Seventy Two

Update picture and video of trip to Jia li

The previous post discussing the trip into the mountainous countryside to find Jia li provided the narrative and some pictures from that day.  I received some updated pictures of her since she has come to live in the home that we are working with in Xinmi, one of which you can see above.  I think you'll see, as I do, even in the short time that she has been there, an incredible transformation in the look in her eyes and her general demeanor. 

We also took quite a bit of video that day trip into the mountains, so I put together a series of several clips that we took during that time to help provide a better sense of that trip.  You can see that video below.



Posted by Ryan Hale on October 28, 2007; 5:53:22 PM.  

First reflections on trip to China

We returned back from China after six days of a very busy schedule there.  This trip was, from the beginning, an assessment, to understand more about the work that our partner there is doing there and begin forging deeper relationships with them, with the kids, with the governmental agencies that affect the work there, and to generally understand more about the Chinese culture.  This was a significantly different trip from our adoption trip from last year as we were able to interact with the Chinese people on a much deeper level this time, as opposed to last year where I think we were treated by our organizers with the 5-star version of China.

On this trip, we had several experiences that I will write more about soon.  Some of the highlights for me included having the opportunity to speak at Zhengzhou University to about 100 students, seeing where Jane lives in Zhengzhou, visiting and playing with the children in Xinmi, eating the incredible food prepared by very loving mothers at the home, going to the countryside to see where the children have come from and taking supplies to the people, and having dinner with the governmental officials in Zhengzhou.  However, I think the highlight of the trip for me was the trip up into the mountains to find a little girl named Jia li who would then come to the home a day or two after we made the trip.

On Saturday, we had taken a couple of cars out into the countryside and drove on some pretty bad back roads in a taxi as we toured to see some of the most deplorable living conditions for people that I think I have ever seen.  Quite literally, people were living in caves dug into the side of a hill, living on the hope that the rains wouldn't collapse their home in on top of them.  I'm including a picture of one such home that we took on this day, although I have several other example pictures!



On Sunday though, we were going to places where the roads were going to be even worse.  In this case, we were going up into the mountainous areas where the roads were such that we needed to have greater clearance and that we would need to have a van to take us there.  Our plan was to go see a little girl named Jia li who had lived at the home in Xinmi 3 years ago when she was 3.  Now, she was 6 and was living with a single man who had proven at the time through paperwork that he should be her guardian, although he was not a relative to her.  Mom and Dad were no longer around and she had no other family around, but Jia li was living in the home with a 51 year old man.  There were significant concerns about her living conditions, how well she was eating, and whether the man would be able to care for her in the future.  It was time to find out if she would be able to come to the home to be taken care of under the guardianship of the orphanage.

As we were traveling up this difficult road into the mountains, we were encouraged by how well the van was traversing this path, but we soon found out that we weren't going to be able to make it all of the way there.  The men in the area were working on paving the road, crushing the stone by hand, creating concrete on the spot, and rolling it out into a road on this path.  There wasn't another way around, so we decided to get out and walk.  We hiked around the road block and up the road for another half-mile to a mile where a man from the local village offered to take us in a van that he had, on to the 3-self church (the "official" church in China) where we were to meet this little girl, the man who was taking care of her, and the pastor of the church who had been willing in the past to provide good information about the real condition of the girl's living situation.  Jane Marcum, who runs the home, was able to immediately ask the man who was Jia li's guardian whether or not he would be willing to allow her to come to the home and he agreed as he didn't feel that he would be able to take care of her, especially with winter coming soon.

We ended up walking back another half-mile or so to their home where he produced the papers showing his guardianship and other information and finalized the agreement where she would come to the home the next day.  The suspicions about the living conditions were confirmed and it became clear that this was the right thing to be done for this little girl. 

Below, I'm including several pictures from this time with a little narrative about each.  Enjoy!



This was the roadblock!  These guys were working really hard to pave this road.  Unfortunately, we saw the condition of the road a mile or two down the road and it was already beginning to degrade badly because of the traffic, dirt, and washout that was happening over time.



This is Jia li when we first arrived at the church.  Jane had given her a new backpack and we were getting ready to head down to the village where she lived.



Jane and Jia li at the church.



This is a cave home in the courtyard where Jia li lived.



A second structure built into the side of the hill in the courtyard where Jia li lived.



This is a picture of Jane and Jia li at her home.


Posted by Ryan Hale on October 28, 2007; 9:06:11 AM.