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January 3-4, 2007
TRIP TO HAIKOU & XUWEN

We left Guangzhou on January 3rd for our trip to Xuwen (pronounced Shoe – en). Xuwen is the town where Gabby was cared for this past year and where she was found. This town is found in the most Southwestern tips of the Guangdong province. The climate is much like Miami or Tampa and is found on a peninsula like Florida. Unfortunately in this town of 500,000 there are no accommodations above a 2 star hotel.

For those not having traveled in China, a 5 star hotel means that you have a bed that is rock hard, a hot pot in your room to boil water for baby bottles and there is a restaurant that serves a dish or two of Western cuisine. A 2 star hotel means a bamboo bed, bugs and no individuals that speaks English or has seen a Westerner in their lives…

In other words, we had to find a nearby city with a hotel that could house our group. The closest option for us was Haikou – part of the Hainan Islands. Haikou (pronounced Hi-ko) is located across the South China Sea from Xuwen. Located in the Hainan province, it is considered a resort community with golf and tennis for foreigners. Aside from the tropical temperatures when we arrived, palm trees, banana and coconut groves, we have yet to see the amenities of a resort community. Our guide considers Xuwen and Haikou more like the real China vs. Guangzhou which is Westernized with their hotels, restaurants, markets and high rate of English speaking vendors.

The trip to Haikou & Xuwen will last us for 3 nights. We arrived on the 3rd, will tour Xuwen on the 4th, tour Haikou on the 5th and fly back to Guangzhou on the 6th.

Going to Xuwen:

Thursday was our day to visit Gabby’s home town of Xuwen. The only way that we could reach this was by ferry. We left the hotel before the sun rose and went to the ferry. We boarded what looked like a retired old Russian transporter. Our guide was savvy enough to secure a private room for us. This was a 12’ x 20’ room with 25 chairs, dark tint windows and gray walls/floors. It seemed like a great spot for all of the locals to stop up and see the foreigners with Chinese daughters. Actually, the captain of the ship thought that Xixi (our guide) was rich having many daughters and several foreign (white) helpers.

Our cruise across the China Sea was less than smooth. Allison and Gabby did remarkably well with the smells of diesel fuel and high waves. Gabby went to sleep and Allison closed her eyes wishing our 90 minute voyage was over. Grandma and Grace stayed back at the hotel to play “school day”. Once we arrived in Xuwen, our group was immediately surrounded by 10 men all yelling and wanting to drive us in their motorcycle rickshaws. Fortunately, we were being met by the orphanage and their bus.

Rules of the road are essentially out the window in Xuwen. Our bus driver was on the horn every 2-3 seconds. We passed other cars, rickshaws, ox carts, bicycles, and motorcycles in oncoming traffic lanes. We even passed water buffalo walking on the street. Traffic signals mean nothing.

Visiting the orphanage was a little scary for Gabby. We were only allowed pictures outside of the building. It is a new facility, built in 2005. Unfortunately that means it has little to provide the children when it comes to playing. They have a nice roof over their heads, a bed, food and great care – but the building feels a little empty or sanitized. The Director was saying that they hoped to have a playroom in 2007 but this is one of their many “wishes”. A previous group purchased the facility a computer and printer. Several groups donated blankets and clothes. Our donations help to purchase a photocopier.

The nannies all came to see the girls. We were shown their original cribs, their walkers and where they were fed. We are also introduced to Eleanor & Robin’s babies. Both looked very well cared for and happy. These two families were supposed to travel with us, but were unfortunately victims of U.S. immigration red tape. I want to take this one opportunity to thank U.S. Senator Fiengold’s office for their help. Without their assistance, we too would have been stuck by U.S. immigration and in the U.S. for Christmas, missing this trip.

We landed in Haikou

Private first class cabin on ferry

Xuwen Social Welfare Institute

Group photo moms & nannies

Gabby w/ head of nannies

Local traffic (yes those are goats}

The trip to Xuwen was pretty taxing for Gabby. We traveled around the city to see and understand the culture. It is a tough life in Xuwen. The homes looked to have multiple generations of families living in them (with no less than 8 people). A 20’x20’ space looked to be a spacious dwelling – this includes their kitchen, bedroom and if lucky a squatty potty (whole in the ground). Most businesses operate out of garages. Much of the culture is driven by farming which never bodes well for the girls and probably explains why Gabby was abandoned.

China Adoption:

For those that know or have heard us talk about China’s policy about children this part will be repetitive. For those that don’t know, here is what happens. China views their population to be equal to or greater than the U.S. The problem is that with the mountains, deserts and uninhabitable regions, they feel the need to guard the resources they have to sustain the country. This means that they put a population control into effect around the early 1980’s. For families living in the cities, they are allowed 1 child. For those living in the country, when they have a child if the first is a girl, they can try again. If the second is a girl, they are then finished if the hospitals deliver the second daughter. There are big billboards in the countryside promoting birth control and ultrasound to determine the baby’s gender.

The hospitals and local health departments in each town, neighborhood, village or city have an Official responsible for birth control. Once a child is born, the hospital is instructed to sterilize the woman.

If a woman is not sterilized or they choose to have more than the one child they have to pay a tax on or lose government subsidies. The girls are not abandoned due to the tax, but because of their role in the family. In China a child helps with the family business. If the family business is farming it is strenuous work and many families feel a daughter cannot handle it. Once married, a daughter will always join in the husband’s family business. At this point the girl’s family has nobody to assist with the work in their family business and they are left shorthanded. Additionally, the daughter’s role will be to aid her husband’s parents when they grow old or ill. She may see her family once or twice a year.

It is for this reason that the girls are often abandoned in lieu of hoping to have boys. The people of China are coming to realize the shortage of girls and this explains some of the adoption rules and paperwork changes we have seen recently. Our guide was explaining that there is a 10% difference between the populations of boys vs. girls.

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