Hope's Song

Grandparents Struggle to Make Ends Meet, Having Lost their Children and Gaining Responsibility of their Grandchildren

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:35:00 +0000

Seven Children's Hope staff and I made the trip to Renjiaping and Beichuan today. We took our video camera to take video of the children awaiting sponsorship. We visited Zhuhong and her mom first. Zhuhong lost her 39-year-old father in the earthquake last year. Now the family lives on her mother’s temporary income. Zhuhong showed me her report card. She received above 90% in all of her subjects, earning only two B's.

Qiaozhi’s grandparents are now 68 and 70 years old. The pair lost two sons and two daughter-in-laws in this disaster; one set were Qiaozhi’s parents. The two grandparents are now left with three grandsons, ages 18, 15 and 9-year-old Qiaozhi. A Chinese family wished to adopt Qiaozhi, but neither Qiaozhi nor his grandparents wanted him to go. This is his home! His grandma showed us her vegetable in the back yard. This is a great asset, as the family grows their own food and their costs are cut somewhat.

Leaving RenjiaPing, our driver took us into the mountain to show us the old Beichuan. Through the lenses of the earthquake, I saw the old town in rubble. Even now, more than 30,000 people are still buried below the debris.

Zhuqing, Zhuhong, and all the other children’s grandparents don’t know where and when they will build the permanent homes. And with very little income, they struggle through everyday life.

Consider sponsoring an earthquake orphan. Click here.

A friend of mine, Zhou Yun, who had volunteered to come with me on this trip, decided she would sponsor one child today! This is great news!

A Day with Steven Curtis Chapman and the Earthquake Orphans in Renjiaing, Sichuan

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:24:00 +0000

I came back to Beijing from St. Louis on July 6th and flew to Mianyang today, July 7th to meet up with our dear friend Steven Curtis Chapman at our Hope Center in Mianyang, Sichuan. Renjiping to be exact. I was told Steven and his team were quarantined for a week in Beijing because someone on their plane was reported to have had a fever. Never the less, their team kept their schedule and arrived in Sichuan as soon as they were able. After a concert yesterday and a busy visit in the morning around noon, their company arrived at our Hope Center. Steven and his two sons sang to the 20 orphans and those children who had lost a parent to last year’s earthquake. There are 40 such children in the Renjiaping settlement area and 200 in our 6 Hope Centers. Children's Hope China has found sponsors for 80 of these children so far.

Consider sponsoring an earthquake orphan. Click here.

These children are the victims from Beichuan, a region whose population was cut in half and the whole town buried by rubble. Their hometown is now closed to residence and the children must move permanently in the next few years to a new city. Families struggle to make ends meet, especially those who lost their bread-winning young adults to the quake. Grandparents do not want send their grandchildren to orphanages for the government to help raise them, yet they don’t have the income to support themselves and the children.

Children’s Hope began earthquake sponsorships of $50 per month per child in July 2008, to aid these families so the children could remain with their extended families.

This is where Zhuqing and Liyangyang, two of our sponsored children live. The children who met with Steven and his family today are those who are still waiting to be sponsored. Many traveled from hours away to be here today. Two boys, gave Will Chapman their gifts - pictures they had drawn earlier.

I wish I could show Steven and his daughter Emily, who is now the head of Shaohannah’s Hope, the homes of these children, but the police were concerned about our large American convoy traveling in the area and gave us a restricted time limit.

I visited little Zhuqing and her grandparents after Steven and his team left. She lost her dad last year and her mom left when she remarried soon after. The little four-year-old took me to see her grandma at a nearby restaurant where the 6o-year-old works from 8 in the morning until 10 at night, earning only a $100 per month. She asked for a short break so she could show me her home and fix us a bowl of noodles, to show her appreciation for the sponsorship they receive.

Nine-year-old Yangyang was not home today. She lost her mom to the earthquake and her dad left home to work elsewhere. She helps her grandparents by selling candies at her homemade store, pictured here in January.

