Orphanage Visit

Esther, the orphanage director, has been with Guiyang Children's Institute for 13 years. She is young, energetic, always smiling and you can tell she loves the children. Esther made time for us again so we could ask many questions about Ya Fang and the orphanage. According the the reports the police stated her age as 5 years when they found her. They took her to the orphanage the same day and Ya Fang has been there for almost 5 years. Doing the math and just by her physical appearance we all believe she is no more than 10 years old.The director agrees with this. The facility was well maintained but very cold. The children were happy to see Ya Fang. She was so proud walking around passing out candy that we had picked out and bought at the local Wal-Mart We took many pictures of her with her friends and of her bedroom that she shared with five other girls. Her bed has already been taken over by another child. We learned many of the children choose not to be adopted and want to stay in the orphanage and go to school. Stories about the children being left with no place to go after the age of 14 is not true in Guiyang. Of of respect, we were asked not to share pictures on the Internet of the orphanage. Enjoy the pictures of dad and Ya Fang preparing candies for friends, the director Esther with us and others.