Packages of Hope - China 2005

As with my previous two locations, our team (Hannah and I at the moment) plotted how to best utilize our time on the following day, in order to get the most amount done. Fortunately, we had done a lot of pre-planning. Countless emails and phone calls ahead of time lined up a lot of our activities for the next day.

We were first scheduled to meet with a local Siemens representative to sign some paperwork. Siemens had generously donated a brand new washer and refrigerator to Hannah’s ASCCAC. We had also called ahead to the orphanage director, in order to coordinate a meeting and a tour of the new Siping Orphanage. We had also coordinated a meeting with the local Siemens hearing aid representative, as we were donating two hearing aids to needy children from the Siping school for the deaf.

This amount of coordination was necessary, as the Siping orphanage was about 1.5 hours by car drive from Changchun. The Siping orphanage is located away from the Siping city center. Hannah’s ASCCAC is located near the Siping City center, adjacent to the Siping SWI school for the deaf.

Hannah, her husband Frank, and I, spent a lovely dinner together where I mostly squawked due to my ruined vocal chords. We had fun catching up on daughters (two of my most favorite topics of conversation), and Hannah brought me up to speed on many of the details she had been up against with the orphanage. I felt very privileged to be part of such conversation, as the Chinese tend to be polite and considerate to a fault with guests, and rarely do I have the opportunity to understand the deep intricacies of business in China. To be sure Hannah was no businesswoman, for she felt much more at ease holding babies and helping parents unite with their forever children. But as her scope and operation increased, politics and business became part of the territory.

I commented to her, just as she said the same to me, that it was indeed tragic that she had to depart from what was her greatest pleasure, and what really drove her, which was caring for children. But I explained to her that she had a talent, which very few people actually possessed. She had developed it through backbreaking and selfless work and dedication. An unfortunate byproduct of this talent and skill is the responsibility of actually using it, even though it meant from a higher and higher level of visibility. No matter how much headache were caused by the administration of the ASCCAC, I encouraged her to press on.

At times she told me that she didn’t feel like she was qualified, or doing as good of a job as she should have been doing. At times she felt like things were going in the opposite direction of where she wanted to go, or felt like it needed to go.

I, however, saw the same thing that Frank saw in the eyes of our dear Hannah. I told her, “you’re doing a GREAT job, Hannah. You ARE making a difference. Don’t give up. We believe in you. I know it’s tough, but you can’t give up. And I know you won’t give up. You are driven by a Higher Hand, and I know you will not refuse instruction. We will lift you up. We sing your praises and send you prayers of support. You will always have my support.”
Frank smiled, and I gave him a wink. He indeed is a very lucky man.

Going to sleep that night was a bit of a relief for me. Even though my vocal chords were in terrible condition, I was seeing the end of the tunnel for this trip for me. I was beginning to feel my age, as I realized that I had been pushing myself hard during this trip. The 4 to 5 hour/night sleep time and long hard days were finally catching up to me. I looked to my poor bags with a bit of a smile. I had separated the final bit of supplies for the Siping orphanage and the ASCCAC. It wasn’t a lot, but was perhaps 25 kilos (50 odd pounds) of diaper crèmes, antibiotic crèmes, clothes, blankets, and supplies. I had also brought along some books for Hannah. My luggage breathed a sigh of relief at this relinquished weight.

I awoke in the morning refreshed and ready for action.

After another delicious Chinese style breakfast of dimsum, fresh vegetables and noodles, I went to the lobby.

It was there that I was introduced to Chen Mo (English name - Philip), the business Administration Officer for the Siemens office in Changchun.

I’ll let the cat out of the bag now that while at first I thought Chen was going to be just a minor part of this mission, it turned out that he was to become a wonderful friend, and such a beautiful part of this story. Indeed, I think he felt the same way about the experience, which made it even more special.

