My Trip to Yulin & the Orphanage

Today was the day I (Parrish) took off for Yulin to see the orphanage where the girls used to live. Jan and I decided it was probably best not take the girls as the trip to Yulin was about two and a half hours one-way. So she was brave and stayed with both girls today. My mother, Mimi – as the kids refer to her, stayed with Jan to help out as needed while I was away.

Yulin seemed dirtier than Nanning and a lot of the buildings were in decay. Once outside of Nanning, we passed through a lot of farming land. The dwellings around the farm land were primitive and run down. Most of the dwellings were made of brick, but there were no windows or doors on most of them. This is most likely the area our daughters came from. You can just tell it would be a tough / hard life farming the rice paddies. It seemed to be a very poor area.

The orphanage itself is located in an area referred to as Cheng Xi or “West of the City”. The area is very industrial and is located off a back alley way after turning off the main street. The buildings surrounding the orphanage are run down as well. The orphanage itself looks fairly new and well cared for. Because the orphanage is considered a part of the social system, the first two floors are dedicated to the elderly. The third floor is actually where the babies live. Unfortunately because of the risk of the government finding out, we were not allowed on the floor where the babies were. However, we were permitted to enter and walk-through the first floor to a second building / meeting room. It was there that our guide Samson translated any questions we had to the Director of the orphanage. Everyone that went to Yulin took a group picture with the Director and his assistant, which is found below. The red banner hanging on the wall behind us signifies a thank you and gratitude for the donations provided by the adopting families.



I was also able to take pictures of the outside of the orphanage and front gate. The next pictures are of these. In addition, the third picture below was taken from the front gate looking down the street or alley way as if you were exiting the orphanage. Pretty grim.





It’s documented that the girls were found on the backside of the orphanage. The actual backside is a separate building that is on the same grounds as the orphanage. This area is right off the main street. There are two big green doors shut off to the public street. The building looks to be three stories tall and the orphanage have staff working in the building. The street is pretty busy (at least during the day), but looks run down and there are a lot of industrial supply shops around. The number on the building is 874 and the doors had traced writing on it that meant “Peace” and “Prosper”. This is the location the twins were abandoned. One of the other girls adopted by one of the families traveling with us was also abandoned in this location. The pictures below are of this area.





We also went by the hospital where one of the girls adopted by a family traveling with us was abandoned. I’m mentioning this as it was an eye opener for me. The first observation I made was that this was a hospital and there was no AC in the building and it was quite busy. We went to the second floor where it was recorded that “Lilly” was found on a bench. The hallway was lined with wooden benches outside many exam rooms. The place did not seem sterile and everything in it seemed primitive compared to America. I saw a baby sitting with its mother on a bench. Nothing strange there, except the baby was receiving acupuncture on its head and all the needles were sticking out. I also glanced into another exam room and saw a man on his side hooked up to some sort of electrodes running the length of his back. In no way would I want to be treated for anything in this hospital.

Well, we are leaving Nanning tomorrow to spend two nights in the area that has been referred to as the pearl of the region. I don’t have the name of the town and Jan and the babies are sound asleep, so I’ll have the town for you in the next post.