Orphanage Visit

We went to visit Ian's orphanage the Xi'an Children's Welfare Institute.  It was only about a 30 minute drive from the hotel.  I made it clear to my guide that I wanted to be told the truth about whatever would be said during the visit.  I know that the guides sometimes pick and choose what is translated back to me, so I told Kobe in front of our guide that I only wanted the truth. 

We started out by seeing Ian's room and where he has been living for about a year now.  Ian was fine going inside and letting me take the pictures.  Then we went into a room for me to ask some questions about his history.  I started getting confirmation on what I was thinking since I have known Ian. My thoughts are that there is no way I could get such a good boy that had only been raised in an orphanage, I believe he has been in a foster home at some point in his life.  Finally, after me asking a lot of questions, my guide called the director and indeed she confirmed my suspicions. We think he spent about 4 years of his life in a foster home.  Unfortunately, no one wanted to tell me any details about that fact.  Anyhow, I plan to have Kobe ask around and maybe find out the truth for Ian to have in the future.

Ian was fine in his building, but when we walked to the other building where he supposedly spent the first 7 years of his life, Ian refused to enter the building.  He opted to stay in the van outside while we went in to see the babies and younger children.  No pics were allowed inside, but I had Travis use his iPod to snap some photos.  I will download those later.

Finally the children that Ian lived with arrived back from school.  Ian passed out some candies and said his goodbyes.  At one point Ian started crying and was sad.  The guide said that she thought maybe he was realizing it was his last goodbye, but I thought different.  So they asked him if he wanted to go or was he sad about leaving.  He immediately said let's go, and perked right back up.  So sad to me that he is ready to walk away from his prior life just like that.  I am happy though that he likes me and wants to be with us now.

I can say that yes once again I have walked the halls of an orphanage.  Once you have done this, your life will never be the same.  SO many children need to have real homes.  I am so thankful that I get to share life with 4 of them.