First Hugs is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life for orphan children in the care of XuChang Social Welfare Institute in Henan, China.
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!!
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!
It's been an adventure filled few days since we landed in China Friday night. We all planned to meet at the terminal after collecting luggage. Aimee and Lesley arrived together several hours after Krista. Moya arrived soon after. Unbeknownst to us ( note to self: check this detail in the future) Moya landed at a whole different terminal. So she got a cab to the hotel alone. The driver got lost, pulled over and tried to figure out where to go. Eventually she safely joined the others at the hotel...although for a few minutes, she was worried. Friday morning after a coffee at the nearby Starbucks, we spent time negotiating how to get 400 lbs of donations shipped to the orphanage. We made a new friend in the concierge and eventually all was settled by calling another company. The duffel bags were taped to the top of a vehicle! Here is Krista with said luggage transporter!
The Doubletree was then unable to get us a cab to take us to the train station and told us it would be easier to take the subway. What??!!. So we walked a block to subway and negotiated that. Leslie had her bag lifted and pushed onto the train by an employee at the door was going. We made it to the train station and found our way to our gate. "Quickly, quickly", said the man who checked our ticket. We thought we had almost 15 minutes to our train but the uniformed employee who let us through the gate and ran with us to the train indicated otherwise. We barely made it on the train-car 6 and had to make our way through 5 cars to get to our seats!
A few hours later at 300 km/ph we arrived in Zhengzhou. We got subway tickets and emerged above ground just minutes from our hotel. Whew! We had a lovely dinner at a noodle joint, met a new friend who offered us free translation any time ( she works in sales and manufacturing) and then made a short trip to Wal-Mart. The next morning, we set out to buy some things our OT and PT (Leslie and Aimee!!) need to help our kiddos. QiRui, our room manager, and Yang Yang, the assistant director met us at the hotel to give us a ride to XuChang. There was not enough room in the car so Yang Yang. QiRui and Krista took the fast train. We checked into the hotel with some issue as they wanted twice our week room charge as a deposit and our credit cards were not working. Sigh. Finally my debit card worked and Leslie went with QiRui to 8 banks to get a debit machine to take her card and spit out money.
Finally we went to dinner down the street for some delicious hot pot. We were surprised to see a robot delivering food! Tomorrow we are very excited to head to the orphanage and meet "our" kids.
All of us at Dianjiang Kids International would like to wish all our family, friends and supporters a Happy Chinese New Year. 2012 is the year of the Dragon! We are delighted to report that there has been a buzz of activities happening for the children.
Hurrah! We have been talking about our return to Gracie’s Room in XinXiang for some time now, but we have finally booked tickets. I have booked tickets for me ( Moya Smith, executive director of DJ Kids) and my younger daughter (a Dianjiang girl) to head to XinXiang at the beginning of March. We will be joined by Krista Dolan, our Grace’s Room coordinator and by Cathy Reilly, DJ Kids treasurer and most importantly, mom to Gracie. Xia Zhong of Chinese Children’s Charities will be with us for the first few days as we visit several other non-profits working with children in China.
We had hoped Gracie’s Room and, of course, the rest of the orphanage, would have moved to the new orphanage by now but there has been some bureucratic hold up. No worries, with the help of many generous friends, we have gathered tons of stuff ( see our next blog entry) from our Gracie’s room wih list on Amazon and will be delivering new toys and clothes and decorations to the room. And perhaps most importantly, plenty of vitamins for the kids!!
We have plans while we are there to brighten up the room. No use waiting for the move. We will be buying paint and hunkering down to brighten up the walls while there; we also hope to have some shelves built for all the new toys. We are so excited to check on the kids in Gracie’s Room and to begin talks with the director about making Gracie’s Room a 24 hour a day, seven day a week program.
If you would care to chip in, click on the chip in bar to help us pay for paint and materials for the bookcase. We also hope to take the ayis shopping for clothes and supplies for the kids while we are there. We hope to bring about $500 to meet all their wishes for now.
As a thank you for your help, all supporters who participate with the chip in will receive a FREE 18" chinese silk dress for a doll/bear!
We are also very excited to have a volunteer videographer join us and document our journey! We will be able to share this video with all of you and for other opportunities to obtain much needed support and grants for the orphanage. We thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for those of you who would like to volunteer with this portion of the trip. We are seeking Canadian air miles to help our volunteer travel to China.
Points needed from Canada with Aeroplan are 75,000
Points needed from Canada with Airmiles are 13,950
If you or anyone you know has extra miles and would be willing to donate them to our cause, please contact Krista Dolan.
Thanks for all your support and be sure to follow us here starting in March for our trip to China!
To attract good fortune, spend a new coin on an old friend, share an old pleasure with a new friend, and lift up the heart of a true friend by writing his name on the wings of a dragon. -Chinese Proverb
