The Great Finish

We are finished. What wonderful words to type. We woke up in a hotel about 10 kilometers from Tiananmen Square on Saturday, June 13th- our final day. At 8:30 a.m. we walked out of the hotel to meet 8 of the New Day volunteers who offered to join us for the finish. It was a lovely morning spent chatting with them as we walked. The group consisted of mostly

The New Day Beijing Interns

college students who are spending their summer as interns at New Day Beijing. For two and a half hours, I bombarded each of them with questions about their current dreams and goals, their hometowns and their families. It was so nice to have so much company. Talking to the students kept me calm and levelheaded on a day that I’ve been thinking about for almost a year now.

As we got closer to the square, the crowds became thicker and I started to get excited. Just outside of the square, my mom and Jerry emerged from the crowd. I walked toward my mom as quickly as my tired legs would let me, and gave her a long overdue hug so

Me and The Corkmeister

tight that I accidentally hurt her healing ear. Through tears, she told me how proud she is of me. If a 23-year-old woman who has just walked across China can’t hold her mommy and cry like a baby, who the hell can?

After our reunion, we continued into the square to meet volunteers from Ann’s charity who had come up from Zhongshan to meet us. We heard them before we saw them, running and rolling toward us with open arms, literally squealing with excitement. Soon enough they were on top of us, hugging us, thanking us, and celebrating. One woman stood up from her wheelchair and hugged me tightly, wailing in Chinese the whole time, her whole body vibrating with joy.  She was almost more excited to see me than my own mother was! For a full minute this woman hugged me, pushed me away to look at me, then kissed me

The Joyful woman

on the lips and repeated her process. Squirm as I might, I was overcome by her energy and I could not stop laughing while she had me in her arms.

After the photo shoot commenced, we had lunch with the volunteers. My laughter continued as I watched my mom try to master the art of chopsticks over lunch. After watching my mother curse her bowl of noodles for about five minutes, one of the staff members tapped Mom on the shoulder and handed her a fork.

The next day my mom and I went exploring and found some of the

best food I’ve had in months at a restaurant that served fresh juice and brunch. We wandered the city and talked for hours, catching up on lost time.

On our final day in Beijing, we visited The Great Wall. Laughing our way up the steep steps of The Great Wall was a beautiful experience to share with my mother. Beijing is a beautiful city that was fun to explore. But I was more than ready to get back and see the ones I love in my “China hometown” of Zhongshan.

the treacherous steps of The Great Wall

A New Day

We arrived to New Day Beijing on Tuesday. Sara, a volunteer coordinator for New Day, met us at the main road outside of the village and led us to the community center/foster home that is New Day Beijing. When we turned the last corner, we saw a large group of about 50 volunteers waiting for us at the gate. They had a huge banner welcoming us to New Day. There were balloons hung on the gate, and the crowd started cheering when we were still 100 yards away. My eyes filled with tears. It was such a beautiful way to be welcomed to a very special place.

Donna, the head of volunteer services, showed us to our dorm where we got cleaned up and rested after our 20 kilometer walk that day. Full of energy, I got a quick tour of the campus. New Day Beijing is currently home to 25 foster children and many summer interns from overseas. Very friendly staff members that obviously love their jobs run the establishment. Inside of the gates, creative energy flows. New Day offers many services such as a community preschool and affordable home schooling for Chinese students who want to eventually study overseas. There is also a section dedicated to creating art that will later be mass-produced and sold. The profits of these decorations, magnets, and trinkets help keep the place running. There are hundreds of these beautiful New Day creations hanging all over the walls, giving the place the feeling of home.

Ann and I took the short walk into the village of Qingyundian to find dinner and groceries. When we got back to the New Day compound, I took full advantage of their huge TV, movie collection, and couches. I LOVE watching movies and I’ve missed it so much these past four months.

The next morning I woke up with gratitude in my chest. A few times during this trip I’ve had dreams that we had finally arrived at New Day, only to wake up to disappointment. It was a surreal experience to actually be there. I had a lazy morning of tea and movies, Skyped my mom to make sure she had everything she needed to bring over (i.e. pretty clothes and yummy food for me).

In the afternoon Sarah took us for a tour of the foster home. It is such a beautiful, clean and happy little place. I was so excited to see Chris, one of the kiddos who had been at New Day South before moving North for treatment. Sarah showed us the play and therapy rooms, and took us outside to the yard and playground where the children were sitting in a group doing songs. It’s impossible to describe how beautiful it is to see these children smile and play. I encourage each and every one of you to experience it for yourself someday.

The foster home in Beijing is home to 25 foster children who patiently wait here to find their forever families. The children who wait here are bathed in love from both their Chinese nannies and foreign volunteers whose duties go far beyond simply loving on children. New Day Beijing volunteers take on jobs from cleaning toy rooms to leading educational playtime for the kiddos. The staff here are highly educated and trained to care for children with disabilities and they are always learning, teaching, and evolving. They are constantly rising to the challenge of offering the best care for the kids, no matter what the challenges. It is an impressively organized operation, a busy hive in the offices, but calm and happy upon entering the children’s zone.

I spent two days resting, watching movies, talking to and laughing with other visiting American volunteers, and playing with the foster kids in the afternoons. Ann and I spoke at a volunteer dinner on the second night. Much to my delight, the dinner included mashed potatoes and chocolate cake. My time at New Day filled me up in every way that I’ve been depleted over the past few months. I’m so very thankful for that.

On top of all of this goodness, the most amazing thing is the story of the land that the New Day compound is built upon. The plot has a dismal past. Once used as a place for troubled teens to commit suicide, nobody else wanted this cursed land. The founders purchased the plot and began building their oasis for children. Little did they know, a wise man once used to go to that plot of land to pray. He had a dream that people would come from a far away land to build a place for children. New Day is a dream come true for that wise man and many other people.

Needless to say, it was a lovely place to be. It was hard to leave, but I knew somewhere in my heart that I wasn’t saying goodbye forever. I could have stayed much longer, but we still have a job to finish.

To learn more about New Day, visit HERE