Pictures of Cutie Pies

Bring em On!

I actually met 17 children yesterday.  Can you believe!  Back to my hotel for sleep.  Han apple and tea for dinner. Worked and then went back to sleep 1:30 to 6:00 AM.   Today i went to the orphanage, and saw about 20 children. Treated 3 in rehab, hung the sensory swing and in general made a pest of myself -p opping up in rooms, seeing as many children as I could, meeting caregivers i remembered.  I even met a doctor i knew who used to work in the rehab center.  It was old home week.  

Today' s post is not about me or my day.  It is about the caregivers of SCH.  Two in particular.  The first was the head of the "rose" garden for years.  The children are in different rooms that are in general classified by age or medical need.  Several rooms or an entire floor or building, make up a garden.  This caregiver is off from work now.  I'll call her "Miss R."  No one worked as hard as she did.  She wanted the best for all her children.  Fought hard for them. She on more than one occasion told me to stop making a child cry.  She would treat on the mats with me and manage the staff with one hand behind her.  Or she would come over, take the child from my arms and sooth them.  No one messed with her babies.  She was a fierce warrior, fair arbitrator and a could work tirelessly the whole day.  The second caregiver is "Miss J."  She is a wonder.  I had two children in her room today.  What lucky kids.   She started here with Miss R.- they worked in the same room for years.  As Miss R moved up, Miss J became head caregiver in the room next to Miss R's room.   I saw activities taking place in this room -  lacing, blocks, children on mats, and a sweet boy I saw in November made who made more than a year of progress since i last saw him.  All due to her tireless work.  She said to me today, a little rough translation but basically "its all about the right activities for the right child."  There is structure but there is play too.  I love her and i thanked her from all of us.  

These women are exceptional and the children more than deserve the exceptional care they give.   I am constantly amazed in the hardest of hard jobs, these women go above and beyond.  This is only one of the stories.  there are many more but lets call it a night and say a thank you to these women who work so hard to care for the children.  

Peace, Pat

Pics coming soon

Pat's in Shanghai and Working, Working, Working!

Ok radio silence here.


Guess what guys no twitter in China. I have sent a bunch of tweets to April who will post them for me. Should we call her my guest tweeter

Gongzhan and i arrived at shanghai Pudong airport at 9:30 pm Sunday night. I had not realized that there was no time to regroup prior to getting right in to the swing. I will summarize my day. Up at four because my inernal clock is screwed up. Off to SCH at 8:30. Met Gongzhan at the orphanage. We saw 15 children yesterday. Yes i cannot believe it. in addition i gave a special sensory swing to the rehab center, had lunch with the orphanage director. I do not know what we ate but it was good. Saw many children in the afternoon. Spent time in a baby room and did some treatment with some babies who the caregivers were concerned about. This was great. they saw me and the nannies just brought the babies. We stayed in the room and saw many children getting their evening meal. Congee with some sausage and veggies in it.

I was dirty and tired from all this work. We caught a ride back to the hotel with an official and Gongzhan had to almost force me from the car. I could have gone to sleep right then for the night. took a quick shower and then a nap. I have been up putting together expierences. I had tea and an apple in the room for dinner. I have been working since Around 9:30 PM and am now going to bed. I will post more pics tomorrow.

Peace,

Pat

A Word About International Travel

We flew Delta and it's the best of the best.  Nicest crew and best food planes etc.  Everyone is just downright nice.  Need more water Hon?  What can I get you?  Just great!  But there are the seats,  quite cramped in economy.  The food was edible and fairly decent.  The entertainment was great.  Individual video screens, all the movies, TV and games you could ask for.

We have a layover In Tokyo then onto Shanghai.  We will get in around 10 pm.  That means
 there is no airport pick up.  Gongzhan wants to take the mag lev train.  Oh boy luggage and all.  Let's see how that works out.

Everything else aside, I will wake up tomorrow in Shanghai.  I will get up, go to the orphanage and see beautiful children.  Should be a productive great day.  Can't wait.

PS.
Gongzhan and I have switched roles.  He is off shopping duty free.  More updates tomorrow.

Pat

Follow Pat on Twitter

Pat is leaving for China today!  Her suitcase is sooooooo full!  She will be blogging as much as she can, but she and Gongzhan will be tweeting more.  Please follow her journey on twitter to get the play by play experience:)

Her twitter name - Superkids_Pat

At this Stage

At this stage of trip planning, I get very nervous. What will I forget? I have a recurrent dream, where I get to China, open my suitcase and it's empty. Then I remember, it's China, not the moon. What kids will I see? Will I have enough time to see everyone and do everything I want to? Of course not! Will there be time to have those quiet moments where time slows down, you don't see the room, only the child.

Sometimes when you connect with a child, the room gets quiet. The other people present fade away, it's just you and that child. Even without translation you can really find out who that child is. Will they begin to play, do you have to lead them there, once they start playing can they keep going?

When I enter an orphanage room, I look around and notice things. How many kids? How many caregivers? Is it clean? Are the children clean? Are there toys? How are the babies handled? Do they reach for the caregivers? When the caregivers hold them, do they faces them towards themselves or away from themselves? Then when you want to connect with a child you need to let all this fade away. I could be sitting in my living room when I connect with that child. I need to be that comfortable so surrounding does not matter.

I sometimes go back to my hotel at night and am hot, tired, dirty and sad. I take a hot shower, regroup and do the same thing the next day. Its all about the kids.

I have another recurrent dream. I walk into an orphanage and the rooms are empty. All the children have forever families. I lke this dream much better.



Peace,

Pat PT

Optimism/Volunteerism

I am often struck by how people believe something can't be done. They just assume, it will be hard so why try. By hard I mean next to impossible. I try not to think like that. I think, well how can we do this impossible thing. I try to approach things with an out of the box train of thought. This often requires a back to front type of logic. See the end goal and work backward step by step.

What is my end goal from this trip? Homes and forever families for every child I profile and meet. How will we do this? Get the word out, raise awareness, talk to anyone and everyone. I used to believe children with severe disabilities would be unlikely to find families. Not anymore. I see so many families adopting children with significant disabilities. Their heats are so big. They see all children as people not as their disability. I talk to anyone who will listen about the children I meet. I read constantly, looking for commonalities. Anything that can help in my quest.

I have always been an optimist. I am the one who believes big companies want to know if their product does not live up to expectations. I fill out every product survey. Answer every opinion poll. Etc. why? Because I believe we can change anything if we try hard enough. Can one of us make a difference in anything? Yes, of course we can. It is why I volunteer. I will succeed if one child finds a forever family, because that child may be the next Albert Einstein, the next YoYo Ma, the next madam currie. I will succeed if I hold one child's hand and make them feel loved even if its only for the afternoon. 

But let's aim for helping more.............

Does that change the world? You bet it does.

Peace, Pat, PT