Rural Chinese Village

While in Nanchang, we visited a rural Chinese Village. The people who lived here were mostly farmers. We visited the village because our tour guides wanted us to see a village similar to the ones from which our daughters most likely came. Emily Grace's village could be just like the one in the following pictures or slightly better or even slightly worse. The experience was very moving and very emotional for all of us. Also, since our groups daughters were all in foster care, our daughters were probably living in villages like this one until the day that we got them all. We were given the chance to visit inside their homes and interact with the villagers. It was very much like being in the middle of a National Geographic documentary. The villages have power only to supply lighting, but that is it. They do not have central heat or air. They do not even have doors on their houses. They pretty much have two to three rooms per house. Most of the homes have concrete floors but some have dirt, but even the ones with conrete, the floors are very dirty. They do not have indoor plumbing and the outhouses are used by all that live in the village. Chickens walk freely through out the homes and pigs and ducks and such are kept in cages just outside of the home so the meat is very fresh. They have well pumps for their water which are centrally located for all who live there. We arrived at lunch time and all of the homes were cooking and it smelled amazing. The people were very kind and friendly. They were all clean and very covered in several layers of clothes since it was so cold. Now, I know why Emily was dressed so warmly when we got her. She had just left her village the day we got her. The smell of that morning's cooked breakfast still lingered in her clothes. I cried a lot on that tour to think of how she had been living for her first 13 months, but conversly I do know that she was happy there. It is clear that she was well loved and happy. Who am I to think that she has a it better now? Love is love!