Orphanage in Xi'an

So I was wanting to write about this earlier, but hadn't gotten around to it! On my recent trip to Xi'an, my whole BYU group was fortunate enough to be able to visit an orphanage. We meet the founder of this orphanage at church in Xi'an, and she invited us to come see it. Amanda de Lange is the angel from South Africa who decided that her mission in life is to help save abandoned children in China. China has a high rate of abandonment (especially in rural areas) of baby girls and babies with birth defects. Because of the one child policy here in China, families want male babies who will take care of them in their old age. Women are not seen (traditionally) to be part of their parent's family anymore after they are married. And farmers do not have enough money to pay for surgeries, so they tend to abandon children born with problems. Many are left on the sides of roads, thrown away, or even killed. As China continues to develop these old ideas about women are starting to fade, but not as much as it needs to. So many of the children at Amanda's House (the name of her orphanage) are females with serious health issues. Some were born with spina bifida, cleft palates, or just red birthmarks. When we went, there was a twenty five day old baby who had been abandoned because of a large red birthmark covering one side of her face. Amanda says that this kind of mark is easily removed through a simple laser procedure, which the baby will get when it is a bit older. Amanda has been able to pay (because of donations for many generous people) for all the babies to get the medical attention they need, and it is soo great!! The night we were there, Amanda had to leave early because of the girls was being adopted that night by a Danish couple (if I remember right). The girl in red I'm playing with in the pictures is Erica, and she is headed to New York pretty soon! Amanda has a blogsite where people can donate to, but I haven't got the address right now. I do have an e-mail if anyone is interested in e-mailing her some questions. My BYU group was very touched by this experience, and we have decided help out Amanda's House by donating supplies and some money. It was an amazing experience to see how one person can make such a big difference in lives of others, and I'm so grateful to have been able to meet Amanda and to see the beautiful children she helps with.