- Tuanfeng, Hubei Province, China - Page 2 -

 
I learned that Zhen Lai just returned from a summer vacation in Huanggang City.  She is now going to vocational school and studying accounting.  She will graduate next year and plans to join several other girls in Shenzhen, where she hopes to find a job.  Shenzhen is an economic zone city on the south coast of China. The girls in Shenzhen formerly lived at the institute and returned to the institute each year for Chinese New Year.
 
Great changes have taken place at the institute since they had a big flood in 1998.  In1998 most of the houses collapsed when the flood swept through the town.  They now have a two-story building that was built after the flood with $30,000 donated by a British charity.  Ten foster mothers together with their husbands and family are taking care of the young children.  Each foster mother cares for the children in an apartment that has three small rooms, two bedrooms plus an activity room, a bath and a kitchen.  Instead of charcoal, they now cook with tank gas and, in the unit I was shown, a green refrigerator stood in the corner of the living room. Uncle Shao said that all of the children now live in family settings such as these.
 
I want to tell you about an incident with your foster mother that made me teary several times.
 
Uncle Shao led me to her home beyond the yard of the institute.  Your foster mother could not believe where I came from or what I had brought for her.  She stood there with her mouth open, wanting to ask me questions but not knowing where to start.  She was not as old as I had expected. I took a picture of her in front of the home where you where you had lived with her for the first two years of your life.  You had told me that, during the day, your foster mother was the cook for the children and the old people at the institute and she took you home every evening after work.
 
Once your mom began talking she spoke very fast with a heavy Tuanfeng dialect yet I was able to understand her very well.  She recalled the day you left her to meet your American parents in Wuhan.
 
"She (you) was holding my neck and wouldn't let go for even one second. She was crying like a baby and begging me, 'Mama, can't I stay?  I don't want to leave you'. I told her, 'Baby, go look for your life.  You will have a much better life over there.  Be sweet.  Smile.  Call your new mother mama and your new father baba.  She was the smartest girl of all."
 
I told your foster mother that you were still the smartest girl in your classes.  Her eyes became teary again and again.  She could not take her eyes off of you when I showed her pictures.
 
Shortly she had leave to prepare dinner for all of the older people and children.  Before she left she brought me two pictures taken on the day you left for Wuhan.  She said that she had taken you and several other children to a photo shop and took the pictures.  At that point she had to leave to fix diner but I could tell that she wanted to stay and hear more about your life in Chicago.
 
I did not meet Li Xuemei, the director of the institute.  She had gone to Hong Kong for a meeting.  I asked Ms. Dai, the bookkeeper, to give her the letter that you had written in Chinese.
 
At dinner, Ms. Dai told me how the decision had been made about your adoption.  The administration staff interviewed all of the girls in your age group before making the decision on whom to recommend for international adoption.  In your interview, you told them that you wanted a mother and father of your own, and you were the one who was making the fastest progress in your studies at the time.  Because of this, you are now living in America with your mother and father.
 
Zhen Lai was also at dinner with us.  I asked her whether she felt that there were differences between her and her friends at the vocational school.  She said that there were few differences except when the other girls talked about their parents.  At that, Zhen Lai's eyes became red and I didn't pursue the subject any further.
 
After dinner I had to leave for Huanggang City so that I could catch the early bus to Jiujiang in Jiangxi Province the next morning.  Ms. Dai and Zhen Lai helped me carry my luggage to the highway.  We waved good bye to each other as the bus appeared.  Tears came to Zhen Lai's eyes as she told me "Aunt Fan, good bye."
 
Once on the bus it was quiet.  Looking out the window, I could not see any people, but only rice fields and tiny villages in the distance.  The smell of rice and lotus flowers came through the window.
 
My friend, this was your home, your birth land, where you are remembered and spoken of fondly by your foster mother and father, foster aunts and uncles and friends always.
 
Yours,
 
Yannie

Edited by Mary Lynn Hodshire

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