Chinese Dolls

March 23, 2008, 8:30 pm

Hello!

Happy Easter! How is everyone? It has been a strange Easter, as it is not celebrated in China.

Our first day in Nanning was pretty relaxing. Bridget and I walked around a while, poking our noses into tiny little shops while Ron took the kids to the hotel pool. I have never seen anything like these shops. Usually lining each side of the street, they are very tiny, maybe ten-fifteen feet square. The entire fronts of the stores are open, as if closed by a gate or garage style door. They are very cluttered with goods, every square inch being stuffed with some gizmo or other. For the most part one shop will sell only one kind of product. That is, one sells shoes only, another fruit, one plumbing parts, one underwear (there are underwear stores everywhere), and still more sell books, silk dresses, or unrecognizable matter that the locals call food.

At one of these small shops Bridget and I found a bunch of shoes that we bought for one of the orphanages, and later, some pants and small outfits. We only bought boy clothing, as people usually only donate items for girls. This is because the majority of children abandoned are girls. Unfortunately, Ron and Bridget said that they have seen orphanages where some of the boys had to wear dresses. That is pretty sad, so we decided to help those guys feel like guys by buying them things girls would not wear:)

Yesterday was pretty interesting. Our guide came to the hotel at nine-thirty to visit the Nanning Orphanage, and later, Tamsin's foster family. It took about half an hour to get to the orphanage. It is located in an older part of the city where most of the buildings are no taller than four stories. I found the area to be pretty run down and depressing. Even though the buildings are not very old, they were in disrepair and had a tired feeling. This is because things in China are not built to last. China does not have the building regulations we do, and they take many shortcuts in their construction. Consequently, just a few years after being built, the buildings begin to wear out.

I am not sure I can describe how I felt on reaching the orphanage, nor do I know if I want to. I have always been drawn to kids, especially orphans. When I was little my sisters and I spent hours pretending to be orphans and when I was a little older I dreamed about working with them one day. Even now I joke about moving into an orphanage and spending my life there, yet part of me is serious about it.

We drove through the brand new gate to the orphanage, and I saw the old gate where Tamsin was abandoned at just six weeks of age. It makes me sick to think of someone leaving a baby that small, especially when I've seen what a delightful girl she has grown up to be.

After walking a little way we came to the main building. It is four stories tall and looks pretty bleak on the outside. We followed our guide through the main entry where there was water dripping from the roof, and walked down some dingy halls. I could tell that someone had tried to brighten the place up because there were some goofy animals painted on the hall walls. Still it was dirty, the window were barred, and there was a strange smell.

Near the center of the building was a smallish outdoor courtyard with a few pieces of play equipment. Weeds were growing randomly through old cement, and there were a few puddles of mirky water. Suddenly, a movement caught my eye. I felt sick as I realized I was staring at a huge rat. When I looked closer, I saw several of these creatures darting around the playground, all of them large, plump, and healthy. Disgusting.

At first the nannies didn't want to let us in to see the children, even though we had brought donations for them. It wasn't until the director saw Tamsin and recognized her red hair (very rare for Chinese) that we were allowed upstairs to see the babies.

We were ushered upstairs into a fairly large room holding about 25-30 small metal cribs lined up in three rows in the middle of the room. Immediately inside the room were about six babies in walkers, and three nannies, each holding an infant. There were other babies sitting in some of the cribs, and through an open door I could see several more running around in walkers.

The nannies were very friendly, and eagerly brought the babies close for us to chat with. The only word that can describe these dolls is beautiful. One had a cleft lip, and another had an eye that was normal sized, while the other eye was quite small. Yet as they looked up at us, they were all so adorable! I bent down to talk to them, even though they wouldn't understand my English. They were so cute as they looked back at me, not knowing how to respond.

Then she caught my eye. In a nearby crib a little girl maybe six months old, wearing a Pooh Bear outfit was propped up by a pile of blankets. She was staring into space, not even acknowledging the presence of seven noisy strangers is her room. I went over and knelt down to say hi. She didn't even look at me until I touched her hand, and she didn't grab my finger like a baby her age should. In fact, she didn't even blink, she just stared at me. While the nannies are very loving and do their best to give attention to the babies, there just aren't enough of them to go around. In order for babies to mature and develop, they need to be held, talked to, played with. Without that attention they will have a very hard time learning to attach to people, to form normal, healthy relationships. More than anything I wanted to hold that little girl, to talk to her and rock her to sleep, to teach her how to smile. Unfortunately, there wasn't time, and we had to leave.

I still feel overwhelmed when I think about those little kids. Thankfully, there are many families who adopt them, and the Chinese are even starting to adopt there own orphans as they can afford it. I can only hope and pray that all those babies get good, loving homes and that someday I too can take some of them home and give them the love and protection they need.

I am exhausted now, I need to head to bed. I will have to fill you in on our visit with Tamsin's foster family another time. Until then, goodnight, I love you all!

jube