Before we left China we took time to visit Joshua's orphanage. Ironically, on the day we visited the Guangzhou SWI there was a group of officials visiting from the Guiyang orphanage, the very one we had just visited after we received Micaelyn.
Visiting an orphanage is always heartbreaking. It is impossible not to get emotionally torn up over all the precious children left behind who want nothing more than the love of a family. It is so hard to see their faces as they look at you, desperately wishing for someone to come for them, knowing that will never happen for many. Joshua's orphanage had well over 1000 kids - so many dear children needing families, and that is just ONE orphanage out of so many!
Our first impression of the orphanage is that it was a very nice place for an orphanage, definitely the best one we have ever visited. However, the orphanage where the kids live now was built only a few years ago. When Joshua was younger it was a very different place, and all the things I've heard do not paint a very good picture of what life was like throughout Joshua's infancy and childhood. Even now that it is so much better the orphanage is still not a good place for a child to grow up. Children need love, they need affection, they need to be cared for and know they are special. Although Joshua is a good kid, we can see the affects of growing up in an institution in how distant he is with us. I only hope we can tear down the walls he has built emotionally and build up his self-esteem and self-confidence so that he can reach his full potential and succeed both professionally and socially in his new life as our beloved son.
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| At the entrance to the orphanage |
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| Joshua's room. His bed is the one with the buckets on it. We were actually really impressed that the older kids had individual rooms (4 kids to a room) as this was so different (and better) than any other orphanage we've visited. |
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| Even though it was nice they had bedrooms, I still thought it sad that teenage boys slept on what looked like baby bedding, not to mention how uncomfortable the beds looked. Also, there are no signs of individuality, expression, decorating, etc. Just the essentials, plain and simple, nothing more to mark it as a bedroom for 4 teenage boys. |
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| Standing in the entrance to the room to get an overall view. |
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| Just outside of the room. |
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| A bedroom for smaller children (obviously not infants since the railing doesn't wrap entirely around the bed). This is not where Joshua slept when he was younger since the orphanage is in a new building now. It's nice to see it so clean, but the bareness of the room is sad. All little children deserve to have a soft blanket and a little lovey to hold when they go to sleep! |
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| The orphanage was actually in a nice place outside of the city with grass and trees around it. |
2 comments:
You have a beautiful family! Thank you for sharing the pictures and information. My wife and I are heading to Guangzhou this week to bring back a beautiful girl who turns 14 this month. I believe the girl we are bringing home is from the same orphanage.
Thank you Jennifer,
I only wish were more people like you. Amazing
to have adopted 4 children.
I did adopted one long time ago, I had four on my own,and I will say, that today, in my old age, he is the most amazing young man, who will do anything for me.
I am a child psychologist, survivor of the Holocaust,still working on child abuse, and know how important is Love in a life of a child, Wishing you all God blessing.
Simonne.
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