The orphanage in Birobidzhan was probably as nice as an orphanage could be. It was a bright, clean place, staffed by nice people who take great care of the children. Julie's room was large, airy, and bright. There were cribs for each child and a large playpen for all the children. There is a small balcony overlooking a courtyard and the nannies used this area to get the children some fresh air and to hang laundry out to dry. There were lots of toys for the children to play with.
The orphanage is two stories tall and is kind of shaped like a squared off
figure eight. In addition to the grounds around the building, there are
two courtyards for kids to play in. There is a sidewalk that goes
completely around the facility and this was where we took Julie for walks.
This is the back side of the orphanage. The building is surrounded by play areas and
the older kids were outside playing at least twice a day. Often, when we encountered some of these play
groups, the children would run up and yell "Mama" or "Papa", hoping that we might
be there to adopt them. It really tugs at your heart.
We spent quite a few hours walking this path. There are also some large sidewalks
nearby that can be used for extended walks. We felt safe everywhere we went.
The orphanage has a large music room which can be used for entertaining
the children and holding various events such as puppet shows. The room
was not being used during our visit, and Nancy, Julie, and I spent quite a
bit of time here. Its a nice place to have some one-on-one time with your child.
The music room contains a long rows of children's chairs along one wall and
has a very large mirror on one end. There is also a piano and we enjoyed
banging on it with Julie. The chairs in the room are painted in bright
patterns indicative of the region in Russia. The chairs, and stools
painted the same way, can be found in the local department store for
less than $15 and make a nice souvenir for your child.
There are about 90 kids in the orphanage, and 8 children in Julie's
room. There were 5 different nannies that took care of Julie's room, with
2 on duty at all times. We feel confident that these women provided
excellent care for the children and really loved each of them. From what
we were told, and saw first hand, the children are well fed. Julie's diet
consisted of oatmeal for breakfast, chicken soup with pureed potatoes,
carrots and chicken for lunch, cookies soaked and mashed in milk for an
afternoon snack, and oatmeal again for dinner. She was given some milk
during the night. The children were changed
often and were bathed daily. A nurse frequently visited the room and
gave vitamins and medicine to the children.
This is the entrance to "Room 7", the room Julie lived in.
And this is Julie's room. You can see some of her friends in the playpen
in front. She slept in one of the cribs in the back.
One statistic worth mentioning is that only about 10% of the children in the orphanage are actually available for adoption. It turns out that the parents of most of the children have not signed away their rights and therefore the kids aren't available. In Julie's room, she was the only one of the eight who could be adopted.
