Last night we flew back into Beijing.  After some quick shopping this morning, we went out for another delicious meal.  The last three times I’ve been to China, I’ve lost at least 10 pounds.  This time, without a doubt, we all gained weight.  (Thank you, Celesta, for planning such incredible meals for us!)

After lunch we got to visit the China Care Home in Beijing, an incredible opportunity that very few people ever receive.  This is Half the Sky’s newest program.  The China Care Foundation (which began as a 16 year old’s Eagle Scout project, 10 years ago) partnered with Half the Sky last year, and we got to be there for the 1st birthday celebration today.  What an incredible place.

Before the party, we toured the China Care Home, which houses the most medically fragile orphans. On every wall throughout the China Care Home are bright, adorable, framed pictures created by the children in Half the Sky’s preschool programs.  One side has 50 cribs, reserved for babies who have just had surgery at one of Beijing’s top hospitals.  Again, there is a very low nanny to child ratio.  A nanny also goes to the hospital and stays with the baby, just as a mother would. The other side has 24 cribs, and is reserved for babies needing longer term care.  There are 8 apartments set up – each with a twin bed and 3 cribs in the room where a foster mom takes care of and loves those three babies 24 hours a day, 6 days a week.

We saw some TINY babies today…some waiting for surgery, and some who have just had surgery (a shunt put in their head, heart surgery, cleft palate surgery, imperforate anus surgery, and many more).  We also saw some really happy babies who have healed and are getting ready to return to their orphanages.

The party was wonderful, complete with touching poems that the “mothers” wrote, a slideshow of the kids, a HUGE birthday cake, and a very touching speech by a teary Jenny Bowen—who of course made us all cry.  “You’ve saved lives, you’ve touched lives, and for the first time in many of these children’s lives, they’ve experienced love because of you.”  What an intense ending to such an emotional week.

Sadly, this is our last day together as a group.  I feel so blessed to have been on this incredible trip, with such an amazing group of people.  I truly think we will be friends for many years to come.

We finished our incredibly emotional day, and our incredibly emotional week, with a huge celebration tonight.  We went out for a Peking Duck dinner, followed by a surprise 40th birthday party for me (complete with a cake and a very fitting gift – 5 sets of chopsticks).   Then we all got up in the duck restaurant and made a line, snapping and swaying, and singing, “Boom – Dee-Ah-Da – Boom –Dee-Ah-Da — Boom – Dee-Ah-Da – Boom –Dee-Ah-Da” to all of the Half the Sky staff.

Patrick and Patti had written a wonderful song that celebrated each of us & recounted some special memory from that week – paint drips, Janie’s groan, me learning how to use chopsticks… and then the Top Ten things we would miss about being in China.  What a fun night.

Just when it seemed as if it couldn’t get any better, we finished the night with an incredibly relaxing and indulgent 90 minute group foot massage.   You sit in really comfortable chairs, with your feet in hot tea, then a young man sits on an ottoman and massages your feet and calves with warm lotion for 90 minutes.  After that, you go out to another room, where another person massages your shoulders, neck, and back for another 10 minutes, all for less than $25.  Heavenly.

As I laid there, completely and totally relaxed, thoughts of the previous week floated through my mind – walking in to the orphanage that first morning, sitting outside and painting those tiny chairs, having the new youth mentors come over and practice talking to us in English (and Jeannette and Gloria practicing their Mandarin).

I thought of the walk around the building with the preschoolers, the treasure hunt on the playground with the older kids, all of the babies and precious children I got to hold, and the director talking about “A More Beautiful Tomorrow.”

I thought of CiCi, our “Happiness Girl,” the dumplings the staff made us for lunch at the orphanage, and the way they thoughtfully washed my rubber-banded-chopsticks and set them out for me each day.

I thought of one of the bus drivers taking the bucket of paint out of my hand and painting his bus wheels lavender, and of the very serious guard who saluted us as we came in and left each day—and how we made him smile as we all saluted him one morning.

I thought of our “Santa Workshop” in the lobby with all of the donations from Radio Flyer, the trainings we were so fortunate to sit in on, the duck line of preschoolers all holding on to the shirt in front of them, the kisses on the elevator, all the little girls dressed up like princesses for the party, the tiny babies in the China Care Home, the “Built with Love and Hope” wall that we all signed…and the list just goes on and on and on.

What a phenomenal week.   I knew it was going to be amazing, but it was SO much more than I ever imagined it could be.

We are back in Beijing.  Today, like yesterday (and really every day here) was another day full of emotion and inspiration.  We were so lucky to get to see HTS’s China Care facility and join in with the children and staff as they celebrated the 1 year anniversary of their opening.

