On the final day, everyone had a blast: I brought a World Cup ball and we all played soccer. They loved it and almost everyone who could sit up played: as expected Tian Ci dominated. I think the reason soccer was so popular in BCH3 was the competitive aspect. However, the kids probably would have enjoyed it more if the concept of rules resonated. Still, everybody enjoyed trying to kick a ball around and clapping when their team scored. It flowed smoothly, until we had to leave. I was very sad. We gave them a few soccer balls and a hat with sunglasses as a going away present. We said goodbye to the Ayis and then the kids.
As we boarded the plane, I thought about how great it was that I had given 8 Chinese orphans a chance to play and laugh that they wouldn’t normally get. I think I benefited from this experience not only in learning what kids like to do(see top 4) but in learning how lucky I am and how I can make a difference.
The China Care kids don’t have a lot of things that I would consider basic such as parents, loved ones to go home to, a permanent home they can call there own, basic toys etc. China Care helps give them some of these but it still cannot give them everything they need: we need your support and donations for this wonderful cause and these wonderful kids. Thank you for reading my China Care Blog for these few weeks and all the donors who helped us raise $6,922 with more coming in to fund Ning-Ning's burn treatment in Cincinatti, Ohio and pediatric feeding tubes for the Beijing children's homes.
Thanks Again,
Sam Shleifer

Sam and Tian Ci {photo credit Lily}

Day 11: In the morning I played in BCH3. All the children were very happy and we invented a new game. They would all sit in small buckets and CJ, Amber and I would lift the buckets with them inside and then run and deposit them on the window seat. Then we twirl them around in side the buckets. Luckily, this was before lunch or there would have been major cleaning up to do.

At lunch we had to begin our goodbyes to Rachel and Brenton they were going to check into the hotel for their last night here. We met some new volunteers, Andrew, 20 from Detroit,
and Peter, 20 from San Fransisco. They both go to Brown. They had just gotten back from Shanghai and an orphanage in Weifang. They had met everybody else at lunch before I arrived.

We said goodbye to Rachel and Brenton and were off for an afternoon of volunteering. In the afternoon in BCH3we read the epic of Winnie the Pooh. It is a story of a bear and his many adventures with is unusual friends. The kids loved it and liked my voices ( "taught to me by Ed") in either English or Chinese. Tomorrow is my last day with the kids and I have planned a surprise.

To see pictures of the kids I took to the science museum on Saturday just e-mail sam@brcap.com

Day 10:Today I played with Tian Ci for the whole day. In the morning we played a very funny game. Tian Ci would go somewhere he wasn't supposed to go and Tian Hui(the baby with spina bifida) I would have to run to find him. I would grab him and she would escort us back to the middle of the room. We were all pleased with how much wlaking we got Tain Hui to do because of the game. After I had to go for lunch, they continued the game with one variation, Tian Ci ran away and then when Tian Hui found him he would walk back of his own accord, as I was not there to grab him. I was told about this uproarious development when I returned from lunch.

At lunch I learned a curious fact about naming conventions and the paths that have taken the children here to BCH3. It seems like their are no Dangs from my stories ,that is incorrect. Everyones who's first name isnt Tian has a Dang that is not said before the the child's name that they are called here in BCH3. This is because every Chinese person has two names they go by. Children from catholic orphanages, Tians, are only given one after their first name. Children from state orphangaes, Dangs, are given two individual names after Dang which they go by. So for example Kai Zhan's full name is Dang Zai Khan and Gui Zhi is Dang Gui Zhi(pronounced zhu). Tian Ci, Tian Hui and Tian Cheng all go by their full names.

On a different note Tian Cheng went back to the China Care Branch in Taiyuan because he is done receiving medical treatments in Beijing and has new orthotics and brace thanks to Lily funding his these and physical therapy.

