September 2003

Hu Nan

Frances Liu and David Shaw traveled in mid-September to Changsha, Hunan in order to adopt Vivian (Mei-Dan) as part of a group of 14 families. 9 families including Frances and David adopted daughters from Yueyang SWI, Hunan and 5 families adopted daughters from Yiyang SWI, Hunan.

The Big Day

Yueyang Social Welfare Institute, Monday September 15, 2003. I opened my eyes at the first sound of activity. The bright sun lit up our room and I could see blue sky out the window. First things first, kick off the blanket and then see what all the fuss is about. Aah, there is Head Nanny dressing Gui Zhu. I can see Mei Na is getting a bath and Gui Yi is having breakfast. Somebody… come and get me, I want a bath too. Oh goody, here comes Director Chang all dressed in black, he sure looks handsome. Wow, everyone is so busy and excited today, I wonder what is going on.

I sure liked getting a bath, it was so unusual because we never get a bath in the morning and my new clothes smell so fresh and sure are comfy. Breakfast was certainly yummy today, but I wish that I had a little more to eat. Now its off to the playroom with my room sisters. Well, well, well. There is Xin Ya, Gui Chun, Mei Ting and Mei Xiang all playing together and listening to our favourite music. Here come all the Sister Nannies, and look, there is Mei Feng with Head Nanny. It must be someone’s birthday to have such a crowd all together at once. Director Chang is telling everyone to be good, to mind their manners, and to enjoy this glorious day. Head Nanny is telling everyone to remember that days like today are what they all work so hard for.

Now what? Hooray, we are going for a walk outside. I wonder why all the Sister Nannies look so sad. Don’t be sad Sister Nannies, we will all be back in a little while. What is this strange looking thing we are getting into? It sure is crowded in here with all of my friends. Hey, this thing is moving and I can see lots of stuff going by the window. I don’t like this very much… I want to go back to my room now. I sure am glad that Head Nanny and some of her Sister Nannies are here with me and my friends. I really don’t like all this moving around but the song everyone is singing helps me feel a little better. I think I will have a little snooze like Mei Feng over there, she has the right idea.

Yawn… this is interesting, look at all the big buildings and all those colourful moving things everywhere. There are so many people moving about. Too bad the blue sky and sunshine have gone away. Maybe they will come back later on. Well now, that feels much better. There is nothing quite like the comfort of a freshly changed diaper. Well at last everyone is getting out of that moving thing. I finally have room to stretch my arms and legs… that sure feels better. This sure is a strange place. Everything is so noisy and the air smells funny. I can see that Xin Ya and Gui Yi are not very happy about this place. It sure is a good thing Head Nanny is here, otherwise, I might just cry. Now we are squeezing into another little box. Where are all the windows? I don’t think I like this… but wait, all those little buttons that can light up are very interesting.

The doors are opening and we are all getting off. I guess that was not so bad after all. Hey, what is Gui Zhu looking at? Everyone is standing in the hallway waiting for something. Where did Director Chang and Head Nanny go? I can still hear Director Chang speaking so everything must be OK. Oh my, oh my… I just realized what’s happening. This must be the day that we have all been promised, the day that we all get our new families!

Yue Gui Zhu… Yue Mei Na… Yue Gui Yi… Yue Xin Ya… Yue Gui Chun… Yue Mei Ting… Yue Mei Xiang… Yue Mei Feng… Goodbye Sisters. Thanks to God for bringing this wonderful day to us all. May God bless Director Chang, Head Nanny, and all her Sister Nannies for looking after us; keeping us safe and healthy; and loving us each and every day since we first came to the Yueyang Social Welfare Institute.

Well I am as ready as I ever will be. I have on my beautiful new clothes and a happy smile. I wonder… what will my new family be like??

Yue Mei Dan…

Hooray, that’s me… but wait, who is this guy with the big nose??

submitted by Yue Mei Dan’s fathe

Marie Shields & Ian McKinley also travelled to Changsha, Hunan to receive their daughter Amelia. Amelia had been cared for by the Yiyang SWI

On September 19, we visited the Yiyang Children’s Welfare Institute where our new daughter, Amelia Jun-Die, had spent the first ten months of her life. Together with Yulin and four other families (the other nine families in our group had adopted from a different institute), we made the one and a half hour bus trip from the main city of Changsha, in Hunan Province, to the city of Yiyang.

Yiyang is a small city by Chinese standards — only 400,000 people! From what we saw as we drove through the outskirts, it looked more like a country town, with rows of ramshackle two-level open concrete buildings housing open shops underneath and living quarters above.

The welfare institute was a six-storey concrete building with a strange saucer section on top, hidden behind wrought iron gates hung with red lanterns. The orphanage director, whom we had met when we received our children four days earlier at the hotel in Changsha, greeted us in the parking area and led us inside to a boardroom. We were very glad to see huge bulletin boards at either end of the room covered in photos sent in by adoptive parents of their happy children in their new homes.

The director gave a little speech and then the woman who was responsible for the welfare of the children led us across a large empty room and up a flight of stairs. We did not know what to expect or how much we would be allowed to see. I had somehow imagined a big, white room full of cribs and children, rather like a hospital.

We climbed the stairs and came to a long, narrow hallway, with windows on one side and small rooms on the other, no bigger than monk’s cells. In the hallway were the brightly coloured baby walkers we all recognized from our referral photographs.

Suddenly a woman burst out of one of the rooms, calling our daughter by her Chinese name, “Jun Die!,” “Jun Die!” This was Jiang, Ju Xiang, the main nanny who had looked after our daughter. She immediately took Amelia in her arms, and seemed very happy to see her. It turned out — to our surprise and amazement — that four of our daughters had been cared for by this same nanny in the same small room, even lying next to each other in the small wooden cradles. (The other little girl from our group came from a room just down the hall.)

The short time we spent with the nanny in that tiny room was very emotional. Our daughters’ names, written in Chinese, and their birth dates, were still hanging on tags on the wall, even though Ju Xiang had already been given three more newborns to look after. They were there, in their cradles, crying their little hearts out, along with the one little girl who had shared the room with our daughters and who for some reason had not yet been adopted. Ju Xiang took all of the girls in turn, talking excitedly to them. We parents circled the room, taking photos and videos, marvelling at the fact that the nanny slept right in this room with the babies — there was her bed at the back.

It was not at all as I had imagined. The orphanage did not seem terribly modern, there was no gleaming white room full of metal cribs, but somehow this was better. To know that this wonderful woman had looked after our daughter was a precious gift. Yet at the same time it was heartbreaking to think of Amelia, as one of these tiny newborns, crying inconsolably despite the nanny’s best efforts.

Definitely an emotionally draining trip, but very worthwhile. When Amelia is older, we will be able to show her the photos of the nanny

who looked after her, and the place in which she spent her first months. My advice to parents is this: if you are offered the chance to visit your child’s welfare institute, go! It may not be an easy trip, but it will be worth it.

Marie Shields