I also met one of the sisters who lost their father. (The young girl sitting next to Steven, wanting her picture taken with him.)

Liling, our team leader for this Hope Center, and I will have pictures and profile stories for all 20 children who are still waiting for sponsors, tomorrow. I also hope to be able to go to Beichuan to see the old town if the rain will stop.

View a small number of the earthquake children's profiles, here.

A year has passed, and life goes on. Real life and the needs of these people keep us motivated in our work here. Our local staff are able to build relationships while they live among the victims and we now welcome our friends to join us and show these children great love from above.

Volunteering Their Profession, Taxi Drivers Make Children's Day at Children's Hope Foster Home

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:55:00 +0000

June 1st's International Children’s Day, we were so happy to have visitors of 9 taxi drivers to our foster home in Beijing. They came to take our children to the zoo for their holiday. The leader, Mr. Wang told us, they are the top 20 taxi drivers in Beijing who were honored as drivers to the Olympic stars last year. They wanted to be our children’s drivers for all holidays when we need them. What a great gift.

We have sent our van to Sichuan since April and we have relied on volunteers to take our foster care children to hospitals, parks, etc., ever since. This is first time we have taxi drivers as our volunteers. They were so happy to have found us, too. Lucky us!

Embedded slideshow.

CHI Hope Centers Reach Out - Touching Lives, One Event and Donation at a Time

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:19:00 +0000

The work of our Hope Centers continue.

Earthquake sponsorships. Through April this year, Children's Hope staff and volunteers visited 36 families with orphans or single-parent children. Ten of these children have been sponsored, which upgraded the total earthquake sponsors to 17, within China. There are now 65 children still on the waiting list and waiting for help.

Medical program. Two earthquake children have applied and are receiving medical aid currently. The first is 1 1/2-year-old boy Ruiyao, who suffers from congenital heart disease. Ruiyao lost his parents in the earthquake and now lives with his grandparents. His weight is not suitable for corrective surgery so he has to wait for awhile. Lianzeng, a 9-year-old boy who has very serious congenital skin disease, has finished his application to our Medical Program. He is set to travel to Beijing for treatment at the end of May.

(Pictured above: Lianzeng and his mother.)

Education donations. After knowing the school’s need, we connected with “PacLantic”, a famous Chinese children’s goods company, and fundraised 340 sets of uniforms. All the children at Renjianping Primary School will received their new uniforms on June 1st, Children’s Day.

Events. All recent events seek to find sponsors for orphans and single-parent children. Our biggest event is ”2009 Child, Love & Summer” Photo and Painting Exhibition, held in both Beijing and Shanghai. Five photographers came as volunteers and took pictures of 50 children; over 100 children wrote down there summer wishes on a Wish Card, all shown in the exhibition. As a result, 8 children were sponsored and 31 children’s wishes came true.

Things are busy and we only hope we can make a bigger impact, with your help! If you'd like to get involved, contact our US Foundation Director at Cory.Barron@ChildrensHope.net.

Photos: A Return Visit to Sichuan

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 26 May 2009 20:59:00 +0000

One of my staff went to Sichuan and she took some pictures of her visit of the mining area we first found last year. The entire mine was demolished by a landslide, burying several hundred miners under the mountain on May 12th. They have placed a memorial there to remember them.

Nine children became orphans that day. They have been sent to Fujian to study now. Forty additional children lost one parent. Children's Hope is working with their families to begin sponsorship for these forty struggling families.

The child shown here was sick in 2003 and became disabled since. He can no longer walk. We are dispatching a cerebral palsy therapist tomorrow, from Beijing, to check on the child to see what might be done.

We have a plan to help the children in Sichuan with our medical program and have received support from at least one resource.

I wish our staff could stay there longer so we can get reports like this more often. If not, maybe our volunteer staff will learn quickly to do this. It’s not hard but it’s so important to get these updates.