Chen Mo is a very handsome 25 year old Changchun native - tall, slim, and with chiseled movie star good looks. He spoke nearly flawless English, and kept on apologizing for making minor grammatical errors. Like so many other dedicated English speaking Chinese people, I had to remind him that I knew many Americans that made more grammatical errors while speaking than he did, and begged him not to worry about it.

He appeared in the lobby a bit tired and disinterested, which was to be a marked difference from how the end of this day would turn out for him.

It turned out that Chen Mo was a diamond in the rough, whose life was to be changed forever by the few short hours that lay ahead of him. It was magical to see his eyes being opened.

We exchanged business cards, and he asked me some questions about where I worked, no doubt to further validate that the donation was being used as I had asked for via emails to Siemens Beijing corporate headquarters months earlier.

After taking a cellphone call, he informed us that the new refrigerator and washer had just been delivered to the Siping orphanage. He was to accompany us to get a few pictures for the Siemens corporate PR department.

As we wound our way out of town, we talked in the car, and I updated him on my previous missions in Bengbu and Lanzhou. I tried to talk in a whisper, saving my voice as best I could for meeting with the orphanage director.

Changchun disappeared behind us, and it was like we stepped out of a door into another world. Changchun is complete with skyscrapers, 5-star hotels, Wal-Marts, McDonalds, and all the other trappings and access of an ultramodern western-style city. However, just a mere dozen miles outside of town, and the unimaginative dull grey and yellowing brick walls of old China dominate the landscape. In Hannah’s words, Siping has a long way to go to catch up with the rest of China. It is a mining and industrial town, and has been resistant to change, for complex reasons which can only be understood by politicians.

Unkempt, one-story garage-style shops lined the road outside of Siping as we made our way to the orphanage.

Hannah and I contemplated the lack of civilization as we were accustomed to it, as the citizens dressed in dark blue and grey went about their daily business on this cold and cloudy autumn day whizzed by.

An Orlando charity group, A Mother’s Love (www.amotherslove.net), was now involved in assisting the ASCCAC, and we contemplated the logistics of American representatives from this, or other charities, journeying to this place on a short term basis to assist the orphanage workers or to do other work for the children.

The logistics of the operation were further complicated as we turned off a paved avenue onto a dirt road that led off in a straight line towards the horizon.

As it turned out, the off-road experience went on for only about ¾ of a mile. However, the unchanging yellowing walls of various industry business, along with the pothole marked road, made the trip seem endless.

We finally arrived at a small break in the wall, which signaled the entrance into the Siping SWI (
located at N 43' 10.834", E124' 24.119", and BTW, "Siping" translates in English to "Heroic City"). The orphanage complex is made up of a few buildings. Beyond the entrance guard house is an administration building, which looks fairly new. Behind the Admin building there is a long, one-story building which houses the elderly residents of the SWI.

We were guided into a large reception room where we were greeted by the orphanage director, Ms. Li.

Hannah and Ms. Li greeted each other like the old girl friends they were. Absent was the formality I had witnessed in previous introductions to the orphanage staff. Hannah had briefed me beforehand on this director. She was a diminutive woman, standing a little under 5 feet. But she was tough as nails.

Hannah told me that she had previously one of two administrators in the Chinese version of a homeless shelter. The homeless shelter often housed people running from the law, and several administrators couldn’t take the pressure. But Ms. Li ran it successfully. She had been in her position for a little over 4 years, and while she greeted Hannah warmly and informally, her entire demeanor just oozed capability, confidence, and authority. Hannah had told me about their long history together, of all the children they fought for, and those several cases where the children didn’t make it. Their bond was forged by battle over the years, and they had seen sorrow together and they had seen success together. It was clear that there was a firm bond of trust that existed between the two.

Unfortunately, my voice had not improved at all, and I was only able to squawk out a brief introduction. Hannah did most of the talking, and Chen Mo, who had never before set foot in an orphanage, also respectfully entered the conversation.

Hannah and Ms. Li engaged in lively conversation as I sipped my tea.

I showed Ms. Li some pictures of my children which she separated into neat piles.

This was one sharp lady!