San Francisco Chronicle
Making a world of difference
Sunday, November 4, 2001
Adopting two girls from China, Jenny Bowen of Berkeley and other parents are working to help the ones they left behind
Peter Hartlaub, Chronicle Staff Writer
"There were so many little girls in the orphanage that the staff couldn't handle the volume, so they strapped the toddlers into these little green chairs to prevent them from running around. They didn't do it to hurt the children; it was just simply too much for them to handle. Anyway, those girls would rock and sway in their confines to get some stimulation. Today I look at my daughter and all I can think is, 'Thank God she was saved from the little green chairs.'
-- From an anonymous adoptive parent on the Half the Sky Foundation's Web site
Jenny Bowen did a very good deed in 1997. It was supposed to end with a feeling of satisfaction. But like thousands of parents who adopt children from China every year, she left the country haunted -- thinking about all the young girls left behind in the overcrowded orphanages.
"The first time I walked into an orphanage, I wanted to sweep all the (girls) out of there and adopt every one of them," Bowen said. "They just stare at you with a vacant expression. It's very hard to take in and not want to do something." With help from like-minded adoptive parents, Bowen formed Half the Sky Foundation.
Named after the Chinese adage, "Women hold up half the sky," the Berkeley- based group of volunteers now numbers in the thousands nationwide. They have built three preschools in China, designed to provide the nurturing skills that turn the vacant expressions Bowen recalled into laughter and smiles.
A quick history lesson shows the need for Half the Sky's work.
Since 1979, China has attacked its population problem with a "one child per family" policy. The unfortunate result has been a widespread abandonment of baby girls.
Today, there are hundreds of thousands of girls living in Chinese orphanages. While events such as National Adoption Awareness Month in November, first designated in 1993, bring attention to the situation, Americans and other foreigners only adopt a few thousand Chinese girls each year. Most of the rest are growing up in China with little personal interaction -- and little hope.
Journalist Karin Evans of Berkeley, who has adopted two daughters from China, was working on her manuscript for "The Lost Daughters of China" when she met Bowen. The book, which came out in paperback in September, is about the plight of girls given up for adoption in China and touches on many themes addressed by Half the Sky.
"The more I talked to her, the more I realized it's just the perfect thing that was needed there," said Evans, who is now a member of Half the Sky's board of directors.
It's a feeling a lot of adoptive parents have after returning from China. They use words like "vegetating" and "deteriorating" to describe the orphans there.
"When you don't have stimulation early in life, the effects can be profound, " said Dana Johnson, director of the International Adoption Clinic at the University of Minnesota. "I had heard about it, but it's something you really have to see."
THE NERVE CENTER
You have to travel halfway across the world to see the results of Half the Sky's work first hand. But the energy behind the group can be witnessed after a quick drive to the hills of Berkeley.
Half the Sky's headquarters, in the bottom floor of Bowen's wood-shingled ranch house, is equal parts NASA Mission Control and Pee-wee's Playhouse. Children's toys and artwork share space with at least four computers, a well- used postage scale and other high-tech equipment -- some of which is used by Bowen's husband, a cinematographer for films and commercials. From floor to ceiling along one wall are books.
A quick look at the titles of Bowen's reading material tells the story of her work: "Children in China," "A Mother's Ordeal," "Raising More Money," "Assessing and Screening Preschoolers."
In constant orbit of their mother are 6-year-old Maya, who was adopted as a toddler, and 3-year-old Anya, adopted as an infant. Bowen said Maya was physically sick and developmentally delayed when she was adopted. With a great deal of affection and attention, the young girl quickly "caught up" with her peers.
"In a year she was like a different child," Bowen said. "She was transformed." Orphans in the Half the Sky centers get the same kind of care.
The preschools combine contemporary Chinese curriculum with the Reggio Emilia method of instruction, an Italian format that focuses on active learning, individual attention and physical play.
Each child's development is documented carefully with writing samples, video journals and photographs. The results go in a "memory book" -- creating a personal history for a child who otherwise might not have one.
To support the preschools, Half the Sky collects about half a million dollars per year, almost all from individual donations, according to Bowen. While the fund-raising is mostly grassroots, the foundation does have some friends in high places, including former "Hill Street Blues" star Joe Spano, an active volunteer with the group.
There's also "Star Trek: Voyager" co-star Roxann Dawson, who adopted a girl from China. "She auctioned off her Klingon forehead for Half the Sky," Bowen said, adding that Dawson hopes to raise more money on an upcoming "Weakest Link" appearance.
BUILDING BRIDGES
As U.S. adoptions from China have increased over the past few years, so has tension between the two countries. But events like the United States' accidental bombing of a Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999 and the drama following a downed U.S. spy plane earlier this year hasn't stopped the volunteers' work.
After a slow first year negotiating with the Chinese government, Bowen says, the country's leaders "have really opened their doors." "We've built a kind of bridge between the two countries that doesn't happen on a more formal level," Bowen said. "It goes so much deeper than any kind of political differences. It's really solid and you can feel it when you're there. " As the two sides work toward the same goal, volunteers tell stories of high- ranking Chinese province officials, who seemed stiff at first, rolling up their sleeves and pitching in.
"They just get dirty," Bowen said. "They help paint and build the centers, too."
Two preschools were built last year in the Chinese cities of Hefei and Changzhou. Another one was built near Shanghai earlier this year. Bowen is supposed to be in China working on another pair of Half the Sky centers, but the events of Sept. 11 delayed the trip.
Volunteers who return to the sites find the once-sterile environments filled with giggling children, who are performing in plays and filling their rooms with arts and crafts.
THE NEXT GENERATION
Back in Berkeley, among all the arts and crafts and books and gifts from abroad, it's easy to miss the poster on Jenny Bowen's wall. Anya and Maya play under the banner, which has a few simple Chinese characters.
"Great things happen when friends visit from faraway places," Bowen said, giving a rough translation.
It's a good enough segue to the organization's future plans.
Bowen hopes in the next few years she and the other volunteers can build more centers and advise Chinese government leaders on orphanage issues. From there, Half the Sky's future may rest in the hands of the preschools' current residents.
"They're all survivors and they're very forceful people. It's going to be very interesting when they're in their 20s," Bowen said, watching her girls play together. "I think the makeup will change over time. Some day these girls will be running Half the Sky."
Adoption by the numbers
--61: U.S. adoptions from China in 1991, when China ranked 17th on the federal government list of approximately 9,000 orphan immigrant visas.
-- 5,053: U.S. adoptions from China in 2000, when China ranked first in approximately 18,000 orphan immigrant visas. Russia was No. 2 with 4,265.
-- 95: Percentage of children up for adoption in China who are girls.
-- More than 115,000: Number of children in foster care in the United States ready for adoption; hundreds of thousands of children overseas also await adoption.
-- $15,000 to $20,000: Cost of an adoption from China (about half is for travel costs and fees paid there); other international adoptions can run $12, 000 to $30,000.
Sources: Info came from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, AdoptionCosts.com and Families With Children from China. How to help, learn more Half the Sky Foundation, a Berkeley nonprofit that supports Chinese orphans, accepts donations and also sells holiday greeting cards and posters.