Birthed in the China Quake Aftermath: a Celebration One Year Later

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:50:00 +0000

I just got some pictures from Children’s Hope staff in Sichuan. They were invited to a birthday party for over 100 babies born in the Luohan temple after the earthquake, between May 12th to July 2008. If you remember, it was during this time the local maternity hospital evacuated and moved to the temple. Through Children's Hope, Dandelion donated their delivery bed and surgery room lights, and more. Some of the new moms also received the summer relief bags from us, as well.

The young mother pictured is 20 year old Xiong Hui Fang, who invited us to the party.

The last picture was taken back in July 08, just a couple of hours after one of the babies was born. She was indeed born on a monk’s bed in the tent. Seeing her cute face in the picture today makes it so real and so worth it, won’t you agree?

One Year

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:07:00 +0000

One year ago, our foster children - 10 year old Ren Qiang and his sister - lost their mom at 2:28pm today.

One year ago, a CHI volunteer team headed to Sichuan, with medicines and loving hearts.

...Masks were worn by the rescue teams in the beginning,

...Medicines were brought to the wounded in Mianyang hospital,

...$1million worth of diapers were delivered to Sichuan orphanages,

...10 water purifying systems enabled clean water for people in the tents,

...One delivery bed gave birthing mothers respite at a maternity hospital operating in a temple

...We traveled 5 days to deliver a electric generator to Wenchuan Orphanage on May 25th

One year ago, we found 200 children who lost at least one parent to the earthquake and we started to help them

One year ago, we started our first Hope Center in earthquake area

One year later - May 12th, 2009

Ren Qiang and his sister are in Beijing attending a boarding school

70 of the Sichuan orphans and children who lost one parent found sponsors and remained in their family

105 babies born in the Temple will celebrate their birthday together

CHI’s 6 Hope centers serve 8000 children and their families locally
$2 million worth of in kind donations were delivered and gratefully used, over the year span

And now, our commitment to our children in Sichuan:

Love and Hope, with you forever

To all the children of the 5.12 Sichuan Earthquake,

Earthquake Anniversary in My Home, on CNN

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Mon, 11 May 2009 07:24:00 +0000

CNN interviewed me today, on the China Earthquake Anniversary. On the weekends, my foster children, survivors of the earthquake, visit with me. It is their story - Ren Qiang and Ren Yan's - CNN wished to tell.

Please find the article here.

The video is below.

The Loss of Their Mom, One Year Ago

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:31:00 +0000

Ren Qiang and Ren Yan came to our home for the May 1st holiday. They are earthquake orphans Children's Hope helped bring to Beijing last year. My family and I were their foster family for a month. We have since found a christian school and sponsors for them both. The two kids have spent holidays and sometimes weekends at our home. Qiang, the brother, is doing okay but Yan is not very diligent with her homework. She can't complete a 1st grade level test at age twelve, even though she is attending grade 5.

Qiang, Yan and one of my daughters.
We have found a school that will accept her where she can learn dancing which she loves. We are in need of 24000 yuan for tuition per year for five years for her. In ten days, it will be the first anniversary of losing their mom. It is unfortunate that this anniversary lands so close to Mother's Day.

Please keep them in your hearts and prayers. They both are going through a tough time, even as their extended family members call and check on them.

Melody

Medicines Needed in Still Suffering Sichuan

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:56:00 +0000

On a recent visit to the Sangzao region, the staff of Children’s Hope International’s Sichuan Hope Center discovered residents suffering from poor environmental health. Suffering most are the children. Throughout the community, garbage and flies are everywhere. The drains are full of sewage and the smell is horrible. As a direct result, the community has seen an increase in infectious diseases. Those infected have been flocking to their local clinic where doctors have seen patients ranging from infants to the elderly.

Eighty percent of these cases are fever and respiratory tract infections. From our conversation with local residents, we have learned that the children also suffer from mumps, rubella, and schistosomiasis. Large numbers of students at various area schools are suffering from these infections, though the cases have not been entirely confirmed: cases of schistosomiasis have been discovered in seven students in a 30-student class at one Sangzhao primary school, seven students at a second primary school, and 15 of the 51 first-year students at one of Sangzhao’s middle schools. Schools are now administering vaccinations and medicine to students in order to prevent and control the epidemic. Once the upcoming summer holiday begins, all infected students will be transferred to Huagai Hospital for treatment.

