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I was born in a province of China
called Hunan. I don't know who my birth parents are, and I don't know for sure
why they couldn't raise me. But I do know this: When I was a tiny baby, my birth
parents made a really big decision. Because they couldn't be my forever family,
they decided to take me someplace where I would be safe and someone would take
care of me.
A policeman found me outside a police
station and brought me to the orphanage in Changsha, the capital city of Hunan.
There a caregiver named Li Yongqing made me warm and safe and loved me until my
forever family came to adopt me. I know this because she told me. But I don't
remember any of it.
I used to be scared of the word orphanage.
It felt dark and spooky. But then, when I was five, I got to visit four
orphanages in China. The babies were cute, and the children looked a lot like
me. Their caregivers looked like some of my teachers. They sang and laughed, and
I liked them.
After that I really wanted to go see
my orphanage. What is it like to be a baby there? Do the little kids play? Do
they celebrate birthdays? Do the big kids go to school? Do they have to take
math tests?
I had to wait a few years, but
finally, last December, my parents took me to see my orphanage and the city
where I lived as a tiny baby. I was really excited and also a little scared.
Would I like it there? Would the people there like me? Most of all, I wanted to
see my caregiver. I wanted to see someone who knew me and loved me when I lived
in China.
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Some of the kids at my
orphanage are even older than I am. I saw them mostly on weekends, because
during the week they go to school in the city. They are growing up at the
orphanage, and they are my friends.
On the big kids' floor, there are just as many boys as girls. They each have
their own bed, with two or three beds in a room. The girls' rooms are in one
group. The boys live next door. They each have a backpack for school, and
they've decorated the walls to make the rooms look nice. The big kids don't have
many things, but they take really good care of what they have.
I think they take good care of each other too. They're like a big family, except
there's no mom or dad. Two grownups live with them and help look after them, but
that's not the same as having parents. Those kids have to do a lot for
themselves.
When they met me, they were surprised to learn that I'd lived at the orphanage
too when I was a baby. "You're one of us?" one girl asked. I felt shy
speaking Chinese to them, but they didn't mind when I made mistakes. They were
really nice to me....
Sometimes when my parents were in another part of the orphanage, I'd go to my
friends' rooms to play. It was different without my parents there. I talked
more, and the kids asked me more questions: "Do you like America? Do you
like China? Do you like your parents?" Yes, yes, yes....
I think about my friends at the orphanage a lot. It's sad that they don't live
in a family. I would miss mine very much. But still, I sometimes wonder what it
would be like to grow up at the orphanage with them.
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