Packages of Hope - China 2005

I'm just about over my jet lag, and anxious to get to Bengbu to start the real work. Here in Shanghai I've been working out final details of shipping boxes to Bengbu. It's been a grueling learning experience in dealing with international regulations and customs requirements. While at home in Florida, Sarah and I worked diligently through phone calls and emails in order to get the boxes of supplies cheaply to Bengbu, but there seemed to be an endless number of road blocks and miscommunications in dealing with the shipping company. As with many situations where are difficulties in communication, nothing beats a good old fashioned face-to-face meeting. And after a number of subway connections, taxis, and airport shuttle buses, (and with key critical help from my good friend Chen Rong along for translation and overall moral support), we walked up to the door of the shipping company main offices. After a lengthy pow-wow, it looks like the kinks have been ironed out, and the shipment is finally on it's way to Bengbu in time for my arrival there tomorrow (Wednesday the 19th). In addition, it looks like future shipments will flow a bit easier now. However, I'm just so glad the ordeal is finally over. I don't want to think about shipping for a LONG time, and it's now great to finally concentrate on the KIDS!
Tomorrow will be a long day, starting early with a trip to the train station in Shanghai, and ending up in Bengbu around 4 in the afternoon. Our contact there, Steven Tao, will be waiting for us.
More updates to come, but Thursday through Saturday will be jam-packed with activities and meetings with the orphanage staff and local students. We're trying to drum up local support for a long lasting presence in Bengbu to interface with Packages of Hope.
I had some free time today in Shanghai, and I did what I absolutely love to do, which is wander the streets looking at babies and kids. It brings a gentle smirk to my face when I realize that the Chinese children have Chinese parents! Normally I'm looking at these cute kids, and wondering where their western-faced parents are!
It made me ache for my children back home.
The kids were so adorable, and tomorrow I'm going to get someone help me translate the phrase, "hi there, do you mind if I take a few dozen pictures of your child?". I saw these adorable street scenes where grandparents were carting around these little kids through the shops (because the parents were both working, or perhaps because they just wanted to). Even though the sun was shining brightly through hazy clouds of the cities exhaust fumes, and it was a balmy mid-seventy degree day in the shade, the kids were still all bundled up from head to toe. Their chubby cheeks and cozy blank stare were commonplace as grandma or grandpa held them close, nuzzling and whispering to them in the secret code language only understood by grandparents and grandchildren.
While the younger parents looked at my western face with a little bit of wariness, I didn't feel at all uncomfortable in asking to take a picture of baby to a grandparent whose smile was about a mile wide.
There was no hiding their feelings in the picture, the smile and the face said it all - they were in 7th heaven with their grandbaby.
Also shown is a typical picture of Jeff. I have trouble following the rules.