Here we met some of HTS’s most fragile children, those with the most dire medical needs.  Honestly, these little angels stole my heart.  And speaking of angels, the nannies and nurses and foster moms…I swear I could see the halos!

After leaving China Care feeling both emotionally drained and uplifted, we capped off the day with some frenzied shopping at the Silk Market, a fabulous duck dinner and birthday celebration (Kim is turning 40!), and the most incredible foot massage.

Tomorrow we’ll leave China with trinkets and jade, full bellies and soothed feet, but mostly unbelievable memories and an even stronger commitment to Half the Sky and the children.

As a final note, I want to say how honored and happy I was to meet Jenny Bowen, Executive Director and Zhang Zhirong (aka ZZ), Managing Director, Programs on this trip.  The energy, commitment, and passion they share is incredible. Really, I hate to sound like a starstruck teenager but… WOW!  These women are the best!  And Carol Kemble, HTS’s Director, Individual Philanthropy and our leader on this trip … ditto!  We couldn’t have asked for a more kind, generous, and compassionate soul to take us on this amazing journey.  She is truly a gem.  And to all of the hugely talented and big-hearted staff at HTS (Rachel Xing, Celesta to name just two) we’re so lucky to have met you all.  Thank you so much!   – Jeannette

The Top Ten List: What We (Patrick and Patti) Will Most Miss

10.  Dumplings

9.    CiCi, our happiness girl (Changchun CWI staff member)

8.    Changchun CWI saluting security guards

7.    Knowing the difference between latex and enamel paint …. NOT!

6.    Mr. Liu and his no-fault policy for volunteer boo-boos

5.    The Rotarians (SF Chinatown branch) asking at every meal, “Is this spicy?”

4.    Chinglish: “Talenty Education Academy” or “Full Booby Massage”

3.    All the children at Changchun CWI and China Care

2.    Our dearest work crew, and now good friends — Arleen, Faye, Gayle, Gloria, Janie, Jeannette, Kim, Lea, Susan

1.    Our talented and untiring HTS staff — Carol, Celesta, Jenny, Rachel, and Zhang Zhirong

Final Thoughts

It hit me during a group foot massage – the last (and best) one that I would experience before leaving China – that the past week was just as much about our crew creating its own sense of family as it was about giving orphans hope for finding their own.

Yes, we painted, constructed, assembled, spilled and moved many walls, chairs, bikes and paint. Yes, all of it was for the children – to give back and to help ensure the success of Half the Sky programs.

But all those physical objects we left behind in Changchun – the tables and toys – will someday expire. The bookshelves will start to sag and the dress-up clothes will show wear-and-tear. But what we’re bringing back to the U.S. is something much more significant and longer lasting: a greater understanding for what it means to care and love for one another.

Over the past week, our crew built a sense of family from our shared passion for experiencing and giving love. The Rotary ladies and all the mothers in the group treated me as a friend and as a son – or grandson, for that matter – and between shopping, eating and working together all day, every day, I felt the love of an extended family that, having never had the chance to get to know my grandparents before they passed, I hadn’t ever experienced before.

All the motherly energy around me made me realize how much I miss my own family; between being a college student during the school year and working internships during the summer, I’ve been at home for only a few weeks over the past three years.

But most importantly, the week helped me realize that I have a lot to go back to in the U.S. – not only that I am very fortunate to have a family, but also that I now share a special bond with eleven other people, most of whom I hadn’t met before last Saturday.

I was getting ready to go to the airport with Arlene and Sue, and we were contemplating the mountain of luggage that would hopefully fit into the trunk of our taxi. Jeanette was on her way up back to her hotel room, and so we were saying our last goodbyes, when she remarked how well our group had gotten along. “It’s because we all care for each other,” Sue proclaimed in her wise, grandmotherly tone that she reserves for particularly profound statements.

I thought about what she had said – was it really that simple? That we just cared for one another, and in light of that simple fact, had formed a kind of friendship that, in other scenarios, takes months, even years to build?

How could something so simple produce something so special?

All I had to remember in answering my own question was our visit to the China Care home on the one-year anniversary of when Half the Sky took full on responsibility for running the program.

To celebrate, all of the kids, their nannies, their nurses, and their foster moms, gathered in a small room downstairs, and we had the chance to join them. For nearly an hour, the groups of nannies and foster moms sang songs, individuals recited poems they had written, the medical staff gave a collective speech – all to commemorate the progress and change China Care had made in the past year.

I didn’t pick out most, if any, of the Chinese words in the songs, poems or speeches, but I just felt, and knew, in my heart, that what I had witnessed was honest and raw emotion. [HTS Note: The China Care nannies gave a performance of a traditional Chinese poem called “A loving mother’s heart” and sang a nursery rhyme called “Mama is the best person in the world.”]

