The first group of children arrived in Zirou Lake in early 1948 and in great haste due to the urgent evacuation of an orphanage in an area where military operations were under way. The children had lice and most of them were barefoot. The authorities sprayed them with DDT to kill the lice and cut their hair real short. They gave them clean underwear and new clothes and shoes, before treating them once more with DDT and petroleum. When all this cleaning and scrubbing was done, the children went to the restaurant, where the adults noticed that one of them seemed unsure as to what to do with his food. It turns out the child had never used a plate before and was unaccustomed to having a whole serving to himself.