American Meal and Questions Answered

After a long week two of the Harvard students are gone, leaving only Laura and I.  However, today I do not want to talk about them; I want to talk about my meal with Donna.


Donna invited I and the other two Harvard students (Sabrina had already left :( ) to her house on Saturday for their weekly Game Night.  I was excited to get some questions answered about how the orphanage was run and the adoption process.  I also wanted to know about her and what her program does.  


We found her apartment easily enough, and chatted with Flick and Ali why Donna prepared food.  (Flick and Ali also always went to Game Night.)  Donna lived with her three adopted daughters and two foster children from the orphanage.  As cheesy as it sounds, I could feel the love and warmth in the air.  


The dinner was fantastic (first western, home-cooked meal since I left home) and the information I learned was fascinating.  


So here is what I learned:


On the structure of the orphanage:
So I don't know if I described how the orphanage was laid out before, but here is what I found out:


1st floor-still a little unclear, I'll have to ask Donna about that next Saturday.  I've seen older children (around 8 years of age or so) crawling around on the floor.  It was a little disturbing.  I believe this is for older children with severe mental disabilities.


2nd floor-babies and a few toddlers.  Donna says that care was better at the old orphanage building because the rooms were smaller and there was only one ayi to a room, so the ayi knew her wards.  Now the room is big and there are two ayis, so it's less personal.  The ayis can feed the kids and change their diapers, and then go to the other side of the room and talk to each other.


3rd floor-a few babies and 15 or so older toddlers.  Some of the toddlers can't sit up, so they're basically treated like babies.  Others can't walk, but can stand, and there's one really old kid who just rocks back and forth in his crib.  Half of the toddlers get to go to class, but the other ones that get left behind stay in their crib all day long.


4th floor- for terminally ill children.  Apparently, this floor is really restricted (for obvious reasons) but also very good.  Donna said that the care was so good that the kids weren't dying like they were expected to.


5th floor-the classrooms.  The older kids (around 9-13), the younger kids(around 4-7) and the toddlers all go up here.  Most of the kids are from the tenth floor, with a couple from second and third and one from eighth that comes sometimes.


6th floor-office.  This is were the director and administration staff work.


7th floor-where I live!


8th floor- this is a Chinese non-profit organization, but they only take in "normal" kids, so there are only six kids on this floor.  Donna says they only take "normal" kids because the organization doesn't want their staff to work with special needs kids, only "pretty" kids.  There are two that have minor disabilities, but the others are actual orphans, meaning their parents died.  Louhuan says that the ayi on the 8th floor is especially caring, though.  I definitely don't like that the Chinese non-profit had so much discrimination, but I am glad that these children are well taken care of.


9th-I still don't know what this floor is for.  I need to ask Donna next time.


10th-the kids Donna is in charge of, and the ones I work with the most.  


I also asked what happens to the kids once they get older.  Donna said once they turn fourteen they get sent to another home with older children.  After they turn 18 they are no longer wards of the state.  However, the orphanage doesn't really kick them out.  There are a lot of 19, 20, etc. year olds still living at the homes.  As long as they don't cause any trouble, they can stay.  


As for the adoption process, it's up to a ten year wait for a healthy child now, and at the moment they are not accepting applications.  In the past, China has only let healthy or children with slight disabilities be adopted internationally, but they are getting more and more lenient.  Still, they won't usually allow mentally disabled kids to be adopted. 

Next week, Donna is doing a camp for Chinese New Year for the Eagle Wings 6 and I'm going to see if I can help with them.  It sounds super cool.  They're doing all these activities, and they need the help.  I don't know if I'd have much work at the orphanage since there aren't any classes going on.  It would be really cool to meet the other kids. The kid groups all have different types of disabilities, so some are only physically disabled instead of mentally and physically like the tenth floor kids, or some groups have downs sydrome, etc.  

Donna also said that if I had a free day I could visit their baby house, which takes way better care of their babies than 2nd and 3rd floor.

After our conversation, we all played a game of Memory, Spoons, and Swap (which is kind of like Uno).  I was sad to leave, but excited to come back next Saturday, and even more excited for New Years Week, if I'm allowed to go. (Since this would be outside of the orphanage, I would need permission from Assistant Director Wang.)