Hello from China

Wednesday was our last day at XinXiang,After breakfast we headed to the orphanage but it took us a while to get there because there was an annual temple festival in the street. Once we got to the orphanage, we heard fireworks and even a marching band. Moya ran out to the street to get pictures and Ian got video. It was a really neat neighborhood experience. We spent time with the children and Krista gave the nannies a lesson in how to use the cloth diapers we brought and how to be sure each child had access to his/ her fingers. The kids are so bundled up, many of the little ones cannot get to their fingers. It was amazing to see the difference in the little blind girl with the ability to reach her fingers...she just blossomed. Sometimes, it is the simple things.

Before we left we caught sight of older kids in another part of the orphanage who were spending too much time on potty chairs. Some day maybe we can effect even more change. It is hard to see children not cherished or even treated humanely. We had a farewell lunch and meeting with the orphanage director. Our goal as the orphanage moves to the new building next month, is to hire more staff and turn Gracie 's Room into a 24 hour a day program. We went to the new building and picked out rooms with lots of light to be our new space. We are so excited to see the decorations and toys we brought brighten up a clean, spacious room. The expanded staff of nannies will be trained by staff from CCAI's Lily Orphan Care room at LuoHe Orphanage.

We drove two hours after lunch to get to LuoHe. We had dinner with officials from the local government and orphanage and a deputy director from the provincial Civil Affairs office. This is important as connections and relationships in China are so important to our ability to help the children. We are so grateful to CCAI and Xia Zhong for their support and leadership in our projects.

Tomorrow : to visit projects and LuoHe and Zhengzhou orphanages.

Xinxiang Visit Update

HI everyone!


We just finished spending the afternoon loving on lots of babies. We kissed, hugged, fed, played and even got peed on!  I am going to make a file called Gracie's Room March 2012 for our pictures.

It was an amazing experience today. The room which was void of interactive toys and color, quickly turned into a rainbow as I took toys and playmats out of my bag and handed them around. I truly felt like Santa Claus, I got choked up as each child's face lite up as I passed out toys.

Cathy was a pro at assembling the activity gyms, and play mats and feeding the cleft affected babies with the new bottles, Angela was the baby whisperer, and quickly had them asleep in her arms singing softly to them. Ian (when his camera wasn't in his hands) was the human ferris wheel, lifting them into the air with squeals of delight. Moya the eagle eye, was the voice and eyes of Gracie's Room, looking to see where we can place toys and bottles, talking with director all the while with a baby in her arms, Andi (her 8yr old daughter) was a great Jie Jie (big sister) to all the babies, tossing balls and teaching them how to play with the toys, and I tried to be the babies advocate, making sure files and babies matched with diagnosis, and birth dates, if we felt a baby was sick, I made notes to have the baby receive medical care, I explained to the nannies why the toys were important for the development of muscles, brain and motor skills.

We were quite the crew, and all worked well together. The nannies were at first reluctant and shy at all the toys and mats coming out, but once Cathy placed a child on the mat and within seconds she started to bat at the toys and shake her legs and laugh, the nannies were accepting and started to place babies onto the play mats, and place toys into the hands of the little ones. For some of the older (2 to 3 yrs) kids, the interactive toys were a big hit, like the shape sorter, xylophone and the ball drop.

We also visited a classroom with around 7 kids and a teacher. One of the children, a little girl, is being adopted very soon and was actually taken out to have her pictures done for her passport. I managed to quickly measured her foot for her mom and it is tiny!!! ( only about 4 inches long) She is a cutie and was all smiles for me! Earlier in the day we spent an hour at a foster care home, meeting 3 children and all the foster parents, there were 2 boys and 1 girl. OH MY! So much fun! The kids were so cute, and obviously cherished by their foster parents. We could clearly see the benefits of foster care. They shared drinks and treats with us, and we shared chocolates with them!

We got great video and photos of the visit. I played with the little girl (who is being adopted very very soon) and although she was shy of me at first, she warmed up and by the end of the visit, would run into my runs laughing so hard, she was drooling!! It was a hoot!  The little 4 year boy recited a poem for us and we have it on video. He is delightful! Oh, by the way, if your child comes home with cavities, blame Cathy, as she was handing out bubblegum lollipops and chocolate to all the kids!

We had a great day and I'll upload photos very soon.

Krista Dolan
Director of Gracie's Room

Off to XinXiang

The van from the orphanage arrived to pick us up at the hotel and we were sure we would not all fit with our luggage. You see there was the driver and translator, plus Cathy, Angela, Ian, Krista, Moya and her daughter , Andie. Plus two duffel bags of donations, 4 large suitcases of donations, two carry ons, Ian's camera equipment, each of us had a backpack and four large boxes with baby gyms -made in China but brought from US ( can't buy them here). Whew and we got it all in. Not that it was safe or would have been okay at home. There was no seeing out the back and even the view from the middle seats to front was completely blocked. But we made it!

We were brought to the hotel and settled in and after an hour, our translator, Zhang, came to get us. We thought we were off to the orphanage but he brought us to a room in the hotel where the director and assistant director were. It was a gorgeous welcome lunch with much great food ; all beautifully presented. The most striking was the whipped yam with blueberry sauce which looked like the tops of three twirled ice cream cones with blueberry sauce, Delicious too! The clear square noodles which were almost gelatinous and served with a lot of garlic and peanuts was also a favorite.

After our meal, it was finally time for what we were waiting for: babies!!!!

