Visit to Isla's Hometown
Yesterday was a big day for all of us! We traveled over 3 hours each way to YangXi. Around noon, we arrived at the Social Welfare Institute(SWI) or orphanage where Isla spent her first year. The director met us and was very gracious in giving us a tour. We got to see Isla's first crib and meet her friends in the neighboring cribs. We also met the nannies who took great care of Isla! They seem to be very loving and genuine. Isla was slightly interested in them, but we were happy to see that she prefers staying with her parents. Her nannies told us Isla loved their rocking horse, so we put her on it and she actively rocked back and forth. She loved the movement. After our initial tour, we went out for a local feast with the director. YangXi is by the sea and is known for its seafood. We were served local oysters and fish, along with 5 or 6 other dishes. The soup included some unidentifiable meats and/or organs, but our hosts were polite enough to give us westerners only the broth, which was quite tasty. The local vegetables include taro, a very sweet root vegetable like a sweet potato, but purple in color. We ate in a private room with a table with a big lazy susan. We also visited a beautiful park in YangXi. We have included pics of the pagoda in the park.
After the outing, we returned to the SWI. I had told the director that I work with special needs children, so she allowed us to go back in to see some of the special needs kiddos. Unfortunately, they seem to spend most of their time in their cribs. We asked what they could use at the SWI and the director mentioned equipment for the special needs kids. Later, we will let everyone now how to contribute if you would like, as we are going to buy some walkers and other equipment to donate. We also saw the medically fragile babies, some with feeding tubes and IVs. They looked well cared for, but the IV poles were rusty and all the medical supplies look ancient. Hopefully, we can donate some equipment that they can really use.
We had a long drive back "home" and we were so happy to be in our room again. Isla looked like she felt so comfortable and began playing hard, laughing and crawling all over us. She wore her first pair of squeaky shoes and loves kicking down her feet to make noise. She shows such joy in practicing all her newly learned skills. Isla is now getting into high kneel and coming to stand. Her favorite is to crawl over our legs while we hang out on the bed. After our big day, Isla slept very soundly!
More to come!
Barb, Will, & Isla
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