Changsha SWI #1 (Wednesday)

Today we visited Amanda’s orphanage, officially known as Changsha Social Welfare Institute Number 1. There used to be an ornate entrance off of Furong Road, but that has been removed  and the older buildings razed. A new hospital and orphanage combination have been built on the property.

Amanda's original orphanage record.

We had the opportunity to view Amanda’s orphanage record, including the original photographs that accompanied her dossier. The edges of the binder were slightly burned in a fire that occurred at the orphanage several years after Amanda’s adoption. Rainbow translated some of the entries for us, including some that were made the first week she was taken to the orphanage. There are also records of her reaction to her caregivers (smiling and happy) and when she first held her head up on her own (4 months).

The girls pass out art supplies to orphans.

The receptionist who was assisting us called one of the nannies to help us identify the caregiver in one of the pictures from our visit to the orphanage in 2002. She positively identified her and said she still worked at the orphanage, but that today was her day off. She called the caregiver and since she didn’t live too far away she agreed to come over to see Amanda. While we were waiting for her to arrive we visited some of the current orphans under the care of SWI #1. The children have disabilities ranging from minor to very severe, but all are considered unadoptable and are therefore destined to be cared for by the state indefinitely. We had purchased some drawing pads, writing pads and pens the day before, and the girls passed those out to the children in each room we visited. The children seemed genuinely excited to see the girls and receive the gifts. In the preschool room the children sang a little song to us and then took off across the hall to art class.



Amanda's caregiver in 2002.



After visiting about four or five rooms we headed back to the office and shortly thereafter Amanda’s caregiver arrived. She saw Ally first and assumed that was who was here to see her. Rainbow corrected that quickly by showing her a picture we had emailed to her that was taken on our 2002 trip. Once she made the connection she smiled broadly and hugged Amanda. Amanda was already being pretty shy and seemed to dislike being fawned over, but she handled it well.



Amanda's caregiver in 2012.



It was pretty cool to see the photo of the two of them from 2002 held as she hugged Amanda. We talked with her for about fifteen minutes and gave her some gifts. We also looked through a photo album we left for the orphanage director that has pictures of Amanda from six months of age until recently. Her caregiver really liked being able to see how she developed through the years. We thanked her for all she had done for Amanda.

In front of the old orphanage building.

Finally, we went next door to the building that housed the orphanage when Amanda lived there. It is now a home for senior citizens. We opted not to go up to the eighth floor, which was where the nursery was back then because the configuration now is nothing like it was in 2002, so we figured it really wouldn’t mean much. Instead, we took a couple of pictures at the entrance, which, other than the asphalt being built up much higher than it used to be (there is only one step up now) remains unchanged. We have pictures of our travel group on those same steps 10 years ago.