Day 8: Today Ying Yee picked me up and we went for an adventure. As soon as he arrived to pick me up he wanted to see the kids. It seemed him and his friend were looking to adopt a child. When I offered to introduce him to the children he was very excited. His enthusiasm waned when he learned that they have birth defects. I could sense his reservations from the fact that he was pointing to 30% of the lips 20% of the legs and only " liked" the kids with heart problems.
We went to eat lunch. Ying Yee took me to a great restaurant , Danshui. We ordered pork in brown sauce, some kind of soup, ribs(the best dish), and beef with green beans. This was a totally insane amount of food-- even split between three people. The pork which was the best thing I had eaten since I arrived in China. It is a dish from Hunana province. The restaurant was green with fountains all over it and Yingyi [which I learned is the appropriate spelling of his name] and his friend told me their view of the purchasing power of the Yuan. He claims that Yuan purchasing power is 1-1 for service [meaning a dollars worth of Yuan buy you about what a dollar would buy you in the states] 3-1 for food [you get 3 times as much food for a dollar] and 8-1 for brand names.

He also said the average Chinese worker makes $1000 a year and can easily survive in a city because of purchasing power differences. He said the average Chinese person has 8 roommates to split rent with so they only pay $300 for housing each year, $200 for food and $500 they send home to their family. After this discussion I noticed that Gasoline and Starbucks prices are almost identical in the USA and China [at the official exchange rate] .

After our massive lunch Ying Yi pulled up at "Qa Footcare Center" and told me to go in. All three of us received foot massages which waas probably one of the weirdest experience of my life. Yingyi told me to say "some rural girl beat me up and then called it relaxing". 3 hours of foot massage [one for each of us] only set us back the equivalent of $7.

We ate again: dinner. We went to a very fancy restaurant in the center of Beijing where each of us was forced to order a 200 yuan 5 course menu. I ordered mushroom soup, Taiwan steak, Caesar salad, raspberry soda and chocolate lava. The salad was pretty good and unlike any restaurant I had ever been to before they cut the food for you. After the Caesar salad, they brought the best dish of the evening, mushroom soup. Ying Yi and his wife/friend(?) both ordered seafood soup. It looked like French onion soup but it had no taste. They said it was very delicate.
I also noticed a new thing, whenever a child says something in China the adults repeat it. For example, I was talking about summer camp and answering his questions. Here is what he said in between sentences in a think Chinese accent, which I have attempted to write.
" oh summuh cam in vermoh"
"seveh week"
"no matematics"
"wanakiwa"
English is a lot better than my Chinese, but it was really funny because it took me so long to figure out what was going on. He seemed a bit shocked my Dad had gone along with this whole summer camp thing.

Then came the Taiwan steak which they said had 72 spices and was marinated for 2 days. It was O.K. but I was so full I could only eat two bites. I gave the rest to Ying yi. It tasted like seventy two spices marinated for 2 days on a cracker. You couldn't taste the steak. Waste of cow! After that was the chocolate lawa as Yingyi would say it. It was chocowate fondant with vaniwa ice cweam. Then the wierdest thing of the day (besides the relaxing assault) the raspberry soda. I got a wine glass with seltzer and yogurt at the bottom. They gave me a little pitcher of raspberry extract which you pour in and mix up to your own taste. It was actually pretty good. I It was 80Yuan for a really fancy dinner for 3 people. We headed back to my apartment.


On a different note, I have heard requests to fund pediatric feeding tubes. Yi Hei's surgery on his cleft palate has been funded which made me very happy.
The link for this funding proposal is
http://chinacare.org/fundingproposalBCH-047PediatricFeedingTubes.pdf

It is a very attractive proposal because it makes such a difference for only $175.
Althought the proposals Tian Ci final surgery has funded by Brenton and Ning--Ning proposal was funded by me. If you have any other funding proposals in mind just write me at sam@brcap.com. Also keep in mind we need to keep raising money so we can fund other medical needs of the orphans.

