LianYunGang SWI Nov. 12

LGY SWI visit

I know so many of you have been waiting for this post and I’m sorry it has taken me so long to get it put up. It was such a long long day of travel yesterday and we had to hit the ground running In GZ today with medical apt. and other paperwork.

But I’ll leave that info. for the next post and get on to the SWI info.
First, the kid’s info.; then I’ll tell you the whole story of our visit.

THE KIDS
Unfortunately, I only have photos of three of the children. The other three (Ai Mei, Shan Shu and An Xin) were still at the hospital following surgery. I tried my best to ask how they were doing and was told they were all doing well. I am so disappointed I am not able to bring you more info. on them. I do have a photo of the hospital building. We were there the previous day to visit where our travelmates son had his surgery. I wish I had known then that your kids were there. I’m not sure if they would have let me see them, but I could have asked. It did seem like a fairly good facility and clean. Certainly not one would expect in a western hospital, but our travel mate is a nurse and she had been to the Nanjing hospital with her son and she said this one looked much better and cleaner. The staff were nice.

We did meet one little guy who had just returned from surgery, Lian Yi Zhi. He looked great as you’ll see from the photos. I believe his parents just joined the LYG list a few days ago. I didn’t see his “before” photos but the surgery looked very good to me with my far from expert eyes. A very cute boy. He He has a small piece of metal wire of some sort across his lip, I think to keep the surgery in place and so he can’t tear at it. He seemed to be in very good spirits and healthy from what I saw. His nanny was very lovingly caring for him. They had him on some sort of IV, perhaps for fluids or pain medicine.

I also have photos of Robin’s little guy, Xing Guang and of sweet little Lu Wen for Brenda. Both kids looked really good and healthy.

Brenda, I hope you see this before you leave. Lu Wen was in music class with the other children and was a bit shy and so sweet. Although she is deaf she was participating in the class right along with the others and shaking a little stick instrument with bells. She came forward for us to take our photos and waved at my little girl. She seemed to be healthy and in good spirits. The staff confirmed she has the photos of her family and knows you guys are coming soon. She is so very sweet. I can’t wait to see a photo of her in your arms, Brenda. Her eyes lighted up when we came in and she was called out, almost as if for a moment she thought you were there. I asked our guide to tell her that I would send her photo and you were coming soon. She seemed to understand this.

Robin, Xing Guang is so very charming and sweet. They told me he is talking baby talk with only a few words. He can take steps with assistance. They said his balance is not great due to his feet so he needs to hold onto someone. He was being held when I saw him so I didn’t witness this myself. They said they have just begun potty training him. He was in the play room with the other kids when we came and his nanny brought him up to us. He seemed pretty good natured and relaxed, but a bit confused about us and all the attention. Although he wasn’t smiling when I took the photos, my impression is that he seemed to be kinda laid back and happy. His nanny seemed to care for him very much.

Kelley, I’m sorry but I wasn’t able to figure out who your daughter’s nanny was. I had given the director her sheet with photos they day we met Tian and wasn’t able to make it clear who I meant without the photos.

OUR VISIT
We got to the LianYunGang SWI about 10 a.m. It is near the train station, kind of tucked away behind some ramshackle building, but the building itself is very nice and clean. We first saw the distinctive heart sculpture when we pulled up and I recognized it right away.

Unfortunately, there had been some sort of miscommunication even though we arranged the trip more that a week before we left. They were not expecting us and it seemed uncertain they were going to let us visit at first. I couldn’t understand the exchange between our guide and the staff (a nice woman in an old fashioned white nurses uniform) but it did seem rather tense and I was worried. We waiting a while for some other staff to appear and learned that the director was in Nanjing bringing a child to his/her family and that the other “senior” staff were visiting the kids in the hospital. For some reason they thought we were driving from Nanjing that morning rather than already in Lianyungang, so we were much earlier than expected. In the end they decided to show us around and welcomed us in, thank goodness after we had come so far.

The visit was pretty chaotic though and it was difficult to get much info. about the kids who are waiting for families. Even thought I had showed the director the photos when we received Tian and told her we were coming Monday, they rest of the staff seemed somewhat unsure about all this. This is why I wasn’t able to get more info. about the kids in the hospital. I tried to ask about each individually and how they were doing, but just kept being told “all were OK.”

Overall I was very impressed with the SWI. Compared to my first daughter’s SWI it is much smaller and has much more staff. They are making a new room for the toddlers to play in, but I think the current one is quite nice, with foam squares on the floor, bright colors and lots of toys. We were told the kids have a program to help their development and are worked with several hours each day. I think this is part of the Half the Sky program but we were specifically told that.

We had a very emotional experience in Tian’s room. It is a typical SWI baby room with several rows of cribs, maybe 30-40. It has nice windows and colorful decorations on the ceiling. Not too different from a daycare in the states really, but with more kids.

Tian’s nanny is Li Xin Lan, a very nice woman who obviously cares for our girl so very much. We were reluctant to do so, but she really wanted to hold Tian and Tian reached out to her so we did let her. Tian clearly knew exactly who she was, however after a little while, Tian wanted to come to me and started crying and reaching out to me. I took her back and her nanny started crying. I had our guide thank her for all the love she has given Tian and tell her we would always remember her. She told our guide that she was upset because she had cared for Tian for over a year and although I only had her for a few days, she wanted to go to me. I wasn’t sure how to respond to this.

The nanny was so very upset and didn’t want to say goodbye to Tian. I was also in tears before we left. I feel like I owe this woman a lot for the care she gave our girl and that I couldn't express that adequately. But she was also so focused on Tian and didn't seem to want to interact with me very much. Like I was an intruder on their intimate relationship. It was hard to take her away from someone who clearly cared for her so much. I promised to write and send her photos of Tian so she can see how loved she is and what a good home she will have.

We then went to the office and talked to the staff a little bit more. I asked about the air conditioning project and was met with blank stares. They said they did not get it and had not heard about it at all. I’m a bit concerned about it and hope my friends on the LYG list will look into it.

OK, I’m running out of time here and want to get this posted. There is far more to say than I have time to blog. I’ll try to do more once the kids are in bed. We are in Guangzhou and loving it….more later.

I'll post the photos next in a series of posts.