Greetings from Lanxi

We said good-bye to the staff of Yiwu last night & took a bus to Lanxi, an hour drive.

The final day at Yiwu was very emotional for many of the volunteers. We did the usual checking all morning from 8:30-12:00. Then we had a terrific lunch of dumplings & noodles (I am not losing any weight while in China!). After lunch, Nancy (OT) and Kiki (PT) did training for the orphanage top administrators, nannies, and foster parents. They seemed very eager to learn new things. The training ran from 1:00-4:30 & when I stepped in near the end, they were still very focused, absorbing all that our professionals had to say. They taught them a lot of techniques to help with sensory issues since so many we had seen have sensory defensiveness. Some things demonstrated included using a special small brush to pressure brush. It is a simple thing - brushing a person's arms, hands, & legs for 8 times each day for 2 weeks. That can have a lifetime impact. Of course, when I say it is simple to do, I mean it is a simple technique that can be easily learned. What is not simple is to find the time to do this when you 5, 6, or 7 foster children in your home, all with strong special needs. Or at the orphanage, where there is 40 babies!

They also taught massage, although this is already done by many as it is an eastern tradition. During exams, one foster dad told us that he found that massage calmed one of his children. Another item was bounce to improve muscle tone. It involves sitting on a large ball, like the exercise ones, and bouncing with the child. Nearly all of the kids loved to do this in the assessment room.

Most of the items above are things that Nancy, our OT, taught. I know more about them as that who I was working with for the assessments. Kiki, our PT, taught the group various ways to improve big muscle tone & coordination. Near the end, she was showing the use of kinesiotape. The first time I had seen this tape was during the Olympics when many athletes used it - especially the U.S. women's beach volleyball team.

During this time, Kathy & Jane (nurses) and Tim (doctor) evaluated more children. By the end, they were able to examine every child in the orphanage & foster care - that is 85 children in 4 days! Initially we had thought that we would only be able to do a portion of them.

Now you may be thinking that the rest of us nonprofessionals had a break but it was far from that. We spent the afternoon in the nursery. All of the nannies were over at the training so we were the nannies for the 40 babies & toddlers. And my shoulder muscles are feeling it this morning! We always had one in our arms & talking to another through the bars of the crib. Then we found walkers under some of the cribs so we let the older ones go wild so we had an added job as traffic cop! We left smelly and exhausted but feeling good that we were able to give each child some direct attention.

Last night we had dinner with the orphanage director, vice-director, and head of the business office, the vice-director of civil affairs, and a wealthy Yiwu businessman who owns a bus company & employs 4500 people. The businessman was the 'big potato' at the table. And he announced that the coach bus that we had been using since we got to Yiwu & that would bring us to Lanxi was done at no charge to RTC! Yiwu has a lot of money so we will need to work on getting more connections for the orphanage.

We arrived in Lanxi around 9:00 last night. Boy, has the city changed. I was first here in 1999 & then in 2003. It is a different place - a bustling city! A few of us were energized & rested from the bus trip & strolled around downtown for an hour before calling it a night.

This morning we do not start until 10:00. Danling thought it best to give everyone a little break or else there will be burnout!

This message has gotten lengthy but I hope I was able to paint a picture in your mind of what it is like here.

Cheryl Heley