In China
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Thursday, January 17, 2013 Today was the visit to Dongguan orphanage. This has been Xiaoni's home for her entire life. I found out when we arrived at the orphanage, that she actually did not live at that building. Supposedly, the orphanage rents out smaller apartments, and some of the children live there in a family - type setting. Xiaoni told our guide that she did live at the orphanage when she was little, but does not remember. However, she did spend a lot of her free time there, seemed to know many of the children and enjoyed showing us around. It is winter holiday break right now, so the older children do not have school. We first went to a large room with tables, chairs, and what looked like a home theater to show movies. There were about 15 school age kids, probably about 10 girls, and 5 boys. They were all reading and working on workbooks. The kids were so anxious to try out their English skills, and all wanted to say "hello". Xiaoni was a big hit, since she came with her (my) Kindle. Everyone got to play some "Fruit Ninja". We brought some crackers to share, and everyone had a little snack. Some of these children are already matched with families, and just waiting for them to come. Others are un-adoptable due to having living relatives, or a condition making them un-adoptable. We did meet a charming 13 year old girl who had some sort of facial deformity. She had something removed from her face, and there is a lot of scarring. However, she was so sweet, and happy, and I hope and pray she finds a family before she ages out. There was also a feisty and energetic boy, around 9 or 10. He was adopted domestically in China, and it did not work out, so he is available again. Richard took pictures of both these children, and will forward them to Madison Adoptive Associates. We then walked around some of the different floors. This place is huge. It is home to around 800 orphans. We say many adorable little ones, all in their age-level classrooms, learning music, or playing. We also walked around the outside of the building, and their were other little houses with babies and a nanny. I am not sure if they lived there, or if it was a play area. This was a rather different visit than my two previous orphanage visits. On both previous visits, we met the director, the nannies, and had an opportunity to ask questions. On this visit, we had the same girls that bought Xiaoni to meet us on Monday. She doesn't really know Xiaoni, and could not answer any questions. It was much less formal, and we were allowed to photograph the kids. We then left the orphanage and tried to find her "finding spot". It is in a part of Dongguan called Hou Ji town. Richard said it was an area of shoe factories. He said her birth parents may have been migrant workers who worked in the shoe factories, since that is the main thing in that part of town. We were not able to find the exact spot, but since it was almost ten years ago, many things have changed. We saw the main street and several side streets, and it was enough to give me a good idea of the area. We then drove back to our hotel. The entire drive was just factory and factory. The air was horribly polluted. You could not see the sun it was so hazy. It was better when we got back to Guangzhou. I am sure many of the birth defect that affect these children are because of the horrible pollution and poor air quality. Xiaoni had a nice nap in the car on the return trip. It was an long tiring day for all of us. A later afternoon fish feeding excursion, dinner at Pizza Hut, and early bed for all us!

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