Kevin and Jeff's Excellent Adventure

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The day started at 6 AM. I had to rush to get showered, eat, and head to the van. Jeff and our Chinese guide were already in the lobby. Late as usual, I thought. We all greeted each other and after a couple of minutes, decided to have our guide spell his English name, because we had no clue what he was saying. Was it "Arnold", "Donald" or "Randall"? None of the above. It was "R-O-N-A-L-D", he said. We immediately proceeded to the van for the long haul in the rain. As we pulled from the parking lot, Jeff and I were a little apprehensive about what the day was to hold. It was not long before we were conversing with Ronald about everything from where he learned English to why Karen Carpenter was on the radio. As we drove, he would occasionally turn to say something about the area or landscape.



Jeff and I were amazed at the number of trees that had been planted along the highway. Ronald informed us that the trees were from Australia and that they had been planted three years ago. I could not imagine the number of people it would take to get this task done. Entire hillsides as far as you could see off into the distance looked like manicured vineyards. I would have to say more than a million trees were planted since we continued to see this for the next several hours. I guess it is a good thing there are more than a billion people here to lend a hand. After three or four hours, I had to tell the drive I could use a "WC" at some point in the near future. Ronald translated for me with a slight chuckle. I am guessing he was thinking "small bladdered American." Nothing I have not heard before and something I knew I would repeat again at some point in the trip. I even joked with Ronald that our driver must be a camel as I never saw him use the facilities. He laughed but said he did not think he would translate that to him as he would not understand the comparison.

About an hour later, we were approaching Maoming. Every time I asked Ronald "are we in Maoming" (i.e. "are we there yet"), he would look at me and say he did not understand. I guess it was the third attempt when he finally understood what I was asking. To get to this understanding, I had to explain that tone was not very important in the English language. I said "It does not matter if I say 'mao', 'Mao', 'maO' or 'MaO' (i.e. emphasizing a certain part of the word), in English these would all mean exactly the same thing". He turned and said "Really", as I could see the light bulb going on in his head. From that point forward, he had little trouble understanding the hillbilly from Trenton, Ohio and responded with "We will be at the orphanage in a few minutes". The scenery in this part of China was very rural. Most of the buildings were brick, run down and loaded with people. Most, I thought, were selling some sort of good or another.


When we pulled our van onto a dirt/paved "market" street, I could see everything from meat to TVs being sold.

Weaving our way through the pedestrians, bicycles and motorcycles, we stopped and Ronald said "We are here".

Ronald

The official name of Zoe's orphanage is the Social Welfare Institute of Maogang District of Maoming City. It is a newer orphanage, built to accommodate increasing numbers of abandoned babies in the city of Maoming and the rural areas surrounding it. As I climbed from the car I could see the metal gate of the orphanage and the building we had seen in the pictures we found online. In the background you can see a new, larger structure being constructed to house more than 100 children, Ronald told me.

I guess I cannot tell you what was going on in my head at that exact minute. I was simply trying to absorb all the action. The old man at the gate that Ronald noted as the guard house, the offices behind that and the dormitory behind them. I reached into my bag to pull out the camcorder and began recording. It wasn't long before a number of kids had gathered around to me to stare. Ronald said they had likely never seen an American before.

As I filmed a 360 degree view I was overwhelmed with a sense of gratefulness and sadness. I thought of the other kids inside and how lucky we were to have Zoe in our family. That feeling came back several times that day when I saw the road on which she was found, the blue and white police station where she was taken and later at another orphanage in Wuchuan where we were able to meet the people that care for these children.

Dong Bianqi Road

Zoe Mei's "finding place" was somewhere along a street named Dong Bianqi Road, in the Nanhai Subdistrict of Maogang District of Maoming City. She was found on August 19, 2009 by an unnamed person and taken to the police station. Later, with the permission of the Bureau of Civil Affairs, she was sent to the institute where they determined that she was approximately 10 days old. Her official documents refer to her as an "institutionalized child whose birth parents cannot be ascertained."

Police Station

I thought of her biological parents and how hard it must have been for them to walk away and allow the state to watch over their baby. I thought of how scared and confused Zoe, and all the other children like her, must feel. When I looked into the eyes of the kids I met, I prayed that they would all find a home, no matter what their situation and that their current caretakers would continue to find the strength to be loving in this overwhelming situation. When I asked our guide to ask the director of the orphanage how kids were matched with parents, he responded "luck". When I think of how perfect Zoe is for us, I think "God" and I pray that He turns the haunting cries of those children that remain into tears of happiness for other families that follow.

Dad loves Zoe