Visiting Christian's Orphanage

 Thursday, August 9, 2012

We were thrilled to be able to visit Shenzhen Orphanage and see where Christian spent the first 4+ years of his life and he also went there for Kindergarden.

It was about a  2 hour drive from where we were staying in Guangzhou.  Unfortunately, we have learned that Christian gets car-sick so pretty tricky every time we go out.  Our guide/translator, Kelly, was awesome and suggested some sour dried orange peel for him to suck on and also ginger.  We stocked up on both and it does help at times.

We were so grateful to receive an "Early Years" Life book for Christian!   "Half the Sky" lovingly hand-wrote 150+ pages of details of his life since he was 2 years old, complete with pictures!   It is all in Chinese so not sure what it says yet but hope to find someone who can translate it for us! Christian was so fortunate to benefit from Half the Sky's program.  

Half the Sky, is a non-profit organization who provides loving people to work in orphanages in China.  Here is a recap from the their website:

Before Half the Sky, many children in China who lost their families were fed and sheltered, but not loved. Deprived of loving attention, they could not thrive.


Half the Sky has worked since 1998 to make sure that every child knows her life matters to someone. Step by step, we are helping China to reimagine its approach to child welfare.

We are so indebted to them for this invaluable history and pictures of his early life! :)

Christian with the Shenzhen Orphanage Director, Tong

Christian lived in the orphanage until he was about 5 years old.  There are 4 beds in each room.

There is a very thin mattress on each bed which is coverd with this wood slat-like cover that they sleep on.

Christian learned how to play a beautiful Chinese flute.  We bought one in China in hopes that he can continue.  He also loves art. The picture below is outside his dance class at the orphanage.

Below are 2 of the pictures displayed in the showcase above outside the classroom

Christian is on the RHS in the red and blue sweater

Christian on the LHS in red sweater

We took several gifts for the Orphanage director, foster mom, etc

Bye-bye!  We are leaving Shenzhen orphanage and can't wait to see Christian's foster home!
Stay tuned....