Thursday at XuChang

We drove up to the orphanage and were surprised to be greeted by a new large statue of Kung
Fu panda. No one seems to be able to explain why. We just enjoyed it !!

 

Leslie spent much of the day reviewing therapies with the ayis. We have been so pleased with
how receptive all of the staff has been. It is so refreshing to look across the room and see the
ayis implementing what they have been taught.

  

 We were privileged to be able to give care packages to three of our First Hugs kids from their
forever families.  QiRui took a few sweet yams we did not eat at lunch yesterday with a plan to use them for the children. She mixed up the pureed vegetable with yoghurt. The children all loved it. And we are so thrilled with the nutrition. Look how colorful it is !!

The nannies will need a place to be able to work one on one with the children on fine motor
skills and sensory. They will work with buckets of rice or beans, scoops, spoons and plastic toys.
The small plastic gate we put up will help keep curious babies out til it is their turn !!

After we left the orphanage we were invited to a special dinner with the Director of Civil affairs,
the orphanage director and two other directors from XuChang orphanage. We had a lovely meal
and were able thank the director for the opportunity to work at XuChang. We have been so
impressed with the orphanage's openness to work with us!!

We visit XuChang First Hugs

  

After an amazing breakfast at the hotel, we headed out to orphanage by 8:30. We were so excited to meet the children. We were met out front of the orphanage by QiRui, our room manager, Yang Yang, who is responsible for First Hugs at the orphanage, and the woman who prepares files for adoption. We were welcomed and thrilled to be there. We first spent time with the some of the smaller babies in the room all the kids sleep in. We had a chance to feed them and of course our experts, Leslie and Aimee were able to start assessing some needs and how we might help them right away!

Aimee and Leslie set up the equipment Leslie borrowed from her generous audiologist and began doing preliminary hearing screens on all the kids. Krista and I (Moya) headed up to the playroom to watch the kids through the window, not wanting to disturb them interacting with their nannies. They enjoyed their fruit  for the morning, sliced banana, and then went back to playing. We joined them and played some, getting to know them before lunch and then nap time. 

Our lunch in the cafeteria was fabulous. And the vegetables waiting to be cooked were breathtaking. Really!

After we finished lunch and while the kids were still playing, our shipped luggage arrived from Beijing. We worked with QiRui, Yang Yang,  and several other staff to unpack and organize them all. By the time the kids, awoke we had decided which toys would be out for now, which would be stored to be used next week, a taggy blanket (thanks Suzanne Butler Court) was in each child's crib and the orphanage staff were so happy!  The kids came to the playroom  and dove right into the new toys. We loved seeing the smaller babies on the playmats with toys overhead and on their tummies on boppy pillows. Aimee and Leslie began evaluating each child to see how they might be helped and what they will teach the nannies in the next few days. 

We ended our day with a short trip to the mall to get a few more storage containers for sensory items and some cough medicine for Leslie. QiRui wanted to accompany us but there was no room in the car so she was going to ride with Yang Yang on her motor scooter. The words were hardly out of QiRui's mouth when Krista (literally) jumped out of the car and offered to go on the bike. She so enjoyed that ride! Back at the Hotel now and getting ready to meet with our team (Krista, Moya, Leslie and Aimee) to review our notes for the day and prepare for tomorrow.  Thanks so much to all of our supporters for their generosity. Our nannies and the orphanage staff were blown away by your generosity!

Why did you do that?

Recently a First Hugs sponsor sent me a great question. Why, she asked, did you change the amount to fully sponsor one child from $1000 to $2000?  When we did that, it was purely to reflect changes in our budget when we moved our program from XinXiang to XuChang.  In the interest of being fully transparent, I am going to share our costs with you.

First of all, labor is more expensive in XuChang . In XinXiang we paid each of 6 staff 1400 yuan monthly plus we paid them for holidays. We paid our room manager 2400 yuan monthly. The SWI paid their insurance. At XuChang, we pay each of 9 staff members 2500 yuan monthly. We have 20 children at XuChang, up from 15 we budgeted for at XinXiang (Although we sometimes had up to 17 children at XX.) We also hired one nanny at XuChang to cook for the children (insuring that the children get good nutritious food and plenty of it!) and cleaning. When she is finished, she spends time with the children. We also pay our manager from XinXiang 2000 yuan monthly to go to XuChang two days weekly.

Most of our donors are drawn to sponsor children. They get quarterly reports and photos. So we made sponsorship for one child $2,000. We expect it will take several sponsors to fully sponsor each child. If all children are fully sponsored, we will have raised $40,000 (20 children times $2,000 full sponsorship) of our $51,000 budget.

There is no doubt we are facing an extra challenge this coming year to raise more money than ever. Our budget has gone from $30,000 to $50,000. We are dedicated to changing things at XuChang for the children. We are hopeful many people will join us in seeing a bright future for these children.

We are planning our annual trip to China in March. We are very excited to visit our program at XuChang for the first time. Krista Dolan and Moya Smith from the First Hugs board will be traveling. As always, we pay all of our own travel expenses. No money from First Hugs goes towards any travel expenses. This trip, an occupational therapist and a physical therapist will be traveling with us. Both have children adopted from China and both are passionate about helping orphans. They will pay their own expenses as well. Every cent raised for First Hugs goes to the children; to pay the nannies’ salaries.