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October, 2000 | |
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Dear Sponsors, I recently received a report from Amity on their September visit to Jiangxi so would like to update you on their trip and the projects we're sponsoring. Foster Care There has been lots of exciting work in this area. Amity held a conference on foster care in Nanjing from October 9 to 12 and several of the Jiangxi orphanages sent representatives (Nanchang, Jiujiang, Wanzai, Guixi, Yingtan, Xinyu, Pingxiang, Ganzhou and Ruijin). They invited some experts to give presentations, both from China and from abroad, and some of the orphanages who have been working with Amity for a few years shared their experiences. Some of the topics included the value of foster care, how to choose suitable foster families and how to run a foster care program with the emphasis on the benefit to the child. And while visiting the Nanchang orphanage in September Dr. Hong (Amity staff) held a meeting with all the foster mothers. She spoke with them about the requirements of a foster family, the physical and mental development of children, and about the training of disabled children. Amity is committed to making sure the foster care we sponsor is of high quality and it's great to see them committing so much time and effort to teaching the families and orphanage staff when this is not something they are reimbursed for. This all comes out of the small (7%) administrative fee they take from the donations. Our foster care sponsorship has grown a great deal over the last few months. Nanchang has placed fifteen additional children in foster care and Jiujiang has added ten children. Foster care continues at Wanzai and Guixi. New foster care programs have been started at Yingtan, Xinyu and Pingxiang. Twenty five of the anticipated 36 children from these new orphanages have already been placed in homes. Many of the new foster children are older (from one year olds up to teenagers) and many have special needs such as semi-paralysis, slow physical development, mental retardation, missing fingers or toes, epilepsy, cataract or other eye problems, congenital heart disease or poor nutritional status. These children can really benefit from the loving attention of a family, especially since they have a lower chance of being adopted. The Amity staff did visit some of the foster homes at several of the orphanages and felt the children were receiving good care. Hugging Grannies We now have a total of 22 Grandmas, the orphanages that they're working at include Nanchang, Jiujiang, Guixi, Yichun, Xinyu and Yingtan. Amity's report on the Nanchang Grandma's includes the following: "All of them work hard. One grandma is a retired headmaster and she helps the orphans in study. The rest work in orphans rooms, especially the room for the severely-disabled children in the third floor. Due to the hard work, love and care from the Grandmas, there were no children that caught a disease in the spring and summer. In addition, a child who suffered from congenital heart disease now recovers and is a healthy child. A child that was severely malnourished is getting healthy and fat with the love and care from the Grandmas." "The children with hepatitis B have been moved from the second floor to the ground floor, which is more convenient for them. Now the Grandmas take them to play outdoors often. With the care from the Grandmas, they are now active and pretty. All of them can recite children's poems and sing songs. They enjoy their life. Encouraged by the hard work and enthusiasm of the Grandmas, the orphanage staff are studying from them to work their best for the health and happiness of the orphans." And about the Guixi Grandma's: "There are four grandmas working in the baby's room at the orphanage, they work hard. Among them there are two retired teachers, they not only take care of the babies in the daytime but also come often and tutor the children in the evening. With their help and care, the health condition and studying of the children has improved a lot." The Hugging Grannies is a wonderful program. They are able to have a direct impact on a large number of children that remain in the orphanages and through their example and teaching of the orphanage staff they indirectly benefit even more children. But this is the project that I have the most difficulty raising funds for so if you or anyone you know might be interested in contributing please let me know. Schooling We are now sponsoring 134 children in school. The schooling ranges from pre-school to University and includes some children going to schools for the blind and schools for the deaf. The schoolchildren are from thirteen different orphanages. As noted above the Hugging Grannies are helping some of the children with their studies. You can imagine how difficult it must be for these orphanage children to compete with children from a one child family that has both parents and four grandparents all pushing the child to succeed. When Amity visits an orphanage they meet with the schoolchildren, encourage them to work hard at their studies, and explain why their education is so important. We've received the photos for over half of the schoolchildren, some with letters from the children which were quite touching. For some that were sponsored last year there was a report from the school. The photos (and possibly letters or other information) for the rest of the schoolchildren should be received by Amity soon. But some of the recent packets from Amity have taken 44-49 days to get to me so it may be a month or two before you receive it. Medical Needs As many of you may have been aware, we were able to raise the funds for an infant from the Jiujiang orphanage to travel to Hunan and have open heart surgery recently. The surgery was a success and she is back at the orphanage. Last we heard she's still requiring some medications and may need a second surgery within a year. We also sent in funds for the medical and surgical needs that were listed in the report from Amity's June visit. The funds have been dispersed to the orphanages and plans to have these needs taken care of are in progress. Hopefully much of this work will be done by Amity's next visit and I'll have a lot of good news to report in this area. Some additional medical needs from this September visit are: Girl, born in 1990, suffers from knee flexion as a sequelae of polio,
needs surgery and braces. Girl, born in May, 2000, club feet, needs
surgery Boy, born in June, 1992, congenital heart
disease Girl, born in June, 2000, congenital heart
disease Boy, 16 years old, congenital heart
disease Girl, club feet, 8 years old, needs a pair of
corrective shoes It's been very busy these last few months, especially with all the new foster care, getting sponsors organized for the new school year and raising funds for the open heart surgery and other medical needs. But it's wonderful to see Amity's work in Jiangxi province expanding and to hear about all the children who are benefiting. I again want to thank all of you for your support. You're making a big difference in the lives of these children! Sincerely,
Peggy Gurrad
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