Abigail Anderson (left) and Bingjie Turner (right) lived at the Xining Children's Home before being adopted. Anderson went to live with a family in Virgina and Turner with a family in Washington state.
For Bingjie Turner and Abigail Anderson, returning to China has been bittersweet.
Both wanted to go back since leaving their orphanage, the Xining Children's Home, 14 years ago. Turner wished to visit her father's grave. Anderson wished to reconnect with her surrogate grandmother before she died.
At first, they were giddy with excitement when they found out they would get to fulfill their initial wishes. Even more poignant was the chance to meet many of their friends who were not adopted and find out how they were getting along as adults.
Orphans at the Xining Children's Home who are not adopted are known as the "left-behinds." They often are disabled and struggle to make it on their own.
But their visit also brought back painful memories — for Turner, it was going to live at the orphanage at 11 after her father died.
Anderson was orphaned as an infant but wasn't adopted until she was about to turn 14 — the cutoff age for international adoptions. "Everyone wants the babies," she remembers. It was hard for her to see the young ones go to families.
Turner and Anderson are the first to participate in the charity's Back to Serve program which encourages former residents to return and help those left behind. They stayed for six months visiting the home and their friends.
"I always knew I wanted to give back," says Turner, 27. "I had a missing piece in me, and now, I found it."
See photos of the children reuniting, below.
