A trip to the orphanage and a hike!

Author: Michael
Location: Taiyuan
It was our first full day in Taiyuan and it certainly was full!! After breakfast we loaded onto the buses and drove out to a little village just on the outskirts of Taiyuan. It's a Catholic village with a large, impressive church in its center called Dong-er-gou (supposedly it's quite important for Chinese Catholics). It is in this little village that the orphange was that many of the group home kids grew up in. It was very interesting to watch some of the older kids faces who recognized their surroundings more and started to get very excited as we neared the church and their old home. Many of the nuns/sisters who'd helped to care for them were there and thrilled at the sight of the kids. Many of them have changed a lot in the 3 years with China Care - more talking, walking, running, playing etc. Our first event was a hike up the hill adjacent to the town. It was a veryy hot day, but all of the kids - even the slowest ones on crutches made it up the steep incline to this beautiful Catholic Church perched on the top of the hill. Some of the children were even lucky enough to hitch a piggy back ride to the top! In the church the children all sang songs and this one little blind boy even did a tear-jerking solo. We were all pretty exhausted, but seeing how happy the kids were gave us that extra boost of energy we needed. Back down in town for lunch and then a tour of their orphanage. Some of the foster mothers got quite emotional looking at the old pictures of their children and hearing their stories. These kids really have come a long way. In the church the Father gave us a little history talk while one of the mothers taught us a cool trick of using mint leaves on our foreheads to cool us down. Needless to say soon everyone's face was green! After some goodbyes we loaded back onto the bus and headed back into Taiyuan for some time at the park. Unfortunately Chinese parks forbid you to go on the grass so we were reduced to walking a great distance before we found a place to sit. Ice cream was thoroughtly enjoyed and many eyes were closing after a looong and emotional day.

Michael...
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