Leprosy Village and Farm Visit

I haven't blogged much about our adventures in Beijing but it didn't really seem all that interesting and I have a lot of pictures to go through and separate into all the places that we did go and visit. We spent a total of 4 days seeing the sites in Beijing before we boarded a plane and headed to my mom's house in Kunming, China. We have done some site-seeing around her town but it is a much more relaxed part of our trip. The little man go to go to junior kindergarten today and he had a great time. I guess we need to work on his fine-motor skills before kindergarten in the fall but that will be easy. While Zane was at school today, Jim had some quiet time and went shopping at the electronics market. Zane is one loved little boy as daddy bought him his own tablet, very cheaply, so now Jim doesn't have to share his iPad anymore.

My brother and I accompanied a gentleman out to one of the leprosy villages where he provides care.  We didn't take pictures of the people as that just didn't seem fair but I can tell you that they all are very happy with their situation. The village we went too has a care center for those who need medical attention. They have room for about 12 people at the center and they can only stay for one month. The gentleman we went with has been working with a NGO-non-government organization for a very long time, Blessed
china International, for at least 10 years. He told us that he visits 14 villages and has about 250 patients. The Chinese government wants to move all of the ill from these villages into a central facility but the but the people don't want that as they aren't sure of the kind of care they will receive. We met a few different people today and I am going to share some of their stories.  The care center is sort of attached to one of the villages and the locals who live there all have some sort of issue from the illness. One of the ladies we met had her leg amputated and when they tried to set up up the appointment with one of the local hospitals, the hospital wanted to charge them more than $5000 to the normal rate. They claimed that they had to have her come in after 4pm on a Friday afternoon, use a special operating room and then throw away all the instruments that they used in the operation.  They are now partnered with a teaching hospital so things are quite so expensive. Another lady we met has high blood pressure and at one point in time had leprosy but with medicine no longer does. She still lives in the village and doesn't always remember to take her blood pressure medication. Her daughter wanted her to come live with her and her family but the mom said no. She didn't want her grandchildren growing up with the stigmatization that their grandmother had leprosy, so to her daughter's family she is dead. It is amazing how many people refuse to believe that times have changed and that the illness still carries such a horrible stigmatization.

One of the things that the gentleman we went with has started is a farm. The land he is leasing is from one of the men who have been treated at the center. This man has been medically trained to help take care of those that are there, at the center, in need of medical help. He also stays at the center and not his farm.The farm is a fruit tree farm and the goal is to have 2000 trees planted. The gentleman we went with says that if each tree can produce 10 lbs of fruit that the farm will create enough income to sustain the medical center. They don't have all 2000 trees planted at the moment but are working on getting there. They currently have the son-in-law taking care of the farm but he would like to go back to construction as it pays better. They are interviewing a gentleman and his family on Friday to take over the farm. If they can get someone to stay at the farm 10 months out of the year they will then get a cow. We were also told that they would have to build some sort of vault for the cow so that no one would steal the cow. The goal is to have the farm up and truly running by 2017. Please keep the whole operation in your prayers as it is a wonderful way for the leprosy community to work together and make it on their own.

Leprosy Village- this is their garden, the village is behind the farm.

The tree farm.

Building built for the farm.

View of the farm. The farmers house in the background.

Love you all!!

Beijing, China Days 1 & 2

I figured I would update all on our travel adventures so far. We left Korea for Beijing on 1 April and made it to the airport without any problems. Once we go to the airport we were supposed to meet my mom outside the international gate but she wasn't there. None of us had a phone that worked or willing to pay the roaming charges to try and find her and she doesn't have a cell phone that works outside of the city that she lives in here in China. About an hour and half later she finally appeared. She had been waiting in the wrong terminal for our flight and finally asked.  We then had to figure out how to get from the airport to the hostel we are staying in and took a bus. That was an adventure too as our luggage had to go with us on the bus and not under the bus. We got to our stop and now it was time to get taxis, needed 2, to get us to the area of our hotel. We are staying in a hostel in one of the Hutong districts near the Drum Tower. I will post pictures later this week, once we get to my mom's and I have the camera with me.  Once we got to the hostel we all had to wonder if this place is/was going to work. We have three rooms: Brian-had his own, Zane and my mom have one and so do we. We are here and have realized that Jim and I are not hostel people but we will survive the next few nights. The beds are like sleeping on a very, very hard floor with no cushion. Lots of tossing and turning last night. I think that we will all sleep better tonight. Of course Zane hasn't had any problems sleeping and has been a great little traveler!

Today 2 April- we headed out at 930 and got back to the hostel about 1800. We headed out to the Forbidden City but once there decided today was not a good day as it there were massive amounts of people from everywhere. It is a holiday here in China so it is a little bit busier than once expected. We walked downtown and the little man was hungry so we took him to, of all places, McDonald's, only the 3rd time in his  5 years! After wards we walked over to Wangfujing(?)  market and ate a few things. Jim was even brave and had snake on a stick. No we don't have pictures of him eating it but do have pictures of it before cooking. Zane wasn't liking all the people so we headed out to the Temple of Heaven. We walked around, took pictures and Zane even learned, is trying, to play what we call hacky sack. Afterwards we went to the pearl market, lots of "stuff", then off to the silk market- again lots of stuff but we did see a lot of great dresses I would love to have made. Then back to the hostel.

Tomorrow is an early day as we are heading out to the Great Wall and then to Harley Davidson Beijing then Olympic park. It will be another busy day. I do promise to post pictures once we are at my mom's in Kunming and we have had a chance to go through them, took over 300 today!

Love you all,

Liz, Jim and Zane