Other Visits and Comments

We travelled in late January 1994. The orphanage was typical of the ones I have seen in the more rural areas of China. It was large, dirty-white and had the building where the offices were in the front off the street. The second story was where the families went to meet their children and where the Vice Director's office was. Then in the back of that building there was the main orphanage building. They absolutely would not let us enter that building. We were allowed to see into another building where the workers who stayed there slept and saw one of their rooms. It was like a dorm room, you could tell a young woman was staying there judging from the posters on the wall. It was bitter cold inside, not much different than outside temperatures. Everyone wears coats all the time. Many of the children are in "foster care" and go home with one of the workers at night then return to the orphanage during the day.

Fuzhou was very cold when we were there with snow on the ground and a very gray appearance. People were dressed in the usual China colors of dark brown, olive green, and dark gray. The city is like many other industrial cities in China, busy with people doing things all of the time, kind of overcast, and no real sights to see in the tourist sense. (VF)

I realize that we were very fortunate and that very few groups ever get to visit the hometowns/orphanages/foster care residences anymore.  The new orphanage is beautiful, but it is not finished yet.  They took us there, too.  One building is almost done, and they will be building another one also.  It is my understanding that only special needs children and adults as well as elderly people live in the
orphanage.  It seemed to me that the foster mothers had either one or two babies.  I don't know how the apartment situation works, but I think the apartments all house orphanage workers, so they must be tied to the orphanage somehow. (DM a. 9/98)

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