GongYi Home of Hope

Nate: We arrived in GongYi this morning (one week late; schedules and deadlines are more relaxed here than they are back home) to meet all the dignitaries and government officials who have become involved in our project. We are very grateful for their interest; they have all declared support and help as we enter into the second and third phase of expanding and including the private school they have already approved.

Shannie: We woke up quite early, Nate and I were up before 5:00. Renee and Aaron were up and ready by 6:30, so we hit the road right on time. The drive wasn’t too bad since there was not the usual heavy load of traffic out that time of morning. It only took us about an hour and 15 minutes to get there instead of the usual hour and 45 minutes. I think Nate may have been a little excited and therefore a bit heavy-footed as well. <big grin> But, we made it there in ample time.

Shannie: We arrived at Mr. Jiang’s office still yawning. They had sweet cake and strong — let me emphasize that for you. S T R O N G — coffee for us as always. But, it’s good and it WILL wake you up… fast!! As soon as the officials from Zhengzhou arrived, we headed out for the orphanage.

Shannie: As we walked down the street toward the Orphanage, a band began to play and the children from the nearby school welcomed us with an aisle of gorgeous feather wreaths to walk between. They were waving, singing and making us feel so warm with their sweet smiles. It was like a dream. All the townspeople were there to see the opening of the new orphanage.

Nate: When we got to the house all eleven children had been scrubbed and dressed in their new clothes. The house mothers had taken them out Saturday and gotten them all haircuts and new shoes. They looked so happy and shiny and clean; Shannie was moved to tears at the sight of them, and I came pretty close myself.

Shannie: I could not believe the building. Since the last time I had been there, it had been transformed from this dark dirty cement cell into a bright place with curtains and tables and beds; things that made it look like a home. I was in awe when I saw it; it was like a whole different place. The house mothers worked for days preparing for our grand opening, and they did an excellent job!

Shannie: The children had already spent one night in their own beds. We walked inside and there on the beds sat our precious children all dressed in their warm new clothes and smiling happily. They call Nate and I “NaiNai” (Nigh Nigh) and “Yeye” (Yea Yea), or Granny and Grandpa. Cool huh? I guess we will have many grandchildren before this is all said and done. Aaron was great with them. His warm smile and soft face made our new family members feel very comfortable with their new “big brother.” Of course his Chinese is so good and he can communicate with them so easily. The Chinese are always so impressed that he can speak their language… what an awesome young man he has turned out to be.

Shannie: Our new 11 children were all dressed up in their nice warm sweatsuits we picked out for them. Needless to say, they all looked so cute. New haircuts, bathed and groomed; new warm underclothes… it was amazing to think that just one short week ago they were living in caves, cold… starving and without hope. They looked so happy and content, (even though they were a little nervous.) You could still see the joy in their young faces and the excitement that someone cared. We are so honored to be the someone in their lives.

Shannie: The sweatsuits are turquoise, red and white with turquoise pants. On the front of the jackets are two hands, one red and the other blue. In the middle of the two hands is an H. Over the H is a star, and in Chinese it says “Home of Hope.” On the back of the jackets in a half circle, written in English, it says “Home of Hope.” It’s so wonderful… I am so thrilled with all of this.

Nate: Soon after our arrival, dignitaries, government officials and the news media began to arrive. We went outside and the Henan Provincial Party Secretary and the director of the Zhengzhou Bureau of Civil Affairs pulled the long red draped bow off of the beautiful gold sign the city of GongYi put on the front of the orphanage. It reads “GongYi Home of Hope” in both Chinese and English.

Shannie: There were red banners everywhere, fireworks , music… It was unbelievable. The government officials there from GongYi and Zhengzhou really amazed us. They donated many necessary things to the Orphanage, as well as a TV set, sterilizer for all the dishes, a large refrigerator, a water purifier/sterilizer to make the water drinkable. This was amazing to see. All these things we budgeted to pay for..and the people donated them.

Nate: Speeches were then made to a steadily swelling crowd. (We were not sure where all the people came from.. on rooftops, standing shoulder to shoulder as far as the eye could see!) At the very front of the crowd stood the eleven new family members of our Home of Hope, lined up with their shiny clean faces and warm new clothes and shoes. The band from the local school the kids will be attending was playing for us again. They played their part in welcoming our precious orphans into their new school.

Nate: To my surprise, about halfway through the opening ceremony Cao Hai Kui bravely came to give the speech as a representative for the orphans. It was really touching as he talked about lost mothers and fathers, no grandparents or family members and how NOW they all had a new home and a new family.

Nate: As he was speaking our minds drifted back to only a few short weeks before when we were told about Cao Hai Kui… The way they had to go searching for him in different mountain caves… He had a reputation for spending much of his time at school studying, or tending sheep for one of the villagers for food. Anything to keep away from the unstable people who lived in his cave. Eventually we did find him and now he is one of ours living at the “Home of Hope”. Our hearts were overwhelmed to see him all warm and safe.

Shannie: I fought tears all morning long. And I did quite well too if I do say so myself. I am such a mush mouse when it comes to being emotional. But, in China it’s not proper to show much of that so you must try to be strong and firm in your ways. I did well until Cao Hai Kui got up to give his speech. As he spoke the tears quickly came to my eyes and I could not restrain them any longer. To hear his words of gratitude and praise for what we were doing in his and all the other children’s lives was just so overwhelming to me. Maybe being a foreigner was enough to allow me a few tears.

Nate: Some of the children started calling me “Baba Xiong” (baabaa showng), which means “Papa Bear.” (Shannie calls me “Bear” and they picked up on that I guess — or maybe Renee told them.)

Nate: Little Jenny, the youngest, was the star attraction. All the other kids sort of watch over her and the adults can’t resist her. The more I watch her the more it sinks in that she has spent the first four years of her life living wild. I was holding her at one point and walked over to a picture of a water scene with Cherry blossoms etc. In Chinese I started pointing at different objects in the picture and asking her what they were. She really didn’t know how to say any of them except “hua,” which means flower. I would tell her that the water was “Xue” and the people were “Ren” etc., and she would repeat and then laugh and clap her hands. She is just so lovable. The flash on the camera amazes her. Each time a picture is taken she claps her hands and laughs! When I put her down one of the boys sort of pulled on her sleeve to go back with the rest of the kids and she hauled off and kicked him in the shins with her shiny new shoes.

Shannie: After all the limelight and hooplah of the morning, the children had their lunch and we were escorted to a lavish spread of Chinese delicacies that were out of this world. With our bellies full and wanting just one more look at our new family, we returned one more time to the Orphanage. We found the children nestled in their beds safe and sound. They too had full bellies and hopefully warm visions of brighter tomorrows filling their dreams.

Shannie: I hope you have enjoyed the recap of our day. It is exciting to us and we want to share it with you as it happens. We will have more to tell and new pictures will be added to the Web site periodically. Thanks for being a part of this with us!

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The following is a short film clip of the grand opening we found in our movie archives. It is not very high quality by today’s standards, but it does give you an idea of the excitement of the day. It is also larger than many of our film clips so will take a little longer than usual to download but the story is well worth the wait. This particular clip was taken during the grand opening in February, 2000 and was shown on a ‘talk show’ in 2002 which we were invited to participate in. This was on Chinese national TV and gave the Home of Hope a lot of exposure. We hope you enjoy!

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