Dr. Ma, a doctor at the community clinic, says that he sees about 30 to 40 patients in any given day. He is extremely busy, and patients often must wait for long periods of time to obtain medicine. As a result of inadequate funding, the clinic operates with small supplies of medical equipment and lacks sufficient anti-inflammatory medications and cough suppressants. The doctors at the clinic have made the following list of urgently needed medicines. Children’s Hope has begun a drive for donations in order to collect these medicines.

Ceftriaxone-pin
Keteling capsules
Ceftriaxone sodium for injection
Etotfylline Clofibrate Capsules
Phenylbutazone Tablets
Cefuroxime Sodium needles
Compound Pseudoephedrine HCl Sustained Release Capsules
Amino acids of the B-chip tablets
Azithromycin needle
Flu pills
Vitamin U,belladonna and aluminium capsules II
Amoxicillin capsules
Metamizole Sodium Tablets
Spiramycin pills
Benorilate Tables
Sanqi tablets (for injury)
Compound Liquorice Talets
Duyiwei Granule (for pain)
Cloperastine Hydrochioride Tablets

If you are able to donate any of the above medicines, please send them directly to the Children’s Hope Sichuan Hope Center. You may also submit a monetary donation to Children’s Hope International so that Hope Center staff can purchase the medicines locally, thus reducing transportation costs and time. Please help us spread this information and call attention to the health of children in the earthquake zone.

Sichuan social workers Station of Children’s Hope Address:

Sichuan social workers Station of Children’s Hope
Shop A1-4, Building A, A1 area
Wenzhou commercial and trading building
167 East Mianxi Road
Mianyang City
Sichuan Province, 621000

Ph: 0816-2600549

Contact for the Children’s Hope Sichuan Hope Center: Kerry Huang 13778146615
Contact for Children’s Hope Sangzao Area Hope Center: Huang Hong Xin 15983638052

To donate monetarily, choose the give now button or click here to visit our webiste.

Sichuan Hope Centers Need your Help !

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:51:00 +0000

Children’s Hope is a non profit organization formally registered, helping orphan and disadvantaged children in China since 2001 CHI went into Sichuan disaster area in May 2008 to assist orphans and children who lost one or more parents in the quake.

Since then, one CHI office has been established and 6 small work stations called Hope Centers have been set up locally to provide long term disaster relief work to help the children and their families rebuild their lives. Currently, we are in Mianyang, Beichuan, and Wenchuan with total of seven staff locally. We find ourselves in acute need, where you might be able to help.

For example, the two busiest centers, Xiaoba and Renjiaping, are 50 kilometers apart, which takes three hours travel time by bus. Other places in Wenchuan do not even have public buses, meaning that staff members need to walk half a day to get in, this greatly reduces the efficiency of their work. Additionally, frequently we
need to deliver donations to remote areas. The time and cost required to
arrange vehicles creates substantial burdens.

To keep our donations to help children directly, we would like to ask our
friends to help us with some of our Sichuan office equipment and vehicle
needs now. Items new or used, donated or reduced in price, are all greatly
appreciated for:

1. A van with more than 6 seats in good working condition for our work in
Beichuan area 6 Hope centers.
2. A small vehicle for our work in Wenchuan 3, and some office furniture as
follows:

conference table and chairs
a small rostrum (speaking platform)
a reception desk
filing cabinets
soft chairs for guests, etc.

We would love to receive these items in Sichuan, but we will arrange shipping if needed. For our US sponsors, donating money for purchase in China may be best, but if you can help cover shipping costs, that would be great!

We welcome our supporters to come visit us in Sichuan to see the work you help make possible and its impact on the children’s lives!

Thank you!

