Monday, October 24, 2005
Jeff back online - Bengbu - 1
A big wonderful hug to my wife for posting in my absence, while simultaneously running the house (which I understand is currently being assaulted by Hurricane Wilma) and taking care of our two beautiful children. I'm a lucky man.
I should start by saying that I'm not a reporter or a doctor or a healthcare professional. I'm severely distracted by little Chinese babies, and I loved every single second I had to be with them.
I'll try to be as accurate as possible, but there's going to be a healthy dose of my own perspective in this post, and I beg forgiveness to anyone who can poke some holes in my report.
Then I have to give a lot of thanks to the Chinese people who gave me ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE amounts of help and support for this trip. The phrase "it couldn't have happened without them" sounds so terribly trite, but these folks exhibited so much kindness and dedication to me and our mission, that words simply can't describe it.
Jin YongMing, a Shanghai citizen and fellow co-worker was on 110% onboard with the Bengbu project, and looked after me like a mother and father combined. He anticipated problems, helped with translation, and sacrificed his vacation and time away from his family to be with me in Bengbu. We all owe him an incredible debt for his selfless dedication.
Steven Tao, our contact in Bengbu, also worked tirelessly to make sure we had everything done and delivered for Bengbu.
There were many others that helped too, but I also think it should be noted that Mr. Song, the Director of the Bengbu SWI, is a man I came to admire and respect in the short time we had together. There is no question in my mind that he has great dedication to the children of Bengbu. But more of my very positive personal opinions on him a bit later....
The train trip from Shanghai to Bengbu was indeed unique. One has to be open to the different customs and degrees of cleanliness and blatant lack of observing the "no smoking" signs, when traveling by train in China. Another big tip for train travel -- only bring small bags. This particular train did not have a baggage compartment, and my rather large hardcase finally found itself in the walkway in between two cars. Of course it would have been easier had we booked a sleeper compartment instead of regular class seating for our 5.5 hour ride, but that would have added another 125RMB ($15) to our ticket (which was 75RMB - $9).
(You should have seen the look on my face as I sat in my seat to Bengbu when I found out how little it was to have had enjoyed more comfort. But I had asked YongMing to book us cheaply, and he dutifully followed my instructions!)
I wanted to take a lot of pictures, but when about 100 pairs of eyes are staring constantly at you like you just dropped in from outer space, it isn't easy to inconspicuously pull out a camera and start taking pictures.
It is also interesting to note that buying a train ticket is a little different in China. You can book a ticket 10 days in advance and have an assigned seat. Or you can book a ticket on the day of travel, and not have an assigned seat, even if everyone already is sitting in assign seats. What this leads to is a bunch of people standing in the aisles for 5.5 hours, or in our situation, at least 2 people making very good use out of my hardcase suitcase. Actually, it was a good anti-theft device. If I could see the guys' heads in between the cars, I knew that they were sitting on my luggage, and thus it wasn't stolen.
The reason for overbooking is because of the population. There's just too many people for the amount of seats available. For whatever reason (no more trains available, can't pull more cars, etc), they can't fit everyone on, so they just let people stand in the aisle, along with their luggage, which often consists of burlap-nylon sacks.
After a lot of staring, a few of the Chinese folks broke the ice, and started talking to me. They wanted to know where I was from, and how much it cost me to get there. Through YongMing, I told them all about my trip, showed them pictures of my daughters, and handed out a few U.S. coins. After awhile it was smiles all around, and people stopped staring and were a lot more relaxed.
We wound up talking to a man we found out was from Bengbu. In fact, his family went back there for a many generations. He appeared to be a farmer, his hands rough, and his face dark from the sun. He had been in Shanghai working (or trying to get work), and had to come back to Bengbu for some sort of family emergency.
After a bit of talking, I asked, through YongMing, if he had ever seen or known of any babies being abandoned in Bengbu. He told me that it used to happen a lot about 10 years ago or so. He said however that many people opted to move instead of abandoning their daughters. YongMing explained to me that everyone has an ID card. If it is known that you have an additional child, you may be fined heavily. Some families opted to leave their village, and start afresh in another area, living their anonymously. The supposition there is that most parts of China are still poor and remote so that these folks can easily fade into the woodwork in other areas, even though they will be living there without the benefit of their ID card.
But he said that now it happens less and less, because people are very poor these days, and know that they can't afford to have an extra mouth to feed, even if they want to have another child.
YongMing then related to me his understanding of the process of child abandonment. He said that usually when a family already has a child (usually a girl), and the mother gets pregnant and is faced with a fine or having to leave the village, she will go out of town prior to the baby's birth. She will go to another town and register in the hospital (or sometimes a "midwife center" depending on if it is in the countryside) under a false name. Most local hospitals are not connected to the government like in the USA, so there's no little chance that birth records are transmitted to a central national government agency. YongMing said that if you REALLY wanted to, you could dig to find out this information, but most of the time, it just doesn't happen.
So, when the child is born, if it is a boy, (or whatever the desired case may be), the mother takes the child back to the village. But if it is not, then the mother will leave the baby at the hospital, or abandon it along the way back to the village.
Again, I don't know if this is true, but this is YongMing's assessment.