Day 7: Today 2 other volunteers and I took 15 children ranging from ages 6-10 to the Science Museum. Throughout the morning, the favorite toy of the kids was a machine where you had to pull levers and turn wheels to move a ball through a tunnel with various bridges, planks and so on as obstacles. The leader of the fierce army of disabled children , who was dressed in green and purple pajamas a cleft lip, assigned each child to his or her different wheel or lever and pushed the ball through the first part of the tunnel. After completing the tunnel, which took about 15 minutes, the children would cheer and yell and show there contentment. After 40 minutes when we learned the bus driver would be late the leader started a new game in which they pushed the ball backwards. This passed the time until we all hopped into the car and drove back to the complex.
Today I received Ning-ning's, the child who's burn we are helping to treat, email address if anyone would like it please e-mail me at sam@brcap.com. We still have at least $2,000 left to donate so you are still welcome to tell me the funding proposal you like. These proposals can be reached on the chinacare website at the link I gave yesterday. Email any questions, comments, concerns or complaints. Even if you dont have any of these you should still email. If a severe hand stamina condition has overtaken you leave a comment.

Day 6: Today I went to BCH 3 and played with Tian Su. I also met Tian Cheng. We played together for a while and practiced throwing a wiffleball. Tian Cheng is right-handed while Tian Su is lefthanded so I had to teach throwing mechanics twice. I also helped Tian Hui walk across the room and then victoriously jump on the rocking chair.
In the afternoon I discussed where our donated money can go. I chose to treat a Chinese boy named Ning-Ning who is currently in Cincinatti getting treated for burns. The funding was needed urgently because ChinaCare didn't have enough for his last month of treatment. Of the $5,900 I raised $3,000 went to this worthy cause. If you want to suggest any other funding proposals e-mail your suggestion and proposal to sam@brcap.com. If this is too much work for your hand muscles just leave a comment. Unfortunately, while I am here I cannot reach my blog or read viewers' comments so you will have to trust my mom's competent, but not perfect, organization skills to get them to me. You can read the other funding proposals at http://chinacare.org/projectproposals.html . If you have questions, comments, complaints or those in need a conversation topics email me. Tomorrow we are taking the 6-10 year old kids to the science museum.

Day 5: Today I went to BCH3 all day and learned that I have raised around 6,000 dollars with more checks coming in. This could become 12 cleft surgeries, leg braces for tian Hui and many other great life-changing things. In this journal I will try to reflect on culture differences that were made clear to me today.
In the morning Tian Ci, Lily, Tian Hui, Zhai Khan, Tian Cheng and I played an enthralling game of Chinese ring a round the rosy which I was taught by an ayi so that she could focus on changing Tian Duo Duo's diaper. I also learned another interesting aspect of foreign culture. In every country besides the U.S. when an individual sings he/she tries to sound good and have something common with the notes of the song. Whether it is an ayi singing ring around the Rosy, our French Au- Pair singing a melodious Frere jaques or my former hebrew teacher singing a random song, everyone outside of the U.S. sings to sound good. In America we sing to either make fun of the song or pretend to be up to date with the current radio songs but very rarely to sound good.

In my History class last year we were taught about China's incredible poverty without being there. There are many people: lying on the street, smoking, walking for 45 minutes to save 35 cents on a diaper etc. This is all in an upper middle class neighborhood. I've learned that to understand a culture really well you have to be there. If this is an upper middle class neighborhood in a city suburb imagine a lower class farm neighborhood. I can't. Being in China has given me incredible perspective on a chinese life.