If interested in helping, please contact me or us at:
melody@obay.org.cn, or Lina@childrenshope.org.cn

Or donate online and specify how you would like us to use your donation in the Additional Comments section: https://orphan.childrenshope.net/Make-A-Donation.makedonation.0.html.

P.S. This photo is of the Hope Center (formerly known as Tents of Hope) in Yongan in July 2008. For more pictures, please visit us online, www.cwlc.org.cn, and our recent photo show on some of our Sichuan children on one of China's largest web sites, http://gongyi.sina.com.cn/z/wdmlxt/index.html. Babelfish can translate some of the pages for you, but unfortunately the translation is poor or not always available!

Distribution of the Winter Relief Bags

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 17:38:00 +0000

On March 6th, we went to Tashui No.1 Elementary School in An County where one of our Hope Centers locates to distribute the winter relief bags, which contains 9 boxes of warm underwear and gloves, and 13 boxes of quilts. The children in the school were so delighted for our arriving. When they smiled to us with the distribution in their hands, we felt very warm and spring was here.

Enjoy the photos from our day!

Baby Xixi's Angels

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:20:00 +0000

On Wednesday, my staff member Dove called me at 5:30 pm. She was with the unwed mother XiaoXia, who we have been helping in the past two months at the maternity hospital.

“They say her fluids are almost depleted and although she is in danger, they will not admit her to the hospital... they have no beds available." Her voice was trembling.

I started frantically began calling everyone I knew that might help me get Xiaoxia into a hospital. I called a celebrity who I met last year at a charity event. She has a beautiful face and seems very sincere in her heart to help orphans. I remembered she knew the owner of Wuzhou Maternity Hospital, Mr Huang. Liuzi is her name.

She answered the call and after realizing the mother was outside the hospital door, she quickly agreed to call and help. I waited only ten minutes to get her return call with a positive answer and the phone number of Mr. Huang. Wow! What a relief!

I called Dove to halt her panic and headed to the hospital on third ring road. I then called Mr. Huang to thank him and ask him about the fees. He told me, it would be charitable. I was so thrilled. Later Dove told me the hospital staff quoted her the cost at $10,000 Yuan, an employee price versus the $35000Yuan for the c-section.

At 9:05 pm, two hours after Xiaxia was admitted to the hospital, a healthy baby girl was born! She weighs 3360g. It was just less than four hours after I received the phone call from Dove.

On Friday night, 10:30pm, after a long day of work for both Liuzi and myself, we finally met up and went to visit the new mom and baby. We brought fish soup and a drink so that Xiaoxia would have milk for her baby. Her husband Liuhao went with us.

The hospital seems very nice and clean. Xiao Xia is calm and happy. She is proud of her new baby. She told us the baby was indeed in danger when she came to the hospital. She was sent to the OR immediately after she was admitted.

Liuzi is a natural encourager. She showed no judgment toward the mom. By the time we left, it was 11:34pm. In the car, Liuzi and her husband told me they wanted to help pay the hospital bill.

I looked at Liuzi, thinking her like a beautiful angel. How wonderful of her to answer my call and help us.

Dove brought Xiaoxia to Beijing in response to an emergency email. She spent two days and nights by her bedside helping the new mom and the baby. She is their angel, too.

Sister Pamela provided a room for Xiaoxia. She helps to take care of unwed mothers and babies at their home, cooking for them and teaching them parenting skills. She doesn't speak Chinese as she is from the US, but Xiaoxia told me, she is an angel to them, too.

Welcome little Xixi! Even though you went through so much with your mother before you were born, you had angels helping all along the way! May your life be filled with love and care, and many more loving people.

PS> Xiaoxia came to us 8 months pregnant from Hainan Island. She and her boyfriend dated for over 6 years before she had the baby. The boy's mother is against their marriage. The last time she saw her boyfriend was at the apartment of several months. The mother came and yelled outside the building nonstop. Xiaoxia let him go with his mom and never saw him again. She knew he also wanted the baby so she decided to get our help and give birth to the baby herself. Now that the baby is born, Xiaoxia wants to get in touch with her boyfriend, and wants us to help her find income and a stable job.

