A harsh reality

I wanted to post a few more pictures of the Huazhou orphanage and say a bit more about our time we spent there. Before coming to this orphanage, I had been to Hefei (Ellen's orphanage) and Shaogaun, (Maddie Rae's orphanage) so I think my expectation was that it would be similar to these; however, it was really nothing like them, except for the actual buildings themselves. Hefei and Shaogaun have been the beneficaries of some wonderful foundations out there dedicated to helping China's orphans. They come in and build out beautifully furnished playrooms and playgrounds, train nannies, create foster families, etc. I have incluced a picture from Hefei in here so you can compare the two rooms.

The playroom in Huazhou, stark, just a couple of ride-on type toys - we brought several toys that we are unwrapping here.

These precious angels were laying on boards that were painted and the paint was chipping. Not a good combination for a little one like this. I am working to find out the dimensions of the cribs and finding appropriate padding, as the babies don't wear diapers so it needs to be something that wipes up easily and is sanitary and a bit of a cushion too.
These little girls - yes, girls - were initially very leary of us, as they should be. There's no playground outside, so they stay inside, I would imagine, the majority of the time.
There were two nannies for this baby room, with about 25 babies, and the adjacent playroom of about seven toddlers.