are finally ready to be able to relax for a few days now that we have the orphanage visit done. Please keep the emails coming. We love hearing from all of you.
The Bennetts
Orphanage Courtyard
Director looking at album sent from families
Clothing donated from families for children.
older vs newer "how would you like to have all this laundry to do