We are in need of $1500 to help one more unwed mother who is waiting in Dalian and due to give birth within the next two months. This money is difficult to raise in China as the existing prejudice against unwed mothers is quite high.

You can donate by clicking the Give Now button below and designating, "Unwed Mothers" in the additional information box. Thank you!!

Delivering Warmth to the Children of Sichuan Earthquake

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:34:00 +0000

Jan 13th and 14th, I went with a Chinese celebrity to Xiao Ba elementary school and Zitong SWI in Mianyang, Sichuan, bringing 200 sets of winter clothes donated by PacLantic. They also sent out a lot of books as gifts for the children there. Weng Hong, the Chinese celebrity was so happy to teach the children her new song Hong Yun Dang Tou, which means best wishes and good luck for the coming new year.

Visiting Sichuan with Major Donor, Dandelion Project

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:08:00 +0000

On September 20th to the 23rd, I was in Sichuan to visit with a Children's Hope donor, Dandelion Project. Shifang Maternity Hospital received their donated delivery bed, operating room lights and other equipment in God's time as they had just moved into their new temporary housing.

Lucy Qian from Dandelion shared some pictures from our visit, below:

Myself - Melody Zhang from CHI, Lucy Qian from Dandelion and the executives of Maternal and Child Health Hospital (MCHH) of Shifang City with CHI volunteers and hospital staff

An operation was going on when we visited the Maternal and Child Health Hospital. Dandelion's donated advanced anesthetizer was being put to great use.

The doctor here said, “The Dandelion donated anesthetizer is wonderful; our old machine can not even compare!”

The Dandelion Project is a grassroots group of professional women in China who network and raise funds in order to sponsor Chinese charities. The group gave a portion of the proceeddsraised from the their MCM Fashion Show, May 17, to the earthquake victims in Sichuan through Children's Hope.

Through Children’s Hope, Dandelion has donated medical equipment and 1000 Summer Relief Loving Packages (with healthcare, clothing & household stuff) to the earthquake victims in need, all of which has a total value of approximately 400,000 yuan.

MCHH, in temporary house now, has began construction on its new hospital ward, to be completed in 2010.

During this visit, members of the Dandelion project joined me in visiting the families who lost their beloved in a Shifang temporary housing area, too.

Olympic Weightlifters Travel into Chengdu Earthquake Zone and Home of Children's Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:24:00 +0000

We had two visitors from the US Olympic weight lifting team, Melanie Roach and Kendrick Farris, at our foster home on Saturday. Melanie is a mom of three children. She loved playing with Lele, who has no lower legs. Melanie came to our foster home with a friend on Tuesday and brought her local NBC crew and friends from her Olympic team. Her husband and mother-in-law who came with her have visited with us previously. They are State Representative and Senator of Washington State, Dan and Pam Roach.

Melanie Roach mentioned her trip with us into earthquake-devastated Chengdu last week in an interview with the NYTimes. Read the full article, here.

Just a day after visiting us, Melanie earned 6th place in the 53-kilogram (117-pound) weight class and set an American record with a combined lift of 425 pounds. Congratulations, Melanie!

Caption: (Left) With children at Home of Children's Hope. (Right) John, held by Olympic weightlifter Kendrick Farris, is 6 years old. (Click photo to enlarge.)

Relief Bags Brighten the Summer Months for 1,000 Earthquake Children

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:25:00 +0000

Children's Hope cooperated with Dandelion, the charity organization of US Ambassdor's wife Sarah Randt, to donate 1000 summer relief bags to earthquake victims in Sichuan. These photos below are from August 29th when the bags arrived at the Xiaoba County Settlement Centers. The staff at Hope Center - Xiaoba helped distribute the summer bags to over 800 families. Inside the bags were two single bed sheets, toiletries, Tiger bond, medicine, and more. The families receiving the bags told us they were in desperate need and will use all of these items.