Second half of Day 4: Today after lunch I went back to BCH3 to find Tian Ci asleep. This finally gave me a chance to play with Tian Hui ( The girl with spina bifida and inturned feet.) I learned that in addition to being taught to walk a different way she must also wear leg braces for her whole life because she has no feeling in her legs. We played with a redsox hat which she put on the football and then threw the football making the hat fly off in every direction. My current list of things babies like... 1. Mirrors 2. New toys 3. Baths 4. randomness in hat flying.
When Tian Ci woke up I was as usual completely occupied and I learned Tian Ci's major problem: because of his palate he cant annunciate and his words come out as gibberish. As usual we played mirror games and then went for a stroll through the neighborhood and threw balls at lily. He also further deepened our hypothesis of lefthandedness when he nailed lily in the head, lefty. But at the same time, he uses both hands according to which ever one is convenient. He also tried to do push-ups with me and came pretty close. During our stroll in the neighborhood we pulled leaves off of trees and threw them on the ground with a victorious masculine groan of Arggh! which could loosely be interpreted as a toddler-like scream of Yeaaa! Tian Ci also learned how to say goodbye and towards supper time he could be seen frolicking in the back room with his mates enjoying a nice cup of milk and the entertainment of a 3 piece band consisting of wiffleball, football and cap. To see a picture of Tian Ci and how to help his diction go to http://chinacare.org/fundingproposalMP-046TianCisurgery.pdf
To see other China Care children that are (bbc voice) 3 years old courteously click the "china care homepage" button on the right and once your there click "you can help" and then on the left of that page click "project proposals." If this intensive work on your hands is too much go to your nearest airport and buy a hand massager....Duty Free! You will see many touching stories and pictures.

First half of Day 4: Today I saw Tian Ci again and we played with a football and played games with the mirror. I learned that in addition to a cleft palate he has a cleft lip that has been repaired. I also learned that his birthday is 5 days away from my sister’s. As we played with the football I saw the most amazing phenomenon of the trip. A 4 year old girl named Tian Hui with a spinal disease that gives her in turned feet walked to a chair and hoisted herself onto it after months of physical therapy. As I learned from Sarah, our volunteer coordinator, she needs new leg braces to expedite the process which only costs $950. every time I go into Bch 3 is see her playing on the window sill and then jumping onto the carpet in front of the wall sized mirror. This afternoon I will bring Tian Ci and company my red sox hat to play with.

Day 3: Today I played with a kid named Tian Ci. I would guess he is 3 years old. He was probably abandoned by his parents because of his cleft palate which has since been surgically repaired. He was raised in an illegal catholic orphanage, so he is given the last name Tian. Tian is one of the words for catholic in chinese. Children from state-run orphanages are given the last name Dang. This means they are allowed by the Chinese government. China Care took Tian Ci from the orphanage and brought him to a local Branch and then to Beijing to get surgery. In the morning he slept late so I didnt see him. In the afternoon he played with the wiffleball that I brought and we learned he is left handed. Then, we went to the park where he did Monkey bars and smelled leaves. At the end of the day, when the volunteers had to go to their meeting with Brent, we both had to be reassured that we would play tomorrow. In our meeting with Brent we discussed why state-run orphanages don't work and determined that with a public company in a communist country there is no incentive to perform well as an employee because there is no motivation because you can't get fired.Tonight I was overjoyed to find the Red Sox in first place.

Day 2: I got to work in the childrens home today which was a great experience. I played mainly with toddlers between the ages of 3 and 5. This was great fun and it seemed the children were really enjoying themselves. Ee went to the park and they also seemed to be developing relation ships with eachother. I played with three kids the first ws named Tian Ci his minor problem was that he had a cleft palate, the second child's thigh was pushed up into her stomach making her left leg 7 inches shorter than her right. The third child also had a cleft palate. Before I was working in BCh3 (beijing childrens home 3), I spoke with Brent about why there are so many orphans. There are 4 types of orphans in China Care.
1. True(parents died)
2. Cultural( a condition or quality they posses is not accepted by their culture.)
3. Medical (they have a condition that is unfixable or the parents cannot pay for the child's condition to be fixed)
4. Birthplan (family wants a boy and gives up the girl because of
one child policy.)

