Not so fast. Less than a week after Monique’s decision to help with Mifan Mama, and only 6-8 weeks after arriving in Shanghai, her “spare time” was rearranged as she was unexpectedly asked to serve as the head of our Church congregation’s Relief Society. The Relief Society is a women’s organization with units in every LDS Church congregation world-wide, tasked to seek out the weary and down-trodden, the sick and afflicted – whether members of the LDS Church or not – and find ways to provide “relief”. Much of her time would now be dedicated to this new responsibility.
As she stepped into this new responsibility, one of Monique’s first assignments was to identify a suitable humanitarian project and coordinate her efforts with a newly-assigned set of LDS Humanitarian Representatives who had just arrived from the US. As another of the interesting “coincidences” we continue to experience, this set of Humanitarian Representatives is none other than our friends Frederick and Elizabeth Crook, who I knew in Taiwan over 30 years ago, and with whom we have been associating in our efforts with China Rural Education Foundation!
Through this renewed relationship, Monique learned the Crooks were involved with wheelchair donations in southern China, care for the elderly in extreme western China among the minority Uigher (Wee’ gur) population, and with asthma prevention programs throughout China. She also learned that they had hopes to round out their humanitarian activities by finding a worthy needy orphanage somewhere in eastern China. Monique shared the goals of Mifan Mama and the three of them determined that this may just be the kind of orphanage support that was being sought.
Monique put the Crooks in touch with our neighbor Julie Martens, co-founder of MiFan Mama. The Crooks were invited, and accepted the offer, to visit the Lao Wang orphanage during the next regularly scheduled monthly visit (in May) to the orphanage located some 8 hours away in rural Anhui province. During this visit, the Crooks were able to certify that the needs of the orphanage properly met the strict guidelines set out by LDS Charities – their sponsoring agency – and submitted the orphanage for inclusion in the list of approved LDS Charities efforts. The request was quickly granted allowing donations from LDS Charities to be made to the orphanage.
Monique and I were also able to make our own trip to Lao Wang’s Orphanage a month later in early June. Here's how it all played out. On the afternoon of Saturday, June 4, twelve intrepid volunteers departed on the ~6 hour trip to the capital of Anhui province, a “third tier” city called Hefei, a city with a population of “only” 5.7 million people. We arrived in Anhui at about dinner time. During the trip the group alternately slept, talked, read and sang songs with the accompaniment of two of the volunteers – a French woman with a guitar, and Monique with her Baritone Ukulele.
Our group arose early the following morning starting off with a traditional Chinese buffet breakfast that, to westerners, actually looks a little more like a buffet dinner with noodles, boiled vegetables, fish and other items I am still not accustomed to eating for breakfast. Fortunately there was a lot of fruit (grin). We then completed the remaining 2 hours of the trip arriving at the remote orphanage at around 10:00 am. It was already hot - about 85 (sweaty) degrees. Upon arrival we were immediately touched as the group of 200+ orphans, who knew we were coming, gathered at the front gate of the orphanage to cheer and welcome us. Next, the older orphan boys and some of our group unloaded the truckload of supplies that had arrived separately earlier in the morning. To see some photos of this trip (housed on Photobucket), click here.
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 to the orphanage is unique. In addition to the standard food and other collected item distribution, this month’s delivery included several additional types of donations, including:
- A larger-than-normal distribution of Similac baby formula, arranged as a donation from Abbott Labs;
- "Boxes of Love", including games, small toys, and small food items donated by families, schools and churches from around Shanghai;
- Hygiene kits put together by LDS Relief Society organizations from 6 ex-pat congregations in South-Central China, including Ningbo, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai and Pudong. These kits include such things as soap and shampoo, toothpaste and a toothbrush, hand sanitizer, a comb, wipes and toilet paper, sanitary napkins, etc.
- Boxes and bags of children’s coats, clothing, shoes and games also collected by local LDS church congregations;
- Boxes of sweets and other goodies for the Ayi's (live-in workers who help take care of these kids - they seldom get anything for just themselves) ;
- Brand new shoes and stuffed animals donated by a two local manufacturers
After the truck was unloaded, each child 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 we did not think to get Chinese versions of some of the old favorite songs - that would have been nice – but we were still able to sing songs in French, English and (some) Chinese. “Popcorn Poppin’ on the Apricot Tree” and “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” proved to be favorites of the kiddos.
When approached with the proper attitude, these trips to the orphanage are happy occasions for all involved, but for some this could be a sad place. There are many physically and mentally disabled people there. Although there are many “normal” kids, babies or children with Spina Bifida, Cleft Palate, Down Syndrome, blindness and other maladies are common. For those willing to jump in and share their love, the sadness disappears and the joy of supporting a fellow human being emerges and uplifts. We discovered one blind young man, Xiao Di, 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.
Through efforts of MiFan Mama, as well as the efforts of others, the local government has recognized the need for a state-supported orphanage in the area and has built one within a few kilometers of the Lao Wang orphanage. (This phenomenon is common – once a foreign group highlights a problem and steps in to help, the Chinese government finds a way to address the problem. This proud country is not comfortable admitting that there may be a gap in their infrastructure, and certainly not comfortable allowing foreigners to do what they should be able to do themselves.) Our group had the opportunity to go inspect the new facility under construction. By Chinese standards it is wonderful! It is expected to be complete by September, at which time some of the orphans from the Lao Wang orphanage will move in. Even though Lao Wang and his team continue to do a great job with what they have, we are hoping the orphans will received improved nutrition and care at the new facility. Unfortunately not all of the residents at Lao Wang’s current facility are eligible to move. Only children under the age of 18 will be allowed to transition. Many of the residents at the current orphanage are mentally disabled persons ranging from 18-56, so there is continued concern, and there will be continued need to help support these lovely people. Another two-edged sword is that Lao Wang and his family and other helpers (Ayi’s, etc.) have been assigned roles at the new orphanage, so there remains a HUGE question mark around who will take care of the remaining residents of the old orphanage. We worry that by fixing one problem, another bigger problem will have been created. I’ve seen this before – it is called “the law of unintended circumstances”.
As the day wore on, with a looooong ride ahead, 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, running behind us waving good bye. After we crossed the bridge to the main road, about a quarter kilometer away, and turned south again, we saw the children all lined up on the entrance road still waving goodbye in the distance across the broad rice paddy. Very touching.
We’ve come to recognize some stark differences in the magnitude of need here. Events at the orphanage are just one of the many sets of needs we see frequently. It seems few are truly “homeless” here – but for many, their homes are not much better than living under a bridge, even just 5 minutes from our own home. But even still, most of these people seem to be doing SOMETHING – whether it is sweeping “their” stretch of road, or selling bottles of water anywhere they can, or chipping concrete off bricks in the ever-present buildings being dismantled. While they know the challenge of their financial circumstances, they seem to be proud enough to keep putting one foot in front of the other. When confronted with these scenes, how could we do anything except buy another bottle of water, even if we don’t really need it?
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