More about the village

Mary, our guide, was the one who thought that it would be beneficial for us all to see a village similar to one from which our daughters came. She told us her heart-felt story. She, herself, came from "the village" and in her words...she made it out. She was the only one in her village to ever go to college. She said that it is so hard for a child born inside "the village" to find the resources to go to college or to ever have any guidance to do so for that matter. She also told about how hard it was for the families in the village to deal with the one child rule in China. I had heard that the rule had been lifted to help encourage families to keep their daughters, but she said that the rule continues. She also said that families in the rural area that had tried to ignore the rule and couldn't afford to pay the tax required to keep a second child had their homes taken from them. She said that they have reluctantly complied with this rule. Most babies that are abandoned in China come from the rural areas since they need males to help on the farm. She expressed her gratitude to us for traveling half way around the world to aquire these sweet babies to give them a future. She talked highly about their chances for a quality education. It was very moving.