China Home Land Tour July 2011: Suixi - Thursday, June 30, 2011

After breakfast, we got ready for our trip to the orphanage. Rebecca is excited and nervous. We left the hotel at 1pm for Suixi (both a county of 1.5 million and a city), where the Suixi Social Welfare Institute (SWI) is located. Halfway there, we pick up the formula and candy for the children. When we arrive, Rebecca is warmly recognized by Mr. Han (Han Yong, Director). He laughs with happiness and hugs Rebecca continuously. Rebecca is at first unsure, but then is beaming with the attention. Mr. Han brings us to the second floor, where there is a conference room and long table and the leadership offices. We are joined by Zhou Yi You (man) Assistant Director, Ye Hong Ying (woman, and the person in the yellow jacket in Rebecca's adoption photos) Assistant Director, Chen Mei Qing (Doctor), and Yan Yu Qing, Mr. Han's wife and one of the five caretakers for Rebecca's group of children. Mr. Han warmly welcomes us to Suixi SWI and thanks us for honoring us with a visit. They provide us with bowls of fruit (lechee fruit and bananas) and water. We are introduced to everyone, and pictures are taken by me of all the SWI people with Rebecca. I presented Mr. Han with enlargements of the photos I had taken on adoption day in Guangzhou in November 2003. Mr. Han was delighted to see them. I told him that Rebecca referred to him as Baba (Papa), as they were particularly close.

Mr. Han confirmed that Rebecca was left at the gate of the orphanage, when she was 4 days old, and that she was a healthy and lively baby throughout her 2 years at the orphanage. He also said that she cried a lot when frustrated, a trait she still has today! He mentioned that there was no note, birthdate or birth name left with her when she was found. Mr. Zhou was the person responsible for naming all the babies when they arrived at the orphanage. Rebecca's name is Sui Shao Lian, which means little Lotus flower.

Then Mr. Han told me a story that I had never heard before. Suixi was late to international adoption, and its first group was in 2002. He told me Rebecca was in the first group of Suixi girls matched for adoption. A couple was scheduled to adopt her and Rebecca and her group of girls was brought to Guangzhou for the adoption process. However, Rebecca was very feverish, as she was teething. The selected couple was afraid to take Rebecca, believing her feverish state indicated something more dangerous. So, they decided not to proceed with Rebecca's adoption. Instead, another baby girl from Suixi was arranged for adoption, and driven up from Suixi. Rebecca ended up going to and from Suixi in the care of Mr. Han's wife (her primary caregiver). So, Rebecca had to wait another year to be matched with me as part of the third Suixi adoption group. She was 24 months old at the time and she had gotten very close to Mr. and Mrs. Han. When I received her, she cried very deeply for five days straight - as she grieved the loss of her Mama and Baba. It was hard for me to watch at the time. Mr. Han and the orphanage staff all agreed it was Rebecca's "fate" to be matched with me. Rebecca was happy to hear this story! And, the staff said that Rebecca was the more lively baby than the child the couple decided to adopt!

We then toured the third floor children's playroom. There were about 20 toddlers there. Some were obviously physically handicapped, with a missing arm, several children with cleft lip/palate, and some were mentally handicapped. I took pictures of many of them and immediately showed them the digital pictures. They clapped their hands with excitment. Elizabeth and Rebecca gave each child a small bag of candy. There was a set of twins, about 3 years of age, who stared quietly at us. I took a picture of Rebecca on the same rocking horse on which she was photographed for her referral picture. The playroom was adequate but not filled with many toys. We next went to one of the baby rooms. There were about 20 steel cribs latched together, with babies in most of them, sleeping or awake. The crib floors had no cushions on them, so the babies slept on hardwood flooring. It was so barren and spare. It was sad to see. There was one 3 to 4 year old in one crib whose hands were covered in gauze, who was tied to his crib so he would not try to get out. I decided not to take any photos, so as not to push the boundaries.

We then went back to the conference room. The entire building is about 7 stories, and we were told there were aorund 90 children at the SWI. This would mean most of the remaining children were hidden away because of the severity of their deformities.

Mr. Han said that about 90 children from this SWI had been adopted by American families. Of all the international adoptions, about 20 children have returned. Yesterday, a family from Katonah, New York had returned with a Suixi girl from Rebecca's original (first) adoption group (a cribmate of Rebecca). The SWI keeps a visitor book, listing all the returning children. We saw the information from the child from the previous day. I wrote down their name and phone number and will try to contact them when I return home. Rebecca entered her information and drew a picture of Mr. Han and herself holding hands and labeled it Shao Lian and Baba. Mr. Han was delighted.

Mr. Han gave me a huge hardcover book on the history of Suixi, with photos of the surrounding area, including one of the SWI building. He entered the date of our visit and inscribed it. I will ask one of our guides to translate it. We exchanged addresses and email addresses. He asked for any group photos we could provide of upcoming gatherings of Suixi girls. I was also asked to provide them with the Chinese names of the 3 other girls in the adoption photo I provided them from 2003.

We then went to have dinner with Mr./Mrs. Han, their 17 year old son, Miss Ye, Assistant Director, and her eight year old daughter, our guide, Yorkee Lee, our driver, Mr. Wu. This dinner was to honor our visit. We were asked what we would like to eat, and chicken (with head attached), shrimp , broccoli, pork, vegetables, white rice, and scallion pancakes were brought. Mr. Han furthered honored Rebecca and Elizabeth by placing food on each of their plates before the others. We all toasted with "gan bei" and clicked glasses of tea. All in all, we spent 5 hours with the orphanage director. Mr. Han asked Rebecca to learn Chinese before she next visits in 10 years, so that she can talk directly with the staff. Goodbye hugs were given all around. Then we left for the hotel.

Rebecca told me she was very happy with the visit and pronounced the day exciting and wonderful. I agreed with her, and was so pleased with the wonderful and warm response.

Tomorrow we head to Beijing. Bye for now!