Report of the Field Visit to Xinyu Orphanage

April 9, 2002 by Dr. Peggy Gurrad
We visited the Xinyu orphanage on Monday, April 9, 2002.  Amity’s general impression of the orphanage staff is that they are cooperative and honest; they don’t try to hide problems.  It was interesting to note that the Civil Affairs officials were quite interested in Amity’s organization and work and asked them a lot of questions during lunch, in order to help the children. 
   
  We first visited the room where our Hugging Grannies work with the handicapped children, those with either mental or physical disabilities.  One was sick that day so only two of our Grannies - Liu Zhong Zhong (right lower) and Zhu Ai Qin (right top) were there.

They each focus on two of the children, doing rehab exercises, teaching them and giving them focused love and attention.  They are able to see significant improvement in the children under their care. 
   
  One child, YZM, has some serious problems with her legs and feet.  Her legs were kept out in a horizontal position sideways from her body and she is not able to move them down into a normal (standing) position.  She will need surgery and was evaluated at the hospital but it was decided that she needs stretching exercises first.  

So at the instruction of the doctor, her Granny is doing an exercise with her 300 times a day!  YZM will be returning to the hospital soon for her surgery.

   
  Next we visited the infant rooms.  There was a central room with three sleeping rooms coming off of it.  There are cribs in all three sleeping rooms but a bed for a caregiver in only one of them.  There were about 10 infants or toddlers there that day and they have one caregiver.  Two caregivers work in shifts to cover the 24 hours.  Dr. Hong recommended having someone else help with some of the chores such as washing diapers, etc. because the caregiver needs more time to play with the children.  The children were up in walkers in the central area with some room to move about in them.  A few of the toddlers were walking.  But there were no toys out.  
   
  Outside we saw an older, crippled boy, YMM, in the courtyard.  They say that he was abandoned at about age 6 or 7 and is about 14 years old now.  In addition to the problem with his legs he also has no bowel or bladder control so is not able to attend school.  

They say that some local Christians do come once a week to teach him.  Dr. Hong felt that we should purchase him a wheelchair so that he is able to get around more.
   
  We then visited some of the foster homes.  We saw YZS (right) whose heart surgery was done last year.  
   
  Then we visited YZG whose surgery on an arm hemangioama we took care of about a year ago.  This girl was very lively and engaging.  

Her sponsor had sent some gifts and she was like a child at Christmas.  She was thrilled and we heard lots of “Xie xie’s”.   

She appears quite attached to her foster mom and to the extended family that was there at the time of our visit.

   
  Next was nine-year-old YZ, who also had heart surgery last year.  She was a little shyer than YG but also a very endearing girl.  Her sponsor has begun the process to adopt her so we had some gifts from them.  She loved the “Guess How Much I Love You” book (in English and Chinese) they sent, especially the photo of them pasted on it.

Her sponsor had asked that someone be found to teach her English and she had just started shortly before we arrived.  She was able to say a few phrases in English and if I said “Nice to meet you” she would reply “Nice to meet you too”.
   
 

And then we visited the foster home of YZD.  We have sent money for her cleft lip surgery and it will be done soon.  A cleft palate surgery will also be needed later.

   
  After lunch we met with some of our sponsored schoolchildren (mostly the primary school students) at the orphanage.  One of them, YX, needs some orthopedic shoes.  We have sent the funds for this so they will be purchased soon.  

We gave YZ the gifts from her sponsor and gave the other children some small gifts we had brought which they all enjoyed.  YHF was not there since she was away at professional school (banking) so we gave her gift to the director to give to her later.  
   
  We also did not see one of the middle school students, LXH.  And we had visited kindergarten student YG in her foster home.  We also gave the director the album with photos of adopted children, which he, the staff and some of the children looked at and enjoyed.
   

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