Huainan Children Welfare Institute

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Despite a forecast of rain, it turned out to be a nice day for our visit to the orphanage. Eight years ago the road was treacherous and we passed many accidents on our way to Huainan. It took us over three hours to get there from Hefei. Fortunate for us, there is a new highway so it took us half that time. And like every other city in China, Huainan’s population has grown considerably and there are a lot of new high-end apartments springing up on the outskirts of town.

We were not allowed to visit the orphanage on our original visit as the location was considered bad feng shui, and now we know why. It is located in a very poor part of the city next to the “cave of 10,000 corpses”, a sad reminder of the Japanese invasion and the horrendous violence inflicted on the Chinese. It also is next to a very large cemetery.

The director was waiting for us in the courtyard and escorted us to a large meeting room. He had pulled all of the girls’ files and gave us time to go through them. Unfortunately, there was no information or paperwork that we had not already had copies of. AiLi’s nanny no longer worked there, so we weren’t able to meet her, and we were unable to get AiLi’s crib number or the name of her crib mate. The director has been at the orphanage for 22 years and estimates that more than 1,000 children have been adopted. The orphanage is in very poor condition, which he apologized for, but he explained a brand new facility is almost completed and they will be moving in a few months. AiLi, Hannah and Lianna presented the director with the treats, toys and school supplies they had purchased the day before.

The director then took us on a tour. There are currently 60 children living there. We saw younger children; the older children were off at school. We were not allowed to visit the babies nor were we allowed to photograph the children because they are very protective of their privacy. Almost all of the children have special needs. It was heartbreaking to know they have very little chance of being adopted, although the director told us that 10-12, all with special needs, are adopted each year by Americans. He said he was extremely appreciative of Americans and the special care we give the children. He was also appreciative of the work that Love Without Boundaries is providing his orphanage. We visited the class room and teachers that the organization funds. They also have funded many medical procedures that would have otherwise gone untreated.

We were allowed to take the picture of one little girl who is being adopted in May. I connected with her adoptive mother through a Facebook group and she sent me a small photo album which I brought with me to give to her. The little girl is adorable. She’s around 5 and has a prosthetic leg. All of the children seemed happy and well taken care of. There was another adorable little girl around two years of age who was so frightened of us that she went into the toddler room and tried to crawl under the bed. They get a few visits a year from families returning with their adopted children but not many.

After our visit we took the director out to lunch and then to a store where we bought a washing machine. We pooled the money the girls had raised and bought a very nice one. It will go into the new orphanage and he will email us a picture.

On our way back we stopped at Lianna’s finding place and took some pictures. Once again, we were attracting much attention. Huainan does not see many Caucasian tourists. The girls got frustrated because people speak to them in Chinese, not realizing they do not speak Mandarin.

It was not as an emotional experience as I expected it to be. The girls seemed to handle it well and were almost detached, as if they could not connect with that early part of their lives. We headed back to Hefei and a quiet night at the hotel.

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Comments

[George Meseguer]

Back to Huainan
Hi, We are a 3 members family from Murcia (Spain), Mary-Yun (daugther,16), Lola (mother) and George (me). Mary-Yun was adopted from Huainan Children Welfare Institute in 2002. We are nearly to to travel to China again (on April-2018) to let to Maria-Yun to know where she was born and her roots. We'd like to take contact with the Huainan Children Welfare Institute in order they let us to make just a little visit to the premises by ourselves but we have not any mean to take contact with them in advance (by any mean, e-mail, better or Facebook). So this is to ask you if anybody had any e-addres for that? or even any kind of indirect address or key to get that. If you can help us pls.email-me to [e-mail]. We'll appreciate your help. We have read delightfuly your experience and we thank you to let everybody knows. Thanks a lot.