Zhuzhou Children's Institute

(A volunteer attempts to console a resident of the Zhuzhou Children's Institute)

Every year over 8,000 Chinese babies are given US visas when they are adopted by American couples. For every baby who moves to America, thousands more are left behind to grow up in Chinese orphanages. Ironically, a majority of these orphanages are located in the Hunan province and since Zhuzhou is one of the largest cities in the province, it is home for thousands of orphaned children.

My friends and I have been trying our best to visit one of the children’s homes in the area, but thing after thing just seemed to get in the way. Finally, last Sunday we were able to coordinate our schedules, the kids’ illnesses, and public holidays to allow us to visit the Children’s Institute of Zhuzhou.

I’ve never visited an orphanage in any country, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I imagined nightmares of the hundreds of children in tiny cribs, cramped in small, dark, damp rooms who were all crying at the same time. I’m happy to report that the Children’s Institute didn’t resemble my delusions in the slightest. The building was light and airy, with pictures decorating the walls and colorful blankets on the beds. There was a large, bright play-set in the courtyard for the kids to slide and swing on. It seemed like a very enjoyable place for the children to live.

All of the children at the Zhuzhou Children’s Institute were mentally or physically handicapped in some way and were a joy to spend time with. The seemed starved for male attention, so they attached themselves, the boys especially, to all the guys who came with us. We spent some time with the older children outside around the play-set, before going inside to see the younger ones. It was heart breaking to see the children who are completely unable to sit up and so spend their days lying in a small crib-like bed with a bedmate. I can’t imagine what they must be thinking. They seemed all unable to talk even though they were five and six years old. The walls and ceiling of the room were stark white, so my friends and I are devising a plan to make mobiles to hang from their beds or affix brightly colored shapes to the ceiling to give them something to look at.

While we were at the Institute there were about twenty Chinese volunteers visiting as well. I’ve talked to several Chinese people who were all completely unaware of the presence of a single orphanage in Zhuzhou, so I imagined that there would be a bleak lack of Chinese volunteers in the children’s lives. I’m happy to have been wrong. Most of the volunteers were college aged people who spent time singing children’s songs with the older residents. It looked like a good time was being had by all. While foreigners, like my friends and myself, can spend time with the children, we can’t sing songs and talk to them all that much, so it was good to see that someone was able to do that.

After my visit I felt happy and tired; happy to see the children being cared for so well and tired out by all the excited kids. The visit is definitely one I hope to repeat many times in my last few weeks in Zhuzhou.