TheBanyanTree: Transition 18, Part 2

[Pat M]

Transition 18, Part 2





After lunch, Jackie, Amy and I set off to visit Wang Yani, a little girl
with congenital heart disease whom Agape was considering sponsoring. The
total cost of Wang Yani's surgery would be 31,000 yuan. If approved, Agape
would provide 15,000 yuan and the family would need to find the rest.

The success of my fund-raising efforts for Zhang Kang had surprised and
delighted me. I was now holding an additional 12,000 yuan or the equivalent
of some $1800 to help another child or children with congenital heart
disease. When I'd emailed Jackie asking for a little girl to sponsor, he'd
told me about Wang Yani.
In less than a week I'd leave the region. Since the hospital only accepts
payments for in patients (they don't accept prepayments), I was anxious to
meet Wang Yani and her parents, view the home and living conditions and send
the information to the donors so we could collectively make a decision. Some
sponsors had specifically requested that they be included in the
decision-making process; they didn't want me to arbitrarily decide which
children to sponsor. It was up to me then to provide them with all of the
relevant details.
If things ran smoothly, I envisioned having Wang Yani admitted to hospital
the following day and planned to make the payment for her surgery on the way
to the airport.

"Tell me more about Wang Yani," I asked as Jackie wove his way through the
chaotic traffic. "So, she was abandoned?"

"Yes, a year and a half ago, an old woman with a crying baby walked along a
street in Xian. It was pouring and the foster father's brother invited her
into his home to dry off and warm up. The woman asked to use the toilet. She
went outdoors and never came back."

I shook my head. "Poor little thing."

"In China many children are abandoned; it's common. Wang Yani's foster
parents haven't been able to have a baby so they are very happy to have Wang
Yani. It's very expensive to adopt a child here."

"Expensive?"

"Let me explain. In China, you can buy a child. A foreigner must pay
something like US$30,000. The orphanages use this money to help feed and
clothe the children, as they don't receive enough funding.  A Chinese family
can buy a child for about 30,000 yuan, which is a lot of money here."

Xian is a city of nearly 7 million people and Jackie drove for about an hour
to reach Wang Yani's home.  He parked outside a gated, brick-walled
compound. As we entered it, a skinny German Shepherd cross tugged against
its rope and barked at us. I love dogs but when I talked to him, he bared
his teeth and lunged at me.

"I guess he doesn't want to be friends," I said, backing away.

Inside the wall, there was a very large house and a tiny brick shack. A pile
of coal sat next to the driveway.

Jackie nodded toward the large house. "That is the landlord's house. The
family (we're visiting) lives in there." He indicated the brick shack.

A young woman opened the door and invited us inside. Her home was
tiny—perhaps half the size of Zhang Kang's one-room home and it spoke of
poverty more dire than the Zhangs. The room had only a double bed, some
buckets with lids (probably containing rice and dry goods), thermoses (in
China, most people don't have hot tap water. They boil water on their stoves
and then store it in large thermoses to use throughout the day), a storage
trunk and a small TV.  The little coal stove in the middle of the room took
the edge off the cold.

Wang Yani sat motionless on the bed and looked at me curiously. She looked
to have Down Syndrome.

Although I remained outwardly calm, my mind was racing. It was up to me to
present the sponsors with all the facts about a child and ask for their
input. What should I do?

"She is sick with a fever right now," Jackie said. "She is always sick
because of the congenital heart disease. Her parents must take her to the
doctor often and it costs them a lot of money."

I bent down to smile at the baby.

"Hello. Ni hao," I said. Wang Yani wrinkled her little face up as if to
start crying, and I saw that she didn't know what to make of the stranger
with the white skin. Her foster mother scooped her up, and the light in her
eyes and smile on her face told me how much she loved the little girl.

Jackie said, "I'll phone the father. He's out delivering coal. Maybe he can
come back for a few minutes so you can meet him."

When Jackie hung up he said, "Sorry, he can't; he's busy."

Meanwhile my distress grew. Should I bring up the issue with Jackie?  I
didn't have to.

He said, "Maybe there is something wrong with this baby," and tapped his
head with his finger. "She is a year and a half and she hasn't started
walking. She had some tests though and everything looked okay."

(I couldn't help thinking it was a blessing that Wang Yani wasn't walking;
the room was far too cramped to allow a tottering infant to move about and
she would certainly get burned on the coal stove. Agape also sponsors
surgeries for Chinese children with severe burns, and seeing the living
conditions for many in China, it is easy to see how such accidents occur.
For those with a strong stomach, you can see the type of burns that can
occur by scrolling down on this page:
http://www.china-mission.com/medical.html)

Jackie said something in Chinese and the baby's foster mother brought out an
envelope with CAT scan results. She handed them to me and Jackie leafed
through the written report.

"Everything was normal," he said.

Down Syndrome is a genetic abnormality that I doubted would show up on a CAT
scan, but I didn't know enough about it to be sure. I recalled reading there
is only a single crease on a Down Syndrome child's palm and had to the urge
to examine Wang Yani's hands, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.
Our visit was short; I had to get to the Air China office to change the date
of my flight home.
In the car, I said, "I think she has Down Syndrome."

Jackie said, "Will it matter to the donors?"

"It might; some of the sponsors are very practical people. I'm not sure how
I feel about it myself."

"Ron (the man who decides which surgeries Agape will sponsor) said the same
thing," Jackie said.

I am an idealist and believe all lives are equally valuable. Yet, I have
seen the conditions that the mentally ill and the mentally challenged must
endure here in China. Without the social programs that Canada and other
countries have, many lead a terrible life and suffer a great deal.
While living in Yangshuo last year, I had seen a mentally ill man on his
hands and knees on the main thoroughfare banging his head against the
pavement repeatedly and then rolling over onto his back and laying in a
prone position—perhaps hoping a car would run over him. The cars maneuvered
around him and no one stopped to help.
"If she does have Down Syndrome, what will happen to her after her parents
pass away?" I wondered aloud.  "And who has the right to decide one life is
more important than another?"

"Maybe we should have her tested," Jackie said. "We can't be sure she has it
by looking."

"You're right," I said.

"I'll make some calls and let you know if it's possible and how much it will
cost," Jackie said.
"Okay," I said, disheartened.
Jackie dropped Amy and I off at the Air China head office, and I managed to
change my return ticket to Canada to May 23rd.
On the bus back to Lintong, I was preoccupied and silent. How had my good
intentions put me in a position where I had to participate in a life or
death decision?

***

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