On March 2 and 3 we had a leadership conference in Shanghai. So myself, and the other managers had to travel from Beijing to Shanghai, about the same distance as NewYork to Atlanta. The leadership conference was very exciting and was a good chance to meet my coworkers from around China. The best part was Saturday evening when all of us broke into four teams to perform a dragon dance.
On March 3, I flew back to Beijing, getting in around 11pm to say goodbye to good friends of ours who were moving back to the US. These friends, (The Stones) lived in the building next to us. We met at church, and have been great spiritual and life role models for us. Them and their two kids (soon to be three) will be friends of ours for the rest of our lives. I could not miss saying goodbye to them. So, I flew back to Beijng, we had lunch together, and then I turned around on Sunday and flew back to Shanghai.
I had two internal audits to help conduct in the Shanghai area the next week. So I left Beijing around 4pm. Once in Shanghai I had to take the high speed train to SuZhou. I spent three days in SuZhou auditing, and then turned around and went back to Shanghai. I spent two more days in Shanghai before leaving for the orphanage. It just so happened that the hotel in Shanghai was right next to a toy store, so I stopped in and bought all of the CHEGOs (Chinese Legos) I could. On March 9 I got on an overnight sleeper train heading toward PingYu.
The train toward PingYu was the first overnight train I had ever been on. I was not quite sure what to expect. I purchased a soft sleeper ticket, which is the highest class ticket you can buy (a whopping $45). The sleeper, was interesting... It's four people to one room. You don't know who these people might be. There was only one other peson in my room when I got there. He was traveling home to see his family. Me and this guy talked for about an hour before we got to another stop and someone else joined us. The third person was a Government official. He spent half the night in another room with his buddies, then stumbled in later that night. Me and the other guy went and got dinner on the diner car. I have had many interesting meals in China, this one was very special. Nothing in particular made it bad as far as taste, just the general cleanliness of the whole situation left me lacking an apetite. For example, there were many urine stains througout the train. As well as multiple people smoking throughout the isle ways. All this, in conjunction with the snoring of the government official made it very difficult to sleep that night as well. Frankly, I didn't sleep that night. I arrived in XinYang to do a train transfer around 5am. XinYang is a much smaller city, and much smaller train station. I waited by myself in the train station for about an hour, in the dark, before I saw anyone else. Being in a train station, early in the morning, before light, sitting in the dark, in the middle of who knows where China leaves you on edge a little. I started sizing up everyone as they came into the room one by one. Finally, my next train arrived and I set off for ZhuMaDian. This train was only one stop, but all they had left were sleepers. This time, I had a hard sleeper. A hard sleeper is a bunch of beds in an open arrangement in one car. They fit about six beds in the same amount of space as four beds in the soft sleeper. The difference is they stack the bunks three high instead of two high. I thought I had the top bunk, so I climbed on up and waited. An older Chinese gentlemen kindly informed me that that was his bunk. I told him I would let him have the bottom if he wanted, but he insisted on the top. I'm still not really sure why, but he climbed on up as we traded spaces. At last, I arrived in ZhuMaDian.
In ZhuMaDian, I was being met by Ben. Ben and his wife Michelle run the Home of Hope orphanage in PingYu. Besides the obvious, I cannot say enough how amazing these two are. They and their three boys have given up their lives in the US to give lives to children here in China. I met Ben through a classmate of mine at The Citadel. Avila (my classmate) is cousins with Ben, and is currently in China volunteering with them. He is also teaching English to help with VISA issues in ZhuMaDian. So while in ZhuMaDian, we swung by and picked up Avila, and went on to the orphanage in PingYu, about an hour and a half drive.
When we first arrived at the orphanage, I didn't really know what to expect. All the kids had lined up at the gate, and were waiting for Ben and us to arrive. As we drove through them they all waved and said "Hello!" Then, they went back into their classroom and started studying. It's about 10am on Saturday morning at this point. I unloaded my things, and then went into the classroom to meet some of the kids. Ben gave me a short introduction, and then him and I toured the facility. The orphanage takes up the bottom floor of an apartment complex, and has the front yard fenced in for their use as well. They have thirteen rooms (if my memory serves me right). The rooms are all connected by a hallway in the front, and Ben and his family have the last three rooms on the end. There are eight girls, and they all have one room, there are six kindergarden boys who all share a room, and there are ten other boys who share a room. The children range from five years old to eleven years old. Most of the kids come from families where they have no immediate parents, but do have grandparents. The grandparents ask for help because they do not have the physical ability, or the financial resources to care for the kids. I heard of one set of grandparents who ate bark off of the trees to stay alive, to give perspective on their financial situation. Each of the kids rooms have a dedicated "house mother" that stays with them in the room. The house moms rotate every 24 hours. So three moms on, then three moms off kind of deal. In addition to the kids rooms, there is a classroom, a room for the teachers to stay, a room for a translator (necessary for working with the local government) and a room for volunteers, like me. There is also a kitchen, and a storage room. They have a decent dining hall as well, which is about the size of two rooms. The kids are required to sit while they eat, they cannot get up until they are done, they must eat all of their vegtables (something I struggle with on a personal level) and must wash their own dishes when they are finished. It is extremely cute to watch the five year old boys wash their own dishes.