We went to Gracie's room noticing there were new mats on the floor ( we had bought some in Zhengzhou, having noticed in pictures that they needed to be replaced). We were immediately fully immersed in beautiful kids. We were snuggling babies, playing with the toddlers and asking questions of the ayis. A reporter from the local paper came and interviewed Moya and there were some pictures taken of the whole group with nannies. We hope to get a copy of that issue!!

Krista , our Gracie's Room coordinator, went through each file we have for kids in the program according to our January reports. We asked for questions and clarifications and also asked about each child whose waiting parents had asked us to. And of course took plenty of photos.

Tomorrow we will visit a foster home ( of a child who has a family waiting in the US). We had thought since she was in foster care, we would not get to see her and check on her for her parents. Now we will meet foster parents and see her in their home. Hopefully we can find out some things that will aid this little one's transition to her forever family.
Dumpling dinner and then off to bed. More tomorrow from XinXiang!

We are in China

Cathy, Moya and Andie met each other in Beijing on Friday evening after a very ( very) long day of travel and travelled on to Zhenzhou, Henan. Our travel mates did not show and we found out in Zhengzhou that their first flight had been cancelled and a storm made them miss their connection to Beijing. They joined us 24 hours later.That first day, we travelled up the road to Wal Mart. The desk clerk had directed us to Manhattan Street. Hmmm...really? Maybe we misheard?  But we walked up the block and sure enough, there was a large statue of a bull just like the one on Wall Street. So we found Manhattan street...and Wal-Mart. We bought some floor mats for Gracie's Room and headed back to the hotel. We will buy other orphanage supplies in XinXiang as we are weighed down by donations now.
That evening we headed back up that way for dinner and passes a square with many people dancing, Andie garnered quite a bit of attention perhaps because she was with two Caucasian women. She has had a few chances to practice her Chinese.
Sunday morning we headed out to Longman Grottoes to see the many Buddhas carved in stone centuries ( and centuries) ago. There was one particularly dramatic cave called the ten thousand Buddha cave where there was one enormous carving of Buddha and then thousands of Buddhas only 4 cm high carved in the rock.
Upon returning to the hotel, we were met by Rebekka from Swallow's Nest foster homes run by ex pats and English teachers Clay and Pam who have four foster home here in Zhengzhou currently caring for 33 children. We visited the home with eight two-year-olds. Now there was some energy,!! Every one of those children-all identified as special needs-is precious! At Swallow's Nest, they receive loving care and nurturing that shows in their playfulness and energy. Just before we left,  one enterprising boy was on his back on the floor, making his own music by banging his feet on the piano. Within minutes, three of his friends had joined him. Quite clever, these sweet things. Rebekka took time to answer our questions. We were thrilled to learn three of these children will join their forever families in the next few months.
After a perfect meal of dumplings and noodle soup in the hotel restaurant, we hit the sack. Tomorrow we head to XinXiang. I can't wait to see the kids!!

Why bother?

It was spring of 2006 and I was at Dianjiang signing the agreement with the orphanage and government officials to start our Gracie’s Room project. There was a Chinese tv film crew doing a featuree on why “Westerners” come back to do work in orphanages. They taped me meeting the child- the orphan- that our family sponsored in foster care. I held this child and the reporter asked me a question. It was very emotional. I was meeting a child at my daughter’s orphanage who we had received reports on for a year.” Why do you do this?” “ Why do you pay for this child to be in foster care?” “ Why do you care about these orphans?” Remember, in China, “these orphans” are , to most, nobodies.
Why? Simple, boiled down answer? Because I would have given anything for my two girls to have received that care. Anything! If someone had asked me when I was waiting or my child if I would pay monthly for her care to ensure she was getting love and nurturing, that someone was holding her , engaging her, playing with her, loving her…I would not have hesitated. But that didn’t happen. I did not have that chance. Neither of our girls received any special care. No one held them and cherished them. No one fed them a bottle and cuddled them. They did not get what they needed.

I can’t change that for them . I can’t change their past. But I can change someone else’s future. In small ways, very small ways. And that’s why I do it. That is why I volunteer. It’s why I pay out of my own pocket to go to China and check on the program; to talk to the director about what can be done differently and how it can be improved. And it’s why I will continue to do – even in small measures- something to change the future of children, to give them a head start, to show them love…simply because I wish someone had done it for my kids…

Gifts from Friends

 Here it all is. And it’s a lot. Good thing I will be able to pack my simple jeans  and tees to wear to hold babies in one very small suitcase, because I will need big suitcases to pack all of this.

Gifts for the babies. For the children of XinXang. Gifts from friends. People who reached into their hearts and pocketbooks, who looked at our wish list on Amazon and bought one bottle of vitamins. Or six toys Or bottles for kids with cleft lips and palates. Some diaper ornaments. Or bandages for the little girl who drags her foot. Or sleepers. These gifts arriving at my house over several months are gifts that matter.

Because of the way Amazon administers  their wish lists, unless the giver wrote us a note, we never knew who the gift  from. So I want to say now. Thank you. Thank you so much. This means a lot. It means when I travel to China next month, I will be carrying wishes and gifts from so many of you. I will post pictures as we bring these gifts to the orphanage but for now I want to say thank you. Your gifts are an affirmation that what we are doing is worth it. That these children are worth it.  That they matter and that you care.

Again, thank you.  Words fail me. “Xie xie” from these little ones in a room in an orphanage in a small town in China. Thank you.

Moya Smith

Happy New Year!

 

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