Our driver came and picked us up in a van at 9:30 AM. We drove about a half an hour to the compound and began our tour. The woman who met us there was a representative of the SWI, but I never learned her name, nor what her position was. She asked "Who is Zhao Min?" , and we identified Min and the representative greeted her. And then we began our tour. We started in a school building. We passed a very big physical therapy room with 6 boys working on their physical therapists with teachers. They all had orthotic braces on either their arms, feet/legs or both. One boy was strapped into a stander and was working on a computer game. The room had puzzle padding from wall to wall and there was holding rails all around the room. Their wheel chairs were all parked outside, and the chairs looked well padded and in good condition. We passed a classroom with about 25 kids in it, all boys. They looked up and waved, but were well behaved, and mostly paid attention to their work.
Further along we went into the kitchen where there were a group of boys learning to cook. They all had aprons, face masks and plastic gloves on. We couldn't tell what they were cooking, since they hadn't really started yet. One of the boys was one that I recognized from when Min was young. I have a picture of him with her in her preschool class. I'm sure it's the same boy. He's 17 years old now and lives at the SWI and will for the rest of his life.
We had a look at one of the dormitories, with the little beds lined up and blankets folded up at the foot. There was also a baby room with cribs lined up, but the babies were not there, they were all up and in the play room having therapy and floor time. I saw about 15 babies (aged 3 months to 1.5 years about) and about 5 staff.
Further along we walked along an outside pathway and they had a picture history of the SWI on the wall, marking the first building and the next one, built in 1970 (where Min was) and then the current one. They had a big photo of the president of China coming to visit in 2006, and I recognized a boy in the photo, he was adopted by Nicole, who traveled to get her son soon after we adopted Min. I took a photo of it so she could have another precious baby picture...with the president of China in it, too.
We took a few pictures of Min with the statue that was in the old SWI and then the tour of the facility was over and it was time to go see Min's finding spot. They took us to the gate of the apartment compound where she was found and we walked around there for about 10 minutes. Then it was time for lunch. They took us to a very large restaurant and helped us order food and when we were done eating it was time to go back to our hotel.
SO let's unwrap this a bit... Was it "Worth it"? We had to pay a rather big fee to get this tour, and it lasted for a little more than 4 hours. If we hadn't paid, we wouldn't have been able to go in, but was it worth it to go in?? I have to ask Min...She said that she found it valuable to go in and tour the facility even though she has no connection to the particular location. If she found value in the experience, then I suppose it was worth it.
The rest of the afternoon was spent going to the bank, napping and eating dinner. We were going to go to the lake, but we felt sleepy and turned in early.
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