The trucks arriving.
The children run for their own bag.
All hands help with unloading.
Four of the 800 recipients in Xiaoba who received summer relief.
See full information on the Summer Relief Bag project by clicking here.

Yongan's Hope Center Receives Medical Care

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 22:03:00 +0000

On July 25th, I visited a very special clinic, a place where 90 new babies were born since May 12th. This maternity hospital delivery room is located in a temple; the patients' rooms are in tents.

The first baby born here was on the night of the earthquake, May 12th. The doctor used a flashlight and a monk's bed for delivery of the baby. Children's Hope has already received a donation from Dandelion group, to purchase the much needed delivery table and proper lighting.

The baby in this picture was born on the morning of July 26th, three hours prior to this picture being taken.
On July 26th, two ER doctors from Beijing United Hospital, Joe and Marty, visited Yongan Hope Center to check on the Center's ill children. The little girl in the picture is 4 years old and is one of the 4 children to survive in her daycare class of 20 students. She suffered a minor head injury and now has continued headaches.

Dr. Joe and I with the children of Yongan.

Good Housekeeping Partnership to Bring Formula and More with Celebrity Help

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:45:00 +0000

Good Housekeeping - China received donations from over 20 celebrities to aid the children of Sichuan in the weeks post-5.12 Quake. The celebrity donations in large part bought formula for the infants and the magazine had been looking for an organization to help them with distribution. During an interview last month, Goodd Housekeeping found that help in me and Children's Hope was able to be a part of this work.

This month I visited the US and our St. Louis office. I shortened the trip to return to be part of the Good Housekeeping event. We participated in a press conference on July 22nd, flew to Chengdu on July 23rd, and on July 24th, Children's Hope organized a visit for Wenghong, a well known HK movie star, and four other celebrities (ChenMing, SunLi, LiuZi and Almen Wang(HK)) to visit Mianyang and Deyang orphanges and a local school.

Besides formula, the celebrities donated diapers, food, and additional supplies. Three of the four stars told me they would like to sponsor children through Children's Hope earthquake sponsorship program.

Being together for three days, I became friends with Wenjie, the publisher of Good Housekeeping - China, and Wenghong, who said she is so excited to have met me and Children's Hope. There is one thing we all shared in this group: every one of us has children of their own and our hearts have gone out to these children affected by the earthquake.

We have found 288 children in our Mianyang Hope Center area who lost one parent. We plan to begin a special one-time sponsorship program for all of these children.

Loving moms from different cities joined us to help the children.

My Return to Mianyang: Hope Centers Becoming Sponsored, Those in Medical Need to Find Volunteer Doctors

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:08:00 +0000

Through this site, I have brainstormed my ideas, but I haven't fully shared their fruition, so let me do as I explain what I have seen in the last few days.

Earthquake Hope Centers:

Counseling Program - Dealing with the emotional pain of young earthquake victims.

Within the seven Hope Center tents, erected in the area devastated by the May 12th earthquake in Sichuan Province, Children’s Hope is bringing counseling and a loving hopeful message to hurting children and their families. My goal is to reach out through 50 similar centers in the earthquake zone.

In each tent there are books, toys and counseling by trained staff to help children who survived the earthquake. The counseling helps the children deal with their emotions and fears. The Hope Center staff and volunteers also help each family find additional resources as well as making follow-up visits with food, medicine and continued emotional support.

One mom at this center, who lost her child in the earthquake, has particularly touched my heart. She cried day after day; she had lost her desire to live. After many visits with us, she found peace to carry on.

We went to Mianyang, Yongan Hope Center with our friends from US on June 16th. After the visit, they decided to sponsor this center for an entire year! You can sponsor a Center, too, or be a partner with other donors to get one started. Visit the Children's Hope project page, here.

As of early June, our Hope Center in Mianyang has been helping the victim children in Sichuan. Two new staff members, Baosen and Huangxin, are replacing our temporary volunteers at this location and will be counseling and teaching these children.

