July 4 trip to Hengyang
We woke at 7:00 to pack up and meet the driver/guide and they picked us up at about 8:00. We loaded into a VW van and started down the highway due south from Changsha. Our journey would take about 3 hours all told. On the way we chatted and got to know our guide a bit. He has worked in tourism for the past 25 years or so. He used to work exclusively in the adoption industry and now, with the decline in adoption numbers, he us doing more family tours back to China such as ours, and regular tour groups. He said he has only helped 2 families through the adoption process of a child in the past 6 months. We also learned that he knew Dr. Susan, one of our facilitators when we adopted both Laina and Min. He called her on his phone and we had a video chat! She lives in Beijing with her family and continues to work with adoptive families.
Before we arrived at the orphanage, I told our guide (named "Smile") about our experience with the gifts that we gave to the Hangzhou orphanage and how it seemed like a really bad gift that they didn't really want. The guide did think it was a good idea to bring something, but suggested that we stop and get a fruit basket to bring with us instead. We all thought that was a good gift, so before we got to the orphanage, we found a little fruit market in a very small village. The woman who ran the fruit market was very good natured and helpful, she went into the back, found us a big basket and recommended some beautiful fruits to put in. We got dragon fruit, pears, grapes, oranges, apples, Hami melon, and cantaloupe. Then she wrapped the basket in a big plastic bag with little hearts on it and then she found a bow to go around the handle. The total cost was a little bit more than $10, but even though it wasn't an expensive gift, it was gift that the caregivers could all share, and we were happy with that.
At the orphanage, we were first ushered into a meeting room where were warmly welcomed by the assistant director. We were given some tea and some fruit to snack on. We were shown Laina's original documents, and we also were given a "guest book" where other families that have visited wrote down their family information and then the orphanage would post a picture. We, of course, then had to pose for a photo. Then, we were taken on a tour of the facility. The orphanage is home to all ages of people of all different ability levels. Most of the children at the orphanage have special needs of some kind. At any time, in the care rooms, they try to have a ratio of 6:1. The children looked well fed, clean, well clothed and well cared for. The girls all had hair combed and styled, and the boys all had neat haircuts. There was one child who was skeletally thin, but this child probably also has some medical needs that make it difficult to properly feed. Here at home, they probably would have had a PE tube set, but that's probably just not done here.
The orphanage building itself is new and was built in 2006-8. The old building is still on the same property, but it was damaged in a landslide, and was too old to be functional even if it was repaired. It still is standing, but it doesn't get used for anything. We learned that Laina would have lived on the 3rd floor of that building with the other girls that were adopted with her.
We also learned that the HengYang Orphanage was one of the orphanages under the care of a charitable organization called "International China Concern" that is based out of Australia. The woman who is the representative of that organization was there at the orphanage and we had the chance to talk to her. They provide Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Speech Therapy and Special Education services to the residents and also they have staffings on each resident to make sure their needs are being addressed. There was a visiting Speech Therapist there and I was invited to come and share my knowledge with them sometime as a short term volunteer. Perhaps I will do that some day??!! I also told them that I would try and make a connection for them through Loma Linda to see if there were any speech therapists that speak Chinese that they know of.
Soon it was time for lunch so we all piled in to the van and went to a restaurant. We had jiaozi (dumplings), meatball soup, fish, vegetables, pig feet, and some spicy chicken. It was fine lunch.
LAINA'S FINDING SPOT
After lunch, our guide took us to the location we could best guess was Laina's finding spot. The government building that used to be located there had been torn down within the last 6 months and was just a dirt lot now. Her paperwork said that she was found across from this building on the walkway by the river. We asked a lady if the dirt lot was the old government building and she confirmed that is was. So we crossed the street and there were two possible places-along the sidewalk by the street, or down by the river. We will never know which one, but we took pictures of both places.
Then, we said our good-byes, thanked our guides and were driven to our hotel.
At the hotel we settled in and took a rest. Soon Laina got bored and wanted to shopping for snacks. We walked around the block and found some chips, and sweets. We walked back to our hotel and then took a nap until dinner time. For dinner we had Xiaolong bao, green beans, and hot and sour potatoes (Suan La Tu dou si).
Our Hotel was called the Ming Yi hotel and it was NICE!! It was not really set up for foreigners, in that the staff spoke only Chinese, but that's not a problem for Jorg. Our rooms were well appointed with all the little things that make a nice hotel nice. Slippers, puffy pillows, flat screen TV, white bath robes, coffee and tea, fruit and cake at bedtime, breakfast buffet in the morning. The BEST thing about the hotel is they offed us FREE LAUNDRY SERVICE!!! They didn't have a drier, but they could wash our clothes, and they brought us a drying rack and a bunch of hangers where we could hang our clothes over night and they were dry by morning. So great!!
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