Today was the orphanage visit and what this journey has been all about-to meet the people who knew Malissa her first year of life and to get some questions answered.
We drove up to the orphanage-a huge white and yellow building about 6 stories high. It was in the shape of a U with a courtyard/playground in the middle. We walked into a large foyer area along the front and right side of the U shape. Right away we were greeted by a man ( a guard?) who led us deeper into the foyer and into a hall that ran along the courtyard. In this hall we met the director of the orphanage, Director Yang. She was the doctor when Malissa was there. Right away she recognized Malissa saying she could see the same eyes, but her face was a lot rounder when she was a baby.
In the photo below Director Yang is the woman in black sitting next to Malissa. The other two women are a few of the nannies who were in the orphanage when Malissa was there. Unfortunately the nanny, Ms. Chen, who was Malissa's primary caregiver and is now the Director of Children's Affairs works in another facility, could not be there. I was very disappointed by that since she would be the one who had the most information for us. Also, the previous vice director and director of the orphanage, Ms. Zeng and Mr. Chen, no longer work there. They also could not be there.
Through our interpreter we asked Ms. Zeng many questions about Malissa, but she did not seem to know most of the information. For example, did she know how Malissa got a scar on her ankle? Why was she not put in foster care when so many other girls in our group were placed in a home? When did she have her firsts, such as sitting up and teeth? What other children were in her room with her? Why was she named Ke Xing? They would not let us take a photo of the file, but they did let us take notes while Cindy, our interpreter, told us what was written.
We did, though, get a bit of information that we did not know before. For example, she was found at 7:20 am (different from what the police officer told us). The children had their own cribs, so no cribmates-although during the day they may have been placed together at times. The children left the orphanage once in a while to socialize with the public and some photos we have of Malissa in a walker (I told you about it a few days ago) was actually in the city center in a park near the hotel we stayed at, not in the courtyard of the elderly care facility. The girls were also taken to the hospital several times for physical exams and bloodwork. We also got to see the Finding Ad from a local newspaper that is required in an effort to try to find the birth parents or a relative. It basically said an infant girl by the name Min Ke Xing was found on August 22, 2002. She was born on August 22, 2002. It then names the address of where she was found. They gave me a copy so when I get home I will make a copy to share with you since it has a lot of Finding Ads in it, and I am sure one of the girls we traveled with 11 years ago has her ad in it.
At this point in the visit they got out a white scrapbook and asked Malissa to put her hand prints in red ink into the book then write her Chinese name and American name. She struggled writing her Chinese name in the correct way so Ms. Zeng helped her.
They then gave Malissa a gift of a certificate stating that she visited and a craft made by one of the students from the orphanage. A lot photos I cannot share with you because I took some on my camera phone, and I am not able to download those yet due to the lack of internet service on my phone. When I get those downloaded I will share those with you. We also donated a gift to the orphanage, a digital camera. They bought the camera and they gave us a receipt for it, then we gave an envelope with money in it to cover the cost.
Once we were done in the craft room we asked to visit with some of the children. They said we could but we could not take any photos. A room next door had about 10 special needs children who were watching a cartoon. They were excited to see us and began to talk to us in Chinese. Of course we could not understand them but we sat down with them, held their hands, and did a lot of smiling. One girl, Rio Xiao, in particular captured my heart. She had cerebral palsy, and we were told that she was in the orphanage and in the same room as Malissa when Malissa was there. We were told when she came in and for many years after she was not able to move at all. Once they moved to the new facility in 2012, they had more room and access to rehabilitation services. Rio Xiao made great gains and now moves quite well with a walker and can even talk a little now. She had a beautiful face and smile. Malissa sat next to her and they held hands for awhile.
Soon after we walked into the courthyard/playground. We walked around while a few of the children followed us out. It became too warm and muggy to stay long so we walked back into the craft room where they asked Malissa to play on their keyboard. She did it after some prodding. I think they were as proud of Malissa and I was. Their faces were beaming and all of them were taking pictures of Malissa while she played.
Soon after, our visit came to an end since it was lunch time for the students and the staff had to return to their duties. The visit seemed too short and we did not get nearly enough information, but we still feel blessed to have had the opportunity to make this journey into Malissa's first year of life.
Right after leaving the orphanage we headed to the airport to catch a plane to Shanghai, where we are right now. We are meeting up once again with our tour group to hear about their experiences at their orphanages. When we can we will share some more.
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