ROSWELL, Georgia—Crabapple Road winds past big old oak trees, rail fences, slate roofed gazebos and meadows. There are still horse farms in Roswell, red barns and people who sell fresh vegetables by the road. Just past a cluster of gas stations is a cluster of churches. Among them, First Christian Church of Roswell looks solid and welcoming, built of tan stone, with orange daylilies blooming at the entrance. A small sign in English and Chinese at the edge of the parking lot points to Chinese Culture Camp. How did a bilingual Chinese/English sign sprout in Norman Rockwell country? We followed the signs down a path and up the stairs of the building behind the church to find out.
"It was a chance thing" said Julie Gabarino. She grew up going to Chinese school on Sundays in Queens, New York. She had to move away from her large family in Queens four years ago, and it was hard to leave, hard to move away from relatives when she had children. When she arrived in Georgia, she began looking for a Chinese school and found Gloria Cheng's class at the Chinese Culture Center in Norcross. It was ideal, she said, because there was a dance class where her four-year-old daughter could learn the language through dance and Cheng's adult Mandarin class in the next room. Gabarino speaks Cantonese and wanted to learn Mandarin.
Gabarino Started It All
This was the last day of Chinese Culture Camp. While she spoke, the room began to fill with smiling mothers and little girls. Shy two year old Jade sat at the table and arranged Pepperidge Farm goldfish in a tight school formation while her blonde mother looked on. There was a lively discussion of gift card surcharges and exclamations over the beauty of the lavender and green thank you cards Gabarino had brought.
The parents were preparing thank you gifts for the teachers. Gabarino had started it all. "I could learn Mandarin while she took dance," she said. But to her dismay, the adult class was moved to another building, and her daughter was tiny, too tiny to be dropped off at dance class. She told Teacher Cheng that she could not do it if it was not the ideal thing it had been at first. She was already driving from another town, and to a New Yorker, driving 45 minutes is a big deal, she said, laughing. Yet she longed for the camaraderie and cultural richness she had left behind in Queens.
"Gloria said, if you find the people, I can come to you!" said Gabarino. She went to the local Families with Children from China website and posted an email. FCC yielded a handful of people who wanted to learn the language and eight children for crafts, culture, songs and dance. The rest is history. Chinese Culture Camp was born four years ago, like some of its campers.
Support for Adoptive Parents
FCC is a support network for adoptive parents of Chinese children. Parents like Laurie Smith take care to expose their Chinese born children to their heritage. "We went to the Chinese New Year Spectacular. (In Atlanta) It was so beautiful. You should have seen us—we wore matching Chinese red dresses." Her twins Emma and Rachel "have had three years with Miss Gloria, we did dragons, kites, Chinese New Year, she taught them a song"—and indeed the students were singing Chinese songs that day.
Kung Fu with Teacher He
They were doing Kung Fu with teacher He Zhen-Ya, and holding up their paper dragons with teacher Eliza Lin. They were dancing wearing paper waist drums and doing hand clap chants with Gloria Cheng. Cheng's philosophy of gentleness, "make it taste good," was evident. Former Chinese Culture Camp dance teacher Sylvia Sham dropped by and described the fashion show of the dynasties she had staged with the FCC member children. She is the Executive Director of the Chinese-American Cultural Performing Group. Her organization provided costumes and rehearsed the young ones so they could represent dynasties at the Asian Cultural Experience at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
A team of parents and teachers has brought cultural richness to Roswell. The wishes of one homesick Chinese-American New Yorker bore fruit. Dance steps, drums, dragons, laughter, songs, monkey figures, red envelopes and spring couplets keep adopted Chinese children and their parents connected to a unique treasure.
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