Wow, it feels like forever since I have seen most of you. I really miss you
all. I'm often moved to hear how you all take care of each other when the
need arises.
The reason for my absence yesterday was I was able to take a trip to an
orphanage in Anhui Province (about 7 hours away) to deliver the hygiene kits
and the clothing we worked on during our District Relief Society Conference.
It was such an amazing experience, both uplifting, and sad at the same time.
The hygiene kits were really needed as many of the children were quite dirty
and they have no showers or bathtubs in the facility. The children were so
excited to see us and receive food, clothing and misc. supplies.
I have enclosed some pics so you can get an idea of the scenes, (so sorry
this email is sooooo big) For those interested, I will load other photos
onto photobucket.com and will forward the link later.
Here's how it all played out. On Saturday afternoon 5 of us traveled by
small chartered bus from Pudong to Puxi, where we picked up another 7
volunteers, then proceeded on the ~6 hour trip to Hefei, arriving at about
dinner time. Hefei has the nearest acceptable hotel. We arose Sunday morning
to complete the trip. Upon arrival we were immediately touched as the group
of 200+ orphans, who knew we were coming, gathered at the front gate to
cheer and welcome us. Next, the older orphan boys and some of our group
unloaded the truckload of supplies that had arrived separately. The Mifan
Mama organization collects various "in-kind" donations, as well as financial
donations that are used to purchase rice, flour, oil and other food related
items. Every monthly distribution is unique.
In addition to the standard food and other collected item distribution, this
month there were several additional types of donations delivered, including:
- Hygiene kits and clothing which you helped with
- Similac baby formula, donated by Abbott Labs with the kind assistance of
Roger Bird of the Puxi Branch (and Country Manager for Abbott)
- "Boxes of Love", donated by families, schools and churches from around
Shanghai (this would be an EXCELLENT family service project or FHE activity)
- Brand new shoes donated by a local shoe manufacturer
- Stuffed animals donated by a local toy manufacturer
- Boxes of sweets and other goodies for the Ayi's who work with these kids
(they seldom get anything for just themselves)
Keep in mind, this orphanage is a privately run orphanage with little-to-no
state or local assistance. It is a pretty humble place. Also, the orphans
include both the able and disabled, ranging from just weeks old to as old as
46. As you will see there are several cute "normal" teenage girls. Can you
imagine growing up in such humble circumstances, wanting to lead a normal
young girl life among so many mentally and physically disabled people? They
are amazing, though, helping with some of the younger kids, etc.
After the truck was unloaded, each person received their own personal
distribution - it was like Christmas for them! They stowed their items in
their personal space, then we all gathered in the cafeteria to sing songs
and have some activities. Unfortunately I did not think to get Chinese
versions of "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" or "Head Shoulders Knees
and Toes" - that would have been nice. We discovered one blind young man
has an AMAZING voice, and he sang for us. It is interesting how loss of one
faculty often improves the use of another - he seemed to have perfect pitch.
Later in the day, we made personal visits to each of the dorm rooms and
chatted with each child personally, sometimes singing songs, sometimes just
hugging. In some cases it was particularly hard - for some this could be a
sad place. There are many physically and mentally disabled people here.
Babies or children with Spina Bifida, Cleft Palate, Down Syndrome, blindness
and other maladies were common. As some may know, we have a son with Down
Syndrome, and we were particularly grateful to share with the Orphanage
Administrators, that there is more hope than they think for these kids with
Down Syndrome. Some were amazed that our son Brigham graduated HS and can
read, write and use a computer, etc. We even showed them pictures of him
with the President and they were shocked!
As the day wore on, it came time to leave. All of the orphans, but
especially the ones from 6-10 were sad to see us leave and clung to us as we
boarded the bus. They followed the bus to the gates of the orphanage, waving
good bye. After we crossed the bridge to the main road, about a quarter mile
away, and turned South again, we saw the children all lined up on the
entrance road still waving goodbye across the way. Very touching.
Separately, let me update you on some additional items...
Announcements for this week:
Church Chinese - may 10th 10:30 - 11:30 at Judy Sharps home. If you need
directions, please let me know. Please come and learn how to speak Chinese
in church subjects.
We already had one meeting two weeks ago and it was wonderful!!!!
PLEASE NOTE THIS IMPORTANT CHANGE TO OUR GOING AWAY PARTY!!!!!
It will be held at Tami Dyers home this Saturday, may 11th from 6:30 -
8:00. Please bring a dessert to share. We will be saying goodbye to many of
our dear families who have lived in our branch for a number of years and we
want to express our love and gratitude for all of their service. I will send
out another notice in this regard.
Have a wonderful week!!!
Love you all so much,
Monique Larkin
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