Summer Relief Bags

Our successful School Bag Project delivered 1,000 school bags to victim children. We hope for similar success in raising funds for a Summer Relief Bag Program to help the children we encounter in the earthquake-affected areas.

Each bag will contain temporary relief items and a 6-month multi-vitamin supply - giving 4 months of relief to see the children through the summer months and flood season. My goal is to provide approximately 1,100 children with Summer Relief Bags. For details, visit this project's page, here.

I met another volunteer Haixin in Mianyang yesterday. She had walked from Wenchuan all the way to Mianyang. She brought news the road from Wenchuan is now blocked by mudslides, although, travelers still attempt to walk along the road.

In the news, we see many of the afflicted have returned to work, but when we are at the frontlines, most of the victims are still in need of the most basic supplies. I wish we would have ways to get more supplies to send to them.

I would love to get our Summer Relief Bag project going so we can bring summer items to the people living in tents.

Give Me New Life

Bringing urgent medical care to children in critical or chronic need within the disaster area

This weekend I found this child Zhang ChunLing through our volunteer group in Sichuan. She was burned when she was little. Now in her 13th year, her family has lost their home to the earthquake, but not before she saved two of her classmates lives on May 12th. We are sending her picture to the burn hospital and to doctors we know, asking them what can be done. If they can help her, we can share her picture here.

It is children like ChunLing that will benefit from the Give Me New Life Project, which seeks to save the lives of Sichuan, Gansu, and Shanxi children in need of emergency care, hospitalization, or surgery due to acute, chronic, or critical health conditions. You can find details of this project and how you can help, here.

Supplies Await the Clearing of Severe Flooding and Collapse of the Roads

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:04:00 +0000

Chen Hui received 75 boxes, including 500 bags and 2 boxes of toothpaste, a box of toilet paper donated by The Good Rock Foundation from June 9. Because it has been raining continuously and the roads to the disaster area are impassible, these bags must be stored in Chengdu until the road is available once more.

Volunteers Delivering 1000 Cartoon Books to Aid in Children's Counseling

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:09:00 +0000

Our volunteer team will deliver 1000 cartoon handbooks related to children's psychological health provided by China Technology Academe, and children's clothes, books, stationery and medicine to the social work service site in Mianyang. They will provide material aid, education and counseling for the children and their families.

Giving Education in Tents and through Relocation

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:29:00 +0000

Ren Yan and Ren Qiang are brother and sister, living in Weizhou Town, Wenchuan County. Their father died from an accident when Ren Qiang was 15 months old. Unfortunately, their mother died in the earthquake disaster. The two siblings are now living with their grandparents.

The entire family now lives in a tent as their house collapsed in the quake. When a kind person heard their story, he provide help for them but because their school was also affected by the earthquake, the two children have nowhere to go to study. This man called CHI with the hope that we might be able to take them to Beijing for school. We began contacting schools immediately. The middle school and elementary school of Beijing Technology College accepted them both and will provide their education from elementary to high school.

Volunteer Zheng Hong brought Ren Yan and Ren Qiang to Chengdu on June 7. They left for Beijing this afternoon. We will try our best to help them in the future!

Relief Work Continues and the Beginning of Organized Counseling Centers

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:00:00 +0000

Yesterday, our staff confirmed 4 or 5 sites for Psychological Care Centers, to provide counseling for the children and training for the local volunteers.

On June 4, one of our teams delivered 500 bags and nearly 300 individual items - eight-ingredient porridge, stationary, medicine, and toys - to Wenchuan with the help of the Chinese military. Photos below:

Photos from Wednesday, 6/4

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:54:00 +0000

The police aiding our team at the airport with the transport of donated materials.

Volunteers assist the stalled car, carrying materials.

Loving mother Bai Xue stayed with a child in the disaster area.

The villagers who are waiting for the donated materials.

Below are pictures taken in Jiuzhou Gymnasium as our staff and volunteer team begin psychological counseling for the local children.

The drawings made by children.

Having class

Flag raising ceremony　　　
　
We are together