Everyone was tearing up, and when they started a photo slideshow of the kids, the oohs and aahs of recognition as familiar faces floated by on the screen gave away just how closely knit this community had become. I didn’t need to understand what was going on literally, because I understood it emotionally.

Sue is right: it boils down to caring. It’s what your mom tells you when you’re little, to care and think about other people’s feelings, and not just your own; it’s what Kim teaches her first-graders in Florida, to care about and look out for one another; it’s what you do when you help someone out, whether she is a stranger, an acquaintance or a friend of many years.

It’s what the China Care staff does, all day, every day, because they can, and because there is no other way to make sure these orphans get the care and love they need.

It’s what our crew does, and will continue to do, for each other and for the kids that Half the Sky has been able to reach, by continuing on in our lives with a deeper awareness of what it takes to truly care, and truly love, another human being.

As I was riding to the Beijing Airport early this morning, my eyes were stinging with tears.  Every time I come to China, it’s always very difficult to leave.  It’s almost as if a part of me feels like I belong here in some way.  I love how the Chinese people make you feel so welcome.  As I was saying goodbye to ZZ last night, she gave me such a sincere hug, and said, “Come visit again.  We are family now.”

As expected, this trip to China has forever changed me.  I leave China today with far more than I had two weeks ago…far more compassion and patience, far more love and hope, and far more passion for helping children without families.  I leave here enthusiastically committed to spreading the word about Half the Sky, and the incredible things they are doing.

The last eight days at the orphanage in Changchun and the China Care Home in Beijing, have been incredible.  It’s been such a heartwarming, emotional, and immensely rewarding week.  What a privilege to witness, first hand, the amazing things that Half the Sky has accomplished in the last ten years in China…and what they are so close to accomplishing in the future.  I never want to forget any of it.

I’ve been incredibly blessed with my three daughters from China…so much so that it’s impossible to describe the depth of joy that they’ve brought to our lives.  I came here wanting to give something back, and instead I was the one who received an incredible gift.  Apart from adopting my children, this by far, has been the most inspiring and extraordinary experience of my life.  Thank you, Half the Sky, not only for all of the miraculous things you are doing in China, but for giving me the incredible opportunity to see it and be a part of it.  – Kim

Sitting now and reflecting over the past 10 days, I can hardly believe that I am writing this from our home in Hood River.

What did I learn?

• Well, I learned the painters of the world do not have to worry about their jobs.
• I learned that I should buy bikes already assembled.
• I learned that I will try all UFO’s (unidentified food objects) at least once.
• I learned that squatting toilets are not so bad.
• I learned that no matter how chaotic the roads may appear in China I never saw a pedestrian hit by a car.
• I learned that people in China love their children just as much as people in America love theirs.
• I learned about the China Care Program.  The China Care Home is an interim residential care facility for medically fragile orphaned infants.  This program is just one of the many programs supported by Half the Sky Foundation.
• I learned that the foundation we have been supporting for the last nine years does more than I ever imagined.

Still, it goes deeper than that.  I learned that Half the Sky’s employees are passionate about their work.  They provide a rich environment for the children, but they give the children much more than that.  They give the children the one thing money truly cannot buy – love.

I learned that I cannot save the world but I can make a difference.  The difference may seem so small that it is not visible to the naked eye, but for some child it could be the difference of getting the surgery he/she so desperately needs, getting an education, or just receiving the love/care that he/she deserves.

When I was in China, I woke up in the middle of the night with this song going through my head:

“Sparrow.” By Simon and Garfunkel

Who will love a little sparrow

Who’s traveled far and cries for rest?

“Not I,” said the Oak Tree

“I won’t share my branches with no sparrow’s nest

And my blanket of leaves won’t warm her cold breast”

Who will love a little sparrow

And who will speak a kindly word?

“Not I,” said the Swan

“The entire idea is utterly absurd

I’d be laughed at and scorned if the other swans heard”

Who will take pity in his heart

And who will feed a starving sparrow?

“Not I,” said the Golden Wheat

“I would if I could but I cannot I know

I need all my grain to prosper and grow”

Who will love a little sparrow?

Will no one write her eulogy?

“I will,” said the Earth

“For all I’ve created returns unto me

From dust were ye made and dust ye shall be”

I have always loved that song but when I saw my daughter holding a little girl who was missing a part of her leg and a couple of fingers, the song had a much deeper meaning for me.

I would like to send a special thanks to all the employees of Half the Sky Foundation. Thank you for reminding me how much love every child needs.   –Gloria