Here is the photo I secretly snapped of the Bengbu farmer. He was a very nice man, and thanked me graciously for what I was doing for the children, and told me I was welcome to come to his home in Bengbu to visit.
I should start by saying that I'm not a reporter or a doctor or a healthcare professional. I'm severely distracted by little Chinese babies, and I loved every single second I had to be with them.
I'll try to be as accurate as possible, but there's going to be a healthy dose of my own perspective in this post, and I beg forgiveness to anyone who can poke some holes in my report.
Then I have to give a lot of thanks to the Chinese people who gave me ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE amounts of help and support for this trip. The phrase "it couldn't have happened without them" sounds so terribly trite, but these folks exhibited so much kindness and dedication to me and our mission, that words simply can't describe it.
Jin YongMing, a Shanghai citizen and fellow co-worker was on 110% onboard with the Bengbu project, and looked after me like a mother and father combined. He anticipated problems, helped with translation, and sacrificed his vacation and time away from his family to be with me in Bengbu. We all owe him an incredible debt for his selfless dedication.
Steven Tao, our contact in Bengbu, also worked tirelessly to make sure we had everything done and delivered for Bengbu.
There were many others that helped too, but I also think it should be noted that Mr. Song, the Director of the Bengbu SWI, is a man I came to admire and respect in the short time we had together. There is no question in my mind that he has great dedication to the children of Bengbu. But more of my very positive personal opinions on him a bit later....
The train trip from Shanghai to Bengbu was indeed unique. One has to be open to the different customs and degrees of cleanliness and blatant lack of observing the "no smoking" signs, when traveling by train in China. Another big tip for train travel -- only bring small bags. This particular train did not have a baggage compartment, and my rather large hardcase finally found itself in the walkway in between two cars. Of course it would have been easier had we booked a sleeper compartment instead of regular class seating for our 5.5 hour ride, but that would have added another 125RMB ($15) to our ticket (which was 75RMB - $9).
(You should have seen the look on my face as I sat in my seat to Bengbu when I found out how little it was to have had enjoyed more comfort. But I had asked YongMing to book us cheaply, and he dutifully followed my instructions!)
I wanted to take a lot of pictures, but when about 100 pairs of eyes are staring constantly at you like you just dropped in from outer space, it isn't easy to inconspicuously pull out a camera and start taking pictures.
It is also interesting to note that buying a train ticket is a little different in China. You can book a ticket 10 days in advance and have an assigned seat. Or you can book a ticket on the day of travel, and not have an assigned seat, even if everyone already is sitting in assign seats. What this leads to is a bunch of people standing in the aisles for 5.5 hours, or in our situation, at least 2 people making very good use out of my hardcase suitcase. Actually, it was a good anti-theft device. If I could see the guys' heads in between the cars, I knew that they were sitting on my luggage, and thus it wasn't stolen.
The reason for overbooking is because of the population. There's just too many people for the amount of seats available. For whatever reason (no more trains available, can't pull more cars, etc), they can't fit everyone on, so they just let people stand in the aisle, along with their luggage, which often consists of burlap-nylon sacks.
After a lot of staring, a few of the Chinese folks broke the ice, and started talking to me. They wanted to know where I was from, and how much it cost me to get there. Through YongMing, I told them all about my trip, showed them pictures of my daughters, and handed out a few U.S. coins. After awhile it was smiles all around, and people stopped staring and were a lot more relaxed.
We wound up talking to a man we found out was from Bengbu. In fact, his family went back there for a many generations. He appeared to be a farmer, his hands rough, and his face dark from the sun. He had been in Shanghai working (or trying to get work), and had to come back to Bengbu for some sort of family emergency.
After a bit of talking, I asked, through YongMing, if he had ever seen or known of any babies being abandoned in Bengbu. He told me that it used to happen a lot about 10 years ago or so. He said however that many people opted to move instead of abandoning their daughters. YongMing explained to me that everyone has an ID card. If it is known that you have an additional child, you may be fined heavily. Some families opted to leave their village, and start afresh in another area, living their anonymously. The supposition there is that most parts of China are still poor and remote so that these folks can easily fade into the woodwork in other areas, even though they will be living there without the benefit of their ID card.
But he said that now it happens less and less, because people are very poor these days, and know that they can't afford to have an extra mouth to feed, even if they want to have another child.
YongMing then related to me his understanding of the process of child abandonment. He said that usually when a family already has a child (usually a girl), and the mother gets pregnant and is faced with a fine or having to leave the village, she will go out of town prior to the baby's birth. She will go to another town and register in the hospital (or sometimes a "midwife center" depending on if it is in the countryside) under a false name. Most local hospitals are not connected to the government like in the USA, so there's no little chance that birth records are transmitted to a central national government agency. YongMing said that if you REALLY wanted to, you could dig to find out this information, but most of the time, it just doesn't happen.
So, when the child is born, if it is a boy, (or whatever the desired case may be), the mother takes the child back to the village. But if it is not, then the mother will leave the baby at the hospital, or abandon it along the way back to the village.
Again, I don't know if this is true, but this is YongMing's assessment.
Here is the photo I secretly snapped of the Bengbu farmer. He was a very nice man, and thanked me graciously for what I was doing for the children, and told me I was welcome to come to his home in Bengbu to visit.
# posted by PoH_to_China_2005 @ 8:24 AM 
