Urumqi orphanage



I suppose the traditional way to write about our trip to Xinjiang would be to start at the beginning and go chronologically. But I decided to write about the most important parts first, and then we'll see how much I end up writing. I don't do so well writing catch-up posts.

So..... skipping right to the middle of our trip:

The second city we visited was Urumqi, which is the capital of Xinjiang. (That's a huge western province in China, just north of Tibet, just west of Mongolia, and just east of Kazakhstan and Afghanistan.) I love this city for many reasons, primarily because in 1999 this is where my family came to adopt my little brother. Then in 2002, I had the opportunity to teach English here for a semester-- at a school that turned out to be right next door to my brother's orphanage. Some of the other teachers and I spent a lot of our down time volunteering at the orphanage, and it was a place I really wanted to share with my own little family.

We walked up to the orphanage, and it was very quiet. I was disappointed to see that some of the lettering had fallen off the front door and it looked a little forlorn. The gate was locked, and we halooed without any response. 

 

Penny and me outside the front gate

 

The front entrance

The forlorn playground

We continued down the road towards the back entrance. I knew that children still lived there, and even though it was a holiday, the place wouldn't be ENTIRELY deserted. Sure enough, we came across a doctor packing some stuff into a car. I told him why we were there and that we hoped to go in and see the place. He told us to keep walking to the main gate.
"You mean that wasn't the main gate back there?"
He smiled and shook his head. "Keep walking."
Then we got to this:

The new GRAND ENTRY

Fountains on the grounds-- with fish!

The brand new orphanage

The new children's apartments and classrooms

We got to visit with the on-call supervisor, who remembered Daniel when we showed her the pictures of him that we'd brought. I believe her exact words were, "Wow, what happened? He used to be such a chubby little guy!" Then she pointed to a few of the pictures, saying they looked a little more like Baby Daniel than the other ones.
I asked her to make sure and show the pictures to the other teachers who had worked there in 1999, and she said she would. She told us a little about the new orphanage buildings and how they're used. I assured her she didn't need to take us through them-- we just wanted to look at the older buildings and take a few pictures-- but she insisted. And she has a right to be proud!
When you usually think of a Chinese orphanage, you think of something terrible-- the kids underfed and neglected, the staff distant or uncaring, funds and donations being misused. And those do exist. But of all the orphanages in the world, this has got to be one of the best. The feeling I got from everyone I encountered-- from the doctor packing his car, to the door guard helping us sign in, to the teachers and the "parents" we met around the grounds-- was a feeling of LOVE, happiness, caring, and more LOVE. It was overwhelming, in fact. I cried for probably the last 10 minutes of our visit-- and not because I was sad or feeling sorry for the poor little orphans. It was exactly the opposite. I was so happy that there was a place like this in the world, where so much is done for those who have so little.
So how it works: All the healthy kids live in foster homes in the community. That's new since I was there in 2002. Previously, all the children lived in dorms-- and while they had VERY caring and loving teachers, it was still pretty crowded and rather busy. Daniel said he shared a bed with another little boy (whose head was at the other end of the bed), and there were probably about 10-12 beds in each room. I would think this foster care program is probably much more ideal. There are many children, however, who have various special needs and need more specialized care. They live here at the orphanage, now in little "families" of their own. There are 4 or 5 children to an apartment, and a mom for each apartment. The teacher who showed us around took us to visit a couple apartments. Not only were the apartments nicer than the previous dorms, but they were nicer than the average Chinese apartment! There was a large living/dining room, a few bedrooms, and basically everything you'd find in any other home. And in one room, the teacher pointed out that the young man over there washing his own clothes was blind, and then she showed us some sweaters and scarves he had knitted. I don't know what other special needs this guy had, but it was great to see them focusing on teaching life skills like that. We saw a little girl in the hallway just beaming and ecstatic to see us. She was out there exercising and doing her physical therapy using her walker. Another family we visited had a mom and a dad. They had four kids, but two of them were off with the group taking a field trip for the holiday. So they only had two kids at home, and they were relaxing and watching TV while the two little kids played with toys with them in the living room. Seriously, after seeing what life was like in those little apartments, it was hard to believe I was in an orphanage at all. They even had a big family portrait on the wall of each one.
We went outside to play on the two brand-new playstructures. Some of the orphans and their "moms and dads" were out there playing as well. Our kids had fun playing with these kids.

Naomi discovers the slide

Penny swinging with the other kids

Penny steering the pirate ship

Naomi perfecting her sliding skills-- with one of the nurses who works there

Is this not the coolest pirate ship playground?!? It was a donation from an Italian organization.

Penny loved this because she loved Mickey Mouse.
I loved seeing such a meaningful donation being used by children who really use it and appreciate it.

After visiting the new areas, I wanted to take a few pictures of the old orphanage where Daniel lived.

The old basketball court--renovated. Surrounding old buildings are now gone (the old dormitory, etc)

Walking from the new area toward the old area



I kind of love this building, though it's getting older now. It has a slide right on the side of the building!



 

Our girls showing how the slides work.

Daniel had a teacher named Ms. He, who was pretty much his mom while he lived there. He followed her around, and she took him home with her on weekends and evenings. I was a little sad that she wasn't at work that day-- she was off for the holiday. So I asked the teacher taking us around the orphanage to be sure and show her the pictures I'd brought. She said she would. Then she called Ms. He.
"Ms. He, guess what. Fang Hui's sister is here at the orphanage today. She brought a few pictures of Fang Hui, and he's so grown up now!"  ........ "Of course you can see them. I'll give them all to you! Here, do you want to talk to her for a few minutes?"
At this point, I'd already been trying to stop crying for quite a while now, and I'd only been mildly successful.
I don't remember the whole conversation, but it went something like this:
Me: Daniel's in college now. He's studying to be a pilot, and he can already fly planes. He's a lot taller than me, and I'm 170 cm!
Ms. He: He sounds so grown up. I miss him so much, and I can only thank you and your family so much for taking such good care of him!
Me: (Blubber, blubber, blubber.)
My Chinese is pretty good, but I found that it all goes right out the door when I'm trying to talk through crying. I have no idea what she got out of the conversation, but I guess she'll understand well enough when she sees the pictures.
I love the Chinese word gan dong. It means "moved," as in, "I felt so moved." If there is one word to sum up my visit to the orphanage, that would be it.