Well on Thurs. night our guide got an interesting call from the director of the orphanage. She said that if each family donates $100.00 - $200.00 each plus our clothes donation then we will be allowed into the orphanage. All the families decided that we would go ahead with the donation so we could at least have a glance at where our children have lived for the last 10 months.
So we left the hotel pretty early - it took us about 3.5 hours to get there. It was interesting to see the country side - and to see how the majority of Chinese people live. We saw many farmers because it was harvest time for their rice. The roads were covered with their rice being dried. It was a pretty bumpy ride, some of the roads were not in the best shape. We saw tons of water buffalo and cows, lots of small villages and villagers with small fruit stands. There were not many gas stations along the way - like in the states. Most people get around by bikes which we saw tons of.
When we finally reached Poyang I was surprised that is was a bigger city then I thought. There were so many people - it was a little overwhelming. Now we had the task of trying to find the orphanage. In the smaller cities it is hard to find things because a lot of the roads are not named. So our driver had to stop a few different times and ask the local people where the orphanage was. Finally we found it. The Social Welfare Institute is actually a retirement home and then there is also an orphanage. When we first arrived there was just one person standing out front of the orphanage but soon there was a large gathering of people wondering what we were there for. The director came out to greet us - she told us that we could take as many pictures as we want of the outside but no pictures were allowed inside. In front of the orphanage there were rows and rows of laundry hanging and on the porch of the orphanage there were small baby beds sitting in the sun. Soon all the nannies came out to see the babies - they were talking and talking and then all of a sudden it was clear that they had no idea who our babies were? Hmmmm. So we started asking questions and that is when we found out that all our children had been in foster care!!! Not sure why all our paperwork said she lived at the orphanage. That part is very frustrating to me - because children in foster care vs. an orphanage have different needs and I am not sure why they would not have told us that up front. But at least we know now I guess.
We all talked outside for awhile then they let us go into one of the rooms where some of that babies were. It was a small room with about 6 babies in it. Some where in little cribs and some where on the toilet chairs. They all were so sweet - I just wanted to grab them all and run. We were able to touch and talk with the babies I just pray that they have parents coming to get them soon. Then the director wanted to take us to her office and this is where we gave them our cash and clothes donation. The staff was all there as we presented the gifts. They were all surprised at how many clothes that we brought and so happy. Our guide Nelson told them that Madelin's preschool had been collecting outfits and raising money to buy outfits for the children of the Poyang SWI. We also gave them a few pictures of the students that ran the lemonade stand and some of the kids holding up the outfits that they bought. The staff thought it was so neat that the majority of the clothes donated came from other children. They thanked us over and over and wanted to make sure how much they appreciated all your kindness toward the kids at the SWI. Thank you again.
Then one of the foster mom's showed up - she watched Scott and Kim's daughter. He could not come on the trip because he was sick. The foster mom was very disappointed and so was the little friend she brought too. She had two children in her home one was Ella and the other was a little albino boy that would also be adopted in the next two months from an American family. He was so cute and the foster mom said that he and Ella were very close. Now we had quite a crowd outside the orphanage all trying to see us and the babies. It was nice to be able to see the orphanage but also very sad. We are thankful we have some pictures to share with Molly wen she gets older - but seeing those kids still waiting for families will always be stuck in my mind.
We all loaded the bus and then took a small tour of the city and then stopped for lunch at a local restaurant. We were in the center of Poyang and I dont think many westerners come around here because we drew very large crowds here. It was almost a little uncomfortable because we could not understand what they were saying to us. The more you looked around the more people we would see that we watching us. Even in all the buildings there were groups of people at each window pointing at us. We finally reached the restaurant along with a large crowd of people that started to follow us. When we arrived at the restaurant they were going to seat us in the main dining area but because of all the extra people watching us they ended up putting us in a private room on the third floor. It was nice not to have a crowd watching our every move.
Once we were seated they brought tea for everyone - I did not notice that they put a hot cup of tea right in front of Molly. I did not notice because I had Madelin on the other side of me who was talking to me at the time. Next thing I know Molly is screaming because she knocked the hot tea cup over and the hot tea was all over her lap. I quickly picked her up and yanked off her pants. The owner of the restaurant brought in some kind of special cream they kept saying - it was for burn victims they said. Poor Molly had first degree burns all over her lets. I feel so guilty - but I did not see the waitress put it down. Who in the world would do that anyway. Guess they do things different in China.
When we were all done we got back on the bus and started off on our long drive back to Nanchang. The van on the way back kept over heating so we would have to stop often and let it cool down. Here they just stop the car in the middle of the road. I was a wreck each time they stopped because of all the other traffic I was so nervous we would be hit from behind.
It was an emotional day - and one that I am kind of glad is over. But I will never forget the children still at the orphanage.
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