We visited the SWI (Social Welfare Institute) which Mei Mei comes from with one other family from our group yesterday. It is located in Tonguu, a rural mountainous area 4 hours from Nanchang. It is a beautiful forested area that reminded us a lot of the outlying areas around Seattle where we live.
We were greeted by the Director and Assistant Directer of the SWI and were indeed fortunate to able to meet with the foster mothers of both babies. The director also hosted a lunch at a local restaraunt with us, the foster mothers, the assistant director, and some of the staff of the SWI. The director was extremely hospitable, produced a bottle of rice wine and led a series of toasts. He reminded us that according to tradition you are to drain your glass in one drink with each toast. He said that when he retires he wants to come to America and visit each family which has adopted children from his SWI. (300 families). He's been having some difficulty obtaining a visa though. They say is very difficult for Chinese to obtain a visa to visit the US. He siad his only requirement is that each having have a bottle of rice wine for his visit.
This SWI seems to be very well run. No children live at this SWI. The residents are all elderly people under care. The children are all under foster care. The foster mothers work for the SWI and the SWI retains guardianship. The assistant director regularly visits the foster families and supervises the care for the children. The directors visits each family once a month. All the babies in our group are healthy and happy and obviously well cared for.
They took us to see the places where each of the babies were found before we returned to Nanchang.
Greg
