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Hello
From Shanghai - Page 2
On Monday morning,
June 13, 2000, I toured the orphanage, guided by Mr. Huang, Deputy Director
of the Center for Community Development Studies, (and Party Branch Secretary),
and his assistant, Ms. Wu of the institution.
First we visited the nursery room in the rehabilitation building. Built
in the 1990's, this building stands out among all the other 1911 buildings
and huge trees. Before we even had a chance to enter the room, toward
us the children came running or rolling in their roller walkers, (a walker
with a large metal circle on top, a smaller metal circle below that, to
which a swing seat is attached, all held together by three legs with wheels
at the bottom of each leg).
About 15 children
are supervised by 4 adults dressed in yellow uniforms. I squeezed in carefully
between the children and the roller walkers, and squatted down among them;
several of them with outstretched arms desiring to be held. They
look healthy and sound quiet. One baby grins, responding my rubbing
on her little fingers, kissing on her forehead and hugging her in her
roller walker. I want to hold all of them at the same time. One
of the photos I took is of two boys, one 4 1/2 years old and the other
3. They are leaving for their adoptive family in New York next month.
I walked into
an infant room, which was attached to a classroom. A caretaker is
standing near the door with an infant in her arms. Another 8 children,
all in metal walkers, are playing in the front part of the room. In
the back of the room there were 28 metal cribs, aligned in four rows.
I walked over
to a child who was sitting in her walker, in the middle of the room. Her
head was bent forward, resting on the metal circle of the walker. She
had just had surgery to remove tumors from her eyes. She reached
out and grabbed my index finger, while reaching out and trying to touch
me with her other arm. I held her in my arms and kissed her on the
head. She became totally still, motionless. I could no longer
withhold my tears. I picked up another small baby into my arms and
walked over to where two caregivers were holding two infants. Both
of these infants had severely cleft palates. I looked around. The
other two caregivers in the room were busy changing diapers.
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