Day 13 Monday, April 23

An eventful day, a once in a lifetime experience. While Tami stayed the day on Shamian island, I had the rare opportunity to travel and see first-hand Alison's orphanage. It was both a tough day emotionally and physically, but I'm so glad I had the chance to see where Allie spent the first 16 months of her life. I look forward to telling her all about her "hometown" when she wants to know more.

Cordelia, Ralph, and I caught the 8:30 am bus to Maoming. We took a taxi to a large bus station in downtown Guangzhou, a huge and very well run complex. I have to give the Chinese one huge kudos: they are way ahead of us in terms of public transportation. The bus we took was as modern as any chartered bus you would see in the states. Complete with head phones and video screens for each seat (four channels offered: chinese music videos, a Jackie Chan movie--where the English was dubbed with Mandarin!---, a soap opera, and another chinese drama film). Maoming is about 250 miles south/southwest of Guangzhou, and it was thrilling to see much of the countryside along the way. I tried to take some pictures, but the bus was moving too fast to get any really good shots. Guangdong province is very green and lush. And we also saw many rice fields, and pretty rolling hills (Cordelia called them mountains, but we know better :))

We got into Maoming about 12:15, and were picked up at the bus station by the assistant director of the orphanage (didn't get his name, sorry). After a fifteen minute drive, we were parked in an alley way that leads to the entrance of the Maonan State Welfare Institute (SWI). (Later, we were told that there are 6 such orphanages in the greater Maoming area, but this one serves just the "inner" city so to speak).

The director, a Mr. Huang, met us at the door, and it was like dignitaries had come to town. Both directors were very welcoming throughout our stay, and sounded eager to show off their facility. They told us we could take pictures inside and out, with the one exeption of the third floor of the orphanage, where the children were (more on this later).

Walking in, one could tell that this was a very old building. I described it later to Tami as not being dirty at all, but more of a tired, worn-out facility. No pictures on the walls, no color, no character, something that you would expect out of an institutional building.

Mr. Huang took us straight to the third floor to see the children. They currently house 75 kids, and are able to take on 100 at a time. The babies/children are separated into three rooms: one, a newborn or infant room, where all the newborns are kept (very heartbreaking), two, a room for toddlers/children with special needs, and then the third room is for children without special needs.

The school age kids were at school when we were there, so we probably saw 30-40 children at most. It was difficult at times to see---the rooms weren't very big (20 by 20 at the most), and the temperature on the third floor was stifling (Maoming is truly in the tropics, just a couple hundred miles from Vietnam). Also on the third floor were a play room (but no toys! Only one solitary swing...we had hoped that maybe they put the toys away in storage for the afternoon, since we were there during their scheduled nap time); a very small "kitchen", and a laundry room. On our way into the orphanage, you could see the huge dryer to dry all the cloth diapers, the only dryer, I think, in all of China (Cordelia says everyone else just hangs their laundry to dry)....

Even though they had mentioned we couldn't take pictures on the third floor, Mr. Huang later relented, and let us take pictures of the playroom and kitchen (out of respect for them, I will not post these pictures on the internet--if you would like to see them privately, please contact me or Tami at our yahoo.com email accounts).

Although he was adamant (sp) about no pictures of babies, he did suggest that I take a picture of the crib that Alison stayed in (I gratefully did, but had to choke back a tear or two in the process).

Mr. Huang then took us to his office to answer questions for us. I found out that he was a big basketball and NBA fan, and was so happy to receive the Yao Ming jersey we bought him (as well as the Yao Ming poster we brought as well, he hurried over to open it in our presence). After questions, Ralph and I presented him with the yuan to build the disabled furniture. He promised he would see to it.

We then got back in the van and drove to the two "finding spots" where Alison and Arabella were abandoned. First stop was a mile away at the #1 Kindergarten in Maoming, where Allie was found 16 months ago, at only a day old. Mr Huang noted that Yu Yu was a pleasant child while at the orphanage, but a very active one (to which I grinned broadly).

Next stop was to a busy and crowded intersection in the middle of the city, where Arabella was found at the base of a tree. Ralph asked me to videotape the spot, and it was very hard for me to do as he teared up sitting at the exact spot his daughter was found.

We had to hurry back to the bus station to catch the 2:30 bus back to Guangzhou, and the five hour return ride. So it was a quick and fast trip, but one that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Seeing the conditions as they were (substandard by our western ideas), I was so glad to get back to the hotel and see my wife and daughter, and know that Alison will be well cared for forever.