Seventeen CSU students and three faculty members partnered with the organization Visiting Orphans to travel to Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, China, May 9-18.
Seventeen students from CSU worked in an Inner Mongolia orphanage.The experience was part of the CSU psychology course, “From Abandonment to Adoption: The China Experience,” which examined the effects of abandonment and neglect on the emotional and intellectual development of children. The CSU students learned about the Chinese culture and the social, political, and spiritual conditions that result in the abandonment of infants.
The visit to Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, generated excitement both inside of the orphanage and also in the local community. Chifeng is a large city of approximately 4.5 million people. The CSU psychology team was one of the first groups of “foreigners” to visit the city, and the staff of the orphanage and many of the residents of the city had never met anyone from outside of China.
When the CSU team brought their smiles and donations to the Chifeng orphanage, they were noticed. The team was enthusiastically welcomed by the directors, staff, and residents of the orphanage. Local newspaper and TV reporters covered the visit and interviewed several CSU students and took pictures. The CSU students visiting the orphanage appeared prominently on the front page of the Chifeng daily newspaper.
Donations from the CSU team included clothing, toys, games, baby bottles, and stuffed panda bears. While visiting the orphanage, the CSU students painted the orphanage dining room.
The team also donated four much-needed large heating/air conditioning units to the orphanage at a cost of approximately $4,000. The units will allow the orphans and staff to use therapy rooms which can become very hot during the summer months and extremely cold during the winter months.
In addition to visiting the orphans in Chifeng, the CSU students were invited by a local English professor to spend time at Chifeng University, mingling and talking with the Chinese students. Some Chinese students performed a traditional Mongolian welcoming ceremony for the CSU team members and gave each of them a gift of a handmade Mongolian scarf. Many of the Chinese students had never met Americans before and were excited to talk to the CSU group. When several of the Chinese students asked the team to come to China, the members were able to share about their Christian beliefs.
Nicolette is associate professor of psychology at CSU.