Anybody reading this?

Not sure how many people actually read this anymore, besides our parents. If you're not able to comment here, you can email me your comments :) Funny thing, there was a magazine article that named some things to do before you leave Beijing. One of them was "Start writing a blog. Stop writing a blog when you realize everyone is writing one."

In any case, it's at least a good way for me to process things. We returned a few days ago from 2 weeks in Nanchang, which is a 12hour train ride south. We went down with a friend, to meet up with his fiance and our friends who are part of an organization that runs camps for orphans. It's difficult to paint a picture for you of all the things that happen at this camp, but I'll try. This year, the camp is using a hotel that is semi-abandoned. They still seemed to have some guests, but they don't provide many things (like change of sheets, towels, etc.) There was a big open courtyard at the center that we used for assemblies and playing with the kids. So, this organization has established relationships with state and private orphanages. Up to 40 children are sent to the camp for 5 days. Each child is paired up with a Foreign buddy (american, canadian, australian) and a chinese college student who acts as the translator, and also is like an older brother/sister to the child. The children sleep in the same room as the translators, and we're called family groups. With these groups we eat all our meals together, swim together, do crafts, and spend almost every waking moment together! The point is to show the children love, and that no matter what they do, we will always love them, because they are valuable! We will not abandon them like their parents did.

On Thursday we write letters to each other, and we also spend part of the evening doing a life chart. In this exercise, we encourage the children to discuss each year of his/her life and rate it on a scale of happiness. For some, it's easy to talk about. For others, they don't know how to talk about it, or even express their emotions. If a child does open up, it's very powerful for everyone in the family group. The child has the opportunity to share their emotions in a safe environment, and the foreigner and the translator are made aware of the tragic stories that happen over and over again here. It's really heart-breaking. Thursday nights are quite emotional. The foreign volunteers have a meeting each evening, and that night is always the most touching and powerful. Fridays are also difficult. We have a goodbye ceremony where the translator reads the letters we've written to our child, and the child to their buddy. There are always tears, as many of the children express their gratitude for experiencing love and acceptance for the first time. For many, it's the highlight of the year. After lunch we say goodbye, and it's so sad as they all get into the van crying. They drive away and we are all left there on the steps of the hotel sobbing....wishing we could each take our buddy home.....trying not to think about the place they are going back to.....wondering if there is hope for them. We stand there and doubt for a moment, but thankfully most of us are able to lay them back in the hands of their Father who loves them more than we do, and trust that he has a plan for them.

I'll tell you now a little about the girls that I had. The first week we had 2 buddies each. I had two girls, one 14, the other 18. They often look much younger though. Sometimes it's because no one knows their real birthdays. Often they are malnourished and emotionally immature as well. Both of the girls have lived at the orphanage their whole lives. They don't remember anything else. For them, their ups and downs involve school, and acceptance by other peers. One of the girls lives in a foster home, but they are quite poor. The other girl lives at the orphanage, but she has a "love mother and father" that she doesn't like. She said she also takes care of about 6 younger children. I encouraged them to keep studying hard. If they do well in school they do have some hope for a better future independently. If not, they fall into the welfare system. For the second week I had a 14 yr old girl who was visually impaired. It was her first year at camp. She really seemed to come out of her shell and made other friends, had a good time. She was quite afraid of the water at the pool and the first day wouldn't even cross the fence into the pool area. Eventually she did, once she saw the others swimming happily, but just sat on the side. By the 3rd day she wanted to try swimming, but unfortunately it was raining all day and we couldn't go. All week she had been sharing her story with the translator and I, but when we did the life chart she went into more detail. Because of her visual impairment she never went to school until this past year! And she's 14! I guess the orphanage finally had some money to send her. She goes to a boarding school for the visually impaired. She said the hardest part was that parents were allowed to stay for 3 days with the new students, and she felt very lonely because she had none. She told us that her greatest wish is to have parents. I wish I could fulfill that. What's tragic is that in this country, once your turn 14 you are no longer adoptable. The children don't know this. Breaks my heart, the memory of her with tears in her eyes as they drove away.......



On a more positive note, the translators are also deeply moved. Many regular folk don't know about what goes on with orphans. These ones start to ask questions, like why perfectly healthy, beautiful girls are abandoned? For most, they are moved to tears. On the last evening they did a huge fireworks display for us all. One translator was sobbing. When asked why, she said "I want my country to do this for its orphans, not just americans that come in." And that is exactly what we want! We want them to take care of them, to see the problem and find a way to solve it, to raise up a generation that thinks differently. Most of the college students live close to the orphanages that they plan to visit them. Some of them are mentors, who visit the children every weekend. This is the hopeful and exciting part.

We'll post some pictures on facebook. Needless to say, it was a great time. Email me if you want information about the organization, and if you're interested in coming next year!

Olympic updates will be another post later this week :)