John's orphanage

Ron’s Blog

Last Wednesday I went to John’s orphanage in Luhoe City, about 100 miles north of Zengszhou.   It’s population is 500,000 and it’s developmental stage is somewhere between second and third world status.  Luhoe City’s claim to fame is that it has the largest ham/pork sausage factory in China.

The city has a large disparity in economic development.  There are still many people that ride old bicycles,

but now they are also simultaneously talking on cell phones…they don’t have any don’t drive/don’t talk laws in China yet.   There were numerous office/apartment skyscrapers being built but I couldn’t see how anyone in the city could afford the rent.

The orphanage was at the end of a narrow road.  It is a 3-story facility that houses 150 children, 80 of whom are medical special needs . 

The orphanage was at the end of a narrow road.  It is a 3-story facility that houses 150 children, 80 of whom are medical special needs (see photo).  

The Lilly Orphan Care Room (LOCR, which is funded by charitable donations to our adoption agency, CCAI) is on the 3rd floor of one wing of the building.

The orphanage director met our group and spent two hours with us.  He brought us to the LOCR where we met the LOCR director (see photo).

The LOCR is actually 3 rooms.  The first room houses 20 children, 0-3 month-old babies, placed 2 to a crib.  The next room houses 20 more children, 6-12 month-old babies, placed 2 to a crib.  The last room houses 8 children, 1 to a crib.  They are 1-3 years old.   This was the final room John was in (see photo).

In John’s room, 2 nannies take care of the 8 kids during the day and 1 nanny takes care of the kids at night.  This is a high level of care for a Chinese orphanage.

I asked specifically about John and they checked their notes.  They told me that he didn’t come up to the LOCR until 16 months of age.  Before that he was in the general orphan population on the 2nd floor.   This helps explain John’s small size…I don’t think he was able to get enough nourishment on the second floor since the orphanage can barely afford to provide enough funding for food, let alone medical care.  This also helps explain why he gained only 2 pounds over 10 months.

We heard in the notes that someone in the States started to financially support John at age 16 months so he could be able to afford the higher level of care in the LOCR.  (We didn’t know this program existed until just before we went to China.)

John started to develop much more quickly in the LOCR.  When he arrived at 16 months, he couldn’t sit up.   Within a couple days, he could sit up unassisted.  Within several weeks he was crawling.  And within a few months, he was walking.

We also found out that John had a reputation for throwing toys in the LOCR, so his experience with us is nothing new.

We are so thankful for the generous financial supporter that provided the financial means to get John into the LOCR, and allow him to develop more quickly.   We only wish we could have got those previous lost months back.   We are also grateful for the nannies who seemed to genuinely care for the kids.