Xian City Orphanage - Library Project - Foster Care Program

Today was yet another incredible day! Chris and I went to the Xian City Orphanage to visit the children and begin installing the library there. We were able to order about 3,000 books as well as very nice bookshelves, desks, and chairs. Overall, the orphanage is pretty clean and organized.

The children were incredibly helpful in organizing the books and getting them ready for library use. This includes hand-copying each title on a slip of paper, glueing the back pocket for each book, and inserting the check-out cards (which were also done by hand!). Needless to say, each book takes a tremendous amount of time and energy before it goes into the library! We were able to complete about 1,100 books in a 10-hour period and the rest will hopefully be finished tomorrow. No, Chris and I did not attempt to copy the book titles in Chinese! We could not believe how well the kids got along with each other and how hard they worked doing extremely tedious tasks. No way would this happen in America with children aged 10-18!!

They were all very excited about having books to read and a place to go enjoy them! All of them seemed very appreciative to us and kept practicing their English throughout the day with Chris and me. We were surprised at how much of our language they knew at such a young age, especially since many of them are not very educated.

There are about 400 children at this orphanage and another 150 in Foster Care. Approximately 350 of these orphans are special needs or have had surgery at some time. The love and appreciation they shared with us today was overwhelming and we can't wait to get back tomorrow to complete the library and spend more time with the kids. They long for attention but are happy and healthy.

The smaller children in the above picture live in the building across from the "dormitory" which houses the older children and the library. Most of the 30 or so smaller orphans we saw were special needs which ranged from blindness, lack of arms or legs, cleft palates, and some type of physical disorder. They were outside playing with the nannies on the playground equipment.