One of the boys that day had to go to the dentist. In an open dentist room, literally the waiting room is the same room as the room where the patients get their work done, and teeth pulled. Gene, who had his two adult teeth stuck behind his baby teeth, had to have two teeth pulled right away. The dentist took one look, and knew they needed to come out. She stuck a shot up in his gum, and then yanked them right out. Gene didn't even cry, and he got 10 kuai for the whole ordeal (~$1.50) from Ben.
After the dentist, we went to buy a blanket. Each of the children are given an allowance, which usually comes from the recycling money. They can save their money in the "bank" and then spend on things for themselves or for others. Basically, they can go to the "bank" once per week and deposit or withdrawl their money. It's very cool how they set up the whole thing, and it teaches the kids responsibility. Marc, had saved enough money, and wanted to buy his grandfather a blanket. He had gone home for Chinese New Year, and noticed that his grandfather was freezing at night with no blanket. Mark used his own money to purchase, what I would consider a very warm blanket for his grandpa.
That night, we celebrated the second anniversery of the school opening. Each kid had fried chicken (US style) a Sprite, and a cupcake. At the end, I was able to give them there Legos. They didn't have too much time to play with their toys that night, but I spent a good part of the next morning helping them put together their toys. After a while, I got kind of tired of putting them together, and just started making things that were supposed to be race cars into jets. They didn't mind.
That Sunday, was grandparent's Sunday. The grandparents can come once per month to visit their grandchildren. There are pros and cons to this. The pros are obvious in that the children maintain a connection with their family history, and have an understanding of what family means. The cons are that the grandparents, like any grandparent, want to spoil the children. They bring treats, money, and toys to the kids. The problem is that not all of the kids have grandparents, so some would go without. Ben and Michelle set ground rules for the grandparents that they have to bring enough for all of the children. This doesn't curb the behaviour, and some still sneak money to their kids. The kids know that they are supposed to "deposit" all money in the "bank" that they get from the grandparents, but this doesn't always happen, creating problems for Ben and Michelle. Later throughout the day, we played games with the kids until they went to bed. This is also the first time I ever dunked a basketball, granted the goal was a couple inches short... and it took me like 50 tries. That night we played Mexican Train Dominos with Ben, Michelle, Avila, and some of Avilas English students who had volunteered, as well as Mary one of the teachers. The rules, were that one round was in Chinese, and one round in English, alternating. If you spoke the wrong language, you drew an extra tile. I enjoyed the irony of playing Mexican train dominos in China.
On Monday I got the oppurtunity to join Ben and Michelle on a child search. Often, the government supplies a list of children in need, and then goes with Ben and Michelle to check out the child's situation. In this particular case, one of the teachers knew of the child, and had recommended they visit her. It was about an hour drive into the countryside to a small farming village outside of PingYu. The little girl, who has been given the English name Faith, is about 10 years old. She is being raised by her grandmother's sister. Her immediate family is either unlocatable or passed away. She currently bounces between two of her uncles homes. Neither of the uncles really want her around, so she stays at one place as long as she is tolerated until she is kicked to the others house. She does this bouncing back in forth. They got some time alone with Faith to ask her about her situation, and whether or not she was happy. She started crying when discussing the way the other kids in the area treat her (as unwanted), and it almost brought me to tears. Given the situation, and the unwantedness of Faith, Ben and Michelle decided to bring her in. However, they hit a problem. Legal guardianship in China is very different than in the US. Unlike the US, which defaults to the mother, China defaults to the father, and the father's side of the family. In the absence of a father, the grandfather has the guardianship, in the absence of the grandfather, the uncle has the guardianship. In Faith's case, the legal guardian is her father's sister. Her aunt. Her aunt has decided that she does not want Faith to join the orphanage, and will not release her to them. Though, she will not take on custody herself. This is just one example of some of the issues that Ben and Michelle have to deal with.
Later that day, I returned to Beijing via overnight train. This one was much better in condition and cleanliness. I was able to get some sleep that night, and finally got home around 11am the next day. It was Tuesday, and Kamala did not have to work, so she was waiting at home for me.
Overall, the experience was incredible. Kamala and I plan to go back in early April. I will be sure to post again on our experience then.
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| This is the yard, with the orphanage to the right. |
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| Lining up for lunch |
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| Joey is the youngest, but that doesn't stop him from playing hockey. |
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| Ben is from Illinois...he like hockey |
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| Their classroom |
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| This is Frank. When Frank came to the Home of Hope he was living by himself. |
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| This is Gene, he had gotten his two teeth pulled the previous day. |
