Monday December 18th

Today we were able to visit the Hefei orphanage. This is a well known orphanage in China and was established in 1949. Meng lived in this orphanage from fall of 1994 until January 1996 when she came home. The orphanage buildings and grounds have been improved since Meng was here. The Hefei orphanage was the first orphanage the government of China allowed the Half the Sky Foundation to come into and build an outside playground. They have also build inside play rooms and trained the nannies in the caring of the children. Today we saw evidence of a modern and very busy orphanage.

We were graciously allowed to visit the playrooms of the toddlers and they were too adorable for words. They were shy of the strangers in their room, but soon we had smiles, they were especially drawn to Katrina and Meng, who were loving every minute. There were several nannies in each playroom, which were heated and each room had an air conditioner for the summer heat. The toddlers were still all bundled up with layers of clothing. When you have your child, remember that they are used to being overwarm, and they seemed quite comfortable with all their layers.

We were then taken to the rooms of the 2 - 4 year old children. They were all in separate rooms with the 3 - 4 year old children in classrooms. These little ones were more brave and several of them came running up to us with big smiles. The teachers were very proud of the children and very careful with them. The Assistant Director escorted us on the tour and it was clear she knew the children and she was very loving with them.

After our tour of the younger children’s rooms we were taken to a meeting room and Meng’s file was brought to us. It contained every letter and picture I have sent to the orphanage during the past years. It even contained the letter I had written to Meng while we were waiting for her to come home. Her orphanage file was very small, and it only contained the information we have already received. We had hoped there would be pictures of Meng when she was at the orphanage but there were no pictures we have not already received. We were brought fruit and bottles of water, and the Director of the orphanage came to visit with us. She remembered Meng,and was so happy to see how much she has grown and how happy she is. She is a very busy woman, as she is in charge of not only the orphanage but also the elderly home that is also located in the orphanage buildings. It was nice that she took the time to come and talk with us.

The orphanage was very clean, and it was very apparent the children are well taken care of. We wished we could have brought them all home with us, well, maybe that was not Jeff’s wish, but their little faces and smiles will stay with us for a long, long time. Meng has only a few memories of the orphanage, and did not recognize anyone today. However, this was one more day of visiting her past, and putting pieces into the puzzle of her years before coming home. It would have been so nice to have seen and visited with the older children, but they were all in school. Our guide, Cathy told us the if the children do well in school, the government will pay for them to attend the local high school, and if they do well in high school, there can be funding for them to attend a university or trade school. If not, the orphanage personnel will help them to find a job.

We could have stayed much longer at the orphanage, but we were disrupting their schedule, and it was time for us to leave. It was hard to drive away, and all I could think of was how much I love my job to be able to work hard to have as many as possible of these children to come home to families. For although the orphanage was taking very good care of these children, it should only be temporary until each child has a loving family.