Dongguan Children's Welfare Institute

Friday was a big, emotional, interesting, tiring day. We took a 90 minute bus ride to a nearby city called Dongguan where Naomi's orphanage is. I was a little nervous to go b/c I wasn't sure how she would react to seeing her caretakers again but ultimately I thought it was more important to know where she had been these first 16 months of her life.

I thought along the way we would escape the gray blanket of pollution that envelopes Guangzhou but I was wrong. Dongguan is a factory town and the pollution was as bad if not worse. Just so its clear how bad things are here, let me emphasize that we have not seen the sun since we arrived. Not once. And you can taste the air. It's not good.

Anyway, young kids move from the farms in the countryside to areas like Dongguan b/c jobs are more plentiful and wages are relatively good. There isn't a lot to do and there is little supervision so young girls end up pregnant. The ones who don't have an abortion hide their pregnancy, deliver the baby and then abandon it in a public place. The prospects for an unwed young mother are not positive in the least. There is really no other option. This is likely how Naomi came to be left on a stone bench in the main park of Dongguan's "old town" district.

Upon arrival at the orphanage we were all pleasantly surprised to find a nice, clean building with a private gate. We were greeted by the assistant director who took us to a waiting room to meet with the caretakers and hear some information about the orphanage. Inside everything was spotless but very institutional. We noticed there was a small library, several therapy rooms and even a small dance studio.

It was actually very nice to see the caretakers again. All of the kids reacted positively but they also seemed eager to be back with their new parents when the meet and greet was over. Naomi received more than her fair share of attention from the group. Her caretaker was obviously happy to see her and had missed her I think. Every one of the caretakers took time to hold her and give her a hug. It was very nice to see that she had probably been well treated.

The Dongguan CWI is one of the bigger orphanages in the province. At any point in time there are 200-300 kids there. Ninety percent of those kids are special needs. We saw this with our own eyes when we were allowed into the infant area. This is where the reality of these kids lives hit will full force. There was an albino-like child with red hair and skin problems, several kids with horribly severe cleft pallets and many others with obvious physical and/or mental issues. You wanted to scoop them up and take them all. This was the only area we weren't allowed to take pictures of.

A poignant moment for me was when we were shown Naomi's crib. We knew from talking to the caretaker that as much as 80% of her day, including meals, had been spent in that crib. It was a cheap metal crib packed into a room with 20 other babies. It was very easy to picture her just wasting away in that room for hours upon hours. Its not something I'll ever forget.

Then, the tour was over and we were off to lunch. We had lunch in Dongguan with some of the orphanage staff. The food was typical of the region and very good. I especially liked the garlic scallops that had piles of noodles on them. Tasty.... After a long bus ride back to the hotel we grabbed dinner and all three of us crashed early. We all needed to recharge.