The orphans at China Care are mainly medical and cultural. For example one 8 year old was abandoned because he is albino and his communitty does not accept that. When I walked into the classroom with Brent it looked like he was enjoying himself even while pleading to the english teacher in a thick chinese accent "no homework Holly."
The most shocking thing that I heard from Brent was that the majority of orphans in the china care children's homes were male. This is because many female children are aborted before they were actually born. So the reason that there are more male orphans with defects in China is because there are more males than females. In a regular orphanage the majority would probably be female because of the one-child policy. In China Care the gender ratio is true to population size since there are no birth plan orphans in China Care. China Care plans on moving to south china and starting another branch near guangzhou. They need more support to help the children of the rural areas of South China. Brent also has a good relationship with a state-run orphange in the west. He is planning to build a children's home there after he has made one in the south. Orphans come to China Care from state-run orphanages in three different Chinese cities near Beijing. They spend some time(if they can) in the local China Care branch preparing for Medical treatment. They then go to Beijing for medical treatment. The ideal case spends eight months with China Care and then finds foster parents and then gets adopted.

Day 1: After getting off the plane on which I learned to count to sixteen (shileo) from an annoying boy who spends his summers in Canton a Chinese lady from the UM program picked me up she had no knowledge of the required forms for customs (there were many) and we went back to the form tables many times. We took a while in customs and the most notable experience was my attendant trying to tell a Korean guy not to cut the line. The Korean guy did not understand what the lady was saying and interpreted it as the attendant selling herself. After that incredibly awkward run-in we got through customs and my shoe came untied, immediately the attendant jumps on the ground and ties the shoe while her friend attempts to amuse me but asking about the bathrooms on the airplane I quote “did u pee often times while in ze airboat.” Airport worker june 2006. After customs at the baggage claim the attendant called for more backup so she could run and get a cart without leaving me alone this amuser was silent as she checked me over making sure that my shoes were tied, pocket in and collar adjusted. After we got my bag I met up with Brent and Cathy who were very welcoming. In the car the first thing that struck me was the massive overhaul going on for the 2008 Olympics. Every spot of barren empty ground is becoming a swimming pool or track. Luckily, the children’s home was right near the airport so we got their within ten minutes Brent and company recommended that since I wasn’t hungry and the barbeque at Brent’s house was coming up I should go to the grocery store and stock up on American breakfast food and soda, after buying a few whole wheat muffins which the generic Beijing supermarket we headed back to the apartment. ON the way back the most striking thing I noticed was that all of the Chinese people were staring at us like we were a different species because they had never seen a white person before. After ten minutes of being gawked at we were back at the apartment playing cards before Brent’s bbq. At Brent’s bbq there were 4 guests, the volunteers (us) and his huge family of 4 kids, his wife and babysitter(s). 1 of the guests who wanted to be referred to as Grandpa was wearing a cowboy hat which he didn’t take off, a cowboy belt and cowboy shoes. The more fascinating thing was that he had two translators whom he had met in the supermarket. (A little suspicious.)The other guest whose name I didn’t catch ran a Boy Scout troupe and was speaking extensively about Boy-scout camp which Brent’s and his son were attending together. The third guest was the second guest’s neighbor who had tagged along and was constantly making wise crack in his southern drawl about playing backgammon over the back fence. The fourth guest was an interesting woman who led the China Care Branch in Tinnuen. Luckily, the first food I ate in China was not Chinese food. It was grilled ribs and chicken made by Brent and Brenton. The food was good and the conversation line of “Boy Scouts strengthens your child’s morality and belief in God.” Spoken in Nebraskan yawning noises was dominant. About half way through I fell asleep for two reasons Jetlag and boredom. When we went home I went to sleep in my floorly domicile during the racket of the girls watching 24. Tomorrow I start volunteering!

Roommates

Katie. 20 years old. Dallas, Texas

Rachel: 17 years old. CHicago

Lily: 15 nyc

For those of you who got the letter and wish to donate online just click the donate now button on the right.
If you would like to help my individual cause please put Sam Shleifer in the dedication or designation field to make sure it goes to my individual orphanage and surgeries.
You may also send checks to either of my parents, me or china care at
China Care Foundation
P.O. Box 607
Westport, CT 06881
To learn more go to china care.org
Thank you,
SZS