Edward S. Hume, M.D., J.D.: Chinadopt
Taking your
adopted child's older sib to China for the adoption
(by Susan Ferrara, Ph.D. )
We traveled to Nanchang in Jiangxi province in June 1995 with
our then six year old daughter. (Call her Jiejie --- Chinese for
older sister; it's pronounce "jyeh-jyeh"). The trip to
meet her sister was of course the culmination of months of
paperwork, etc. and we had made her an equal part of the process.
She wrote a biography for the homestudy. We rented tapes on
China --- Big Bird in China was her all time favorite. We read
books about China and started to collect books of Chinese
folktales. We made selecting the name a family project with
everyone getting equal veto power and agreeing that we all had to
like the name. We talked about passports and visas and we let her
share the excitement with her Kindergarten class.
When it came time to travel, Jiejie got her own rolling
suitcase (similar to the kind pilots carry) and she helped pick
out clothes to pack. We took long walks after school strengthen
her endurance. We bought a new box of markers and a large pad of
drawing paper and we packed a couple of chapter books. She bought
new sandals.
Unfortunately, she had to miss her last days of kindergarten,
including the class play (which upset the Kindergarten teacher
and the Music teacher more than it did Jiejie!). On her last day
of school, I brought in pizza and fortune cookies and threw
Jiejie a Bon Voyage party. Her classmates made her a neat going
away card and we were off.
A wise American woman, who had raised her own children in
China for a time, reminded me that Jiejie wouldn't die if she
only ate rice for ten days. So, to supplement the rice, I packed
raisins, instant oatmeal and cup-a-soup. There is always a
thermos of hot water in your hotel room so making these things is
a snap. I also took some juice boxes.
Jiejie actually found a lot to eat in Nanchang where there was
absolutely no western style food. She ate dumplings and soup with
noodles. And of course, rice. There was plenty of juice to drink,
bottled water (which she preferred) and soy milk (which she
drinks at home).
When we arrived in Guangzhou to obtained the baby's visa, we
stayed at the White Swan. We finally got into our rooms at about
8 pm at night after a long day of travel and all three of us
ordered hamburgers which were delivered on those rolling tables
you see in all the movies. Jiejie acted like she had died and
gone to heaven. She ate hamburgers every night in Guangzhou!
The Chinese were fascinated with Jiejie and the other little
American boy (age 4) who traveled with us. The Chinese love
children! With the help of our guides, we got to take the
children to a zoo in Nanchang and souvenir shopping.
We extended our trip to China by four days because Jiejie
wanted to go to Beijing and see the Great Wall, and the Monkey
King --- a popular children's character who plays a very
prominent role in the Big Bird in China video! We got to see both
of those attractions and we ate at the Hard Rock Café, which
Jiejie thought was great! More hamburgers and Tom and Jerry
cartoons!!
We did have a couple of close calls with Jiejie. The airports
are quite crowded and not very orderly, One time she almost got
run over by a cart containing six bags of rice and in Beijing she
almost got hit by a car. But she also came down with a urinary
tract infect because she wasn't too found of the bathrooms, so
she just skipped going sometimes. Fortunately, our pediatrician
had given us some broad spectrum antibiotics for her and we gave
them to her and made her drink plenty of fluids. By this time we
were in Beijing, so there was a western style clinic which we
located by calling the US Embassy.
DO NOT HESITATE TO TAKE YOUR CHILD! What an experience. Jiejie
still talks about her trip and took her own pictures with two
disposable cameras that a friend gave her as a going away gift.
She also took a diary and kept notes and drew pictures. She also
got to meet her sister and her sister's foster mother and that
was just as good as being in the delivery room!
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