"My Country"

When the first child from Xining Children's Home was adopted internationally in 2001, we had our first celebration! To date, 161 children have joined their forever families overseas. A total of only four children have been adopted by Swedish families, all of them in 2004.

This summer, those four precious girls and their families came back to visit us. While they waited in the lobby of Xining Children's Home, they were thrilled to see the display of a world map, with photographs of each of the four girls in Sweden! It was great for them to see this heart-warming indication that they had not been forgotten.

Britt-Marie, the mother of 9-year-old Fiona Luo Lan, wrote about the wonder of watching Fiona and the other girls reunite with their caregivers: "There was lots of hugging as the girls and staff recognized each other and we as parents stood there, with our tears burning behind our eyelids, watching this reunion unfold right in front of us. It is amazing to believe that these wonderful girls have come in to our lives and that they now live in Sweden, so far away from their hometown Xining."

Fiona said to her parents: "China! The place we've so often talked about for the past eight years! Now we are finally here! It is wonderful that my country is such a warm and beautiful country."  She later added, "People are still staring at me just as they usually do (in Sweden), but now everybody is looking at me because they don't understand why I'm with you, because you are my mother and father even though we look different." She said at the end of the trip, "I don’t want to go home, I want us to stay longer, I like it here in my country and I want to come here again."

Unfortunately, there aren’t many opportunities for children with special needs to be adopted in China, especially not in remote Qinghai where survival is a struggle and resources are scarce. That’s why Christian Action initiated international adoptions at Xining Children’s Home. Even though adoptions have been happening for over ten years, there is a far higher possibility of finding forever families overseas rather than in China.

The four families have continued to meet regularly in Sweden, where the girls have weekly lessons in reading, writing and speaking Chinese. Fiona’s parents have helped her understand her cultural heritage and she is not letting it go!

Her mother said, "We had a delicious Chinese lunch together with everybody in Xining Children's Home who had taken care of the girls when they were little. That day was incredibly memorable and I think we will all keep it in our hearts forever."