Day fourteen…everyone is starting to get a little sick, part because of the weather and part because most of the kids are sick too. One of the disadvantages of coming to China during winter, although my previous trip during Spring time still suffered from its fair share of sick cases.
Up early for breakfast and then onto the welfare center we went. The day started as per usual…except today the music lesson was held in the boys own room opposed to the girls room which is the norm. This meant things were a little more chaotic that usual with the limited space available.
We were about half way through the music lesson when we were hit with the unexpected. Top government officials were doing a CNY visit to the center and with them came the media circus. Television camera, photos being shot at every chance….it was insane and the worst thing was…they came baring SNACKS!
Now you might think this is a great idea, but in some ways it is a good thing that the government officials came to visit the kids. But you need to look at the bigger picture….these kids dont get snacks…they get the bare minimum when it comes to food. So for people to come in and shower the kids in all types of snacks is just not a good idea, because as you can expect the kids went crazy! The more able kids just grabbed like crazy filling every pocket the could with as much food as they could grasp. But what they forget is…there are some children that arent as able so they are not capable of grabbing what they can. One example is XiaoPang who is confined to the wheel chair and has little to no control of his arms. So while the photographers and camera crew were shooting shots of the government official handing food to the kids, I took some food and handed it to the kids in wheel chairs, in particular XiaoPang. Now as we need to feed him too, I was sitting with him at the other end of the room giving him some food, when the circus made its way to where I was sitting. Then the government boss commenced questioning me, by way of Elsie translating, on why I came to volunteer, what I did back home and thanked me for my work. This is all good and nice…but to be honest I preferred to concentrate on XiaoPang and not the circus that was making its way around the room.
Now you might think this is a great idea, but in some ways it is a good thing that the government officials came to visit the kids. But you need to look at the bigger picture….these kids dont get snacks…they get the bare minimum when it comes to food. So for people to come in and shower the kids in all types of snacks is just not a good idea, because as you can expect the kids went crazy! The more able kids just grabbed like crazy filling every pocket the could with as much food as they could grasp. But what they forget is…there are some children that arent as able so they are not capable of grabbing what they can. One example is XiaoPang who is confined to the wheel chair and has little to no control of his arms. So while the photographers and camera crew were shooting shots of the government official handing food to the kids, I took some food and handed it to the kids in wheel chairs, in particular XiaoPang. Now as we need to feed him too, I was sitting with him at the other end of the room giving him some food, when the circus made its way to where I was sitting. Then the government boss commenced questioning me, by way of Elsie translating, on why I came to volunteer, what I did back home and thanked me for my work. This is all good and nice…but to be honest I preferred to concentrate on XiaoPang and not the circus that was making its way around the room.
Once they left, the kids were totally hyper so we did what we could to calm them down until lunch time. We went and got our food and then back to the center we went. The afternoon we started by doing what was potentially going to be a very risky activity….PAINTING. So very carefully we sat them all down and set out paper for them to paint on. We were very careful to make sure this was well managed as it had a great potential to get out of hand. But to our success, it went exceptionally well. After that wrapped up, we thought this was a good chance to take them outside for some sports and fun. We ran some laps, did some exercises and played some games. This was also great fun and you could see all the kids really getting involved and enjoying.
Despite the cold, going outside is a rare luxury for the kids and you can really see it by looking at their faces as we head outside for activities. They love to play outside, but its not a common thing. I guess its just another thing we take for granted in our lives.
After this we headed back inside and did some whiteboard drawing, similiar to previous occasions. This is something the kids really enjoy, as we draw something, they all guess what it is. Unfortunately I was called away as DangKou was having a bad day and was screaming at the top of his lungs. So I was hoping to take him down to the therapy room. But unfortunately it was locked and NOONE was around to unlock it for us. At this point he started screaming at the top of his lungs AGAIN. So quickly running out of ideas, I thought to take him outside to the play ground. But again afer only two times down the slide…the screaming commenced. At this point I had no idea, but to take him back up to the boys room. Fortunately for me, when we got back up there he had calmed down and was fine until dinner time.
We headed off to dinner…tonight at the congee restaurant where I ordered what I chose last time in Sanmenxia…Strawberry and Apple congee! Awesome stuff!
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