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May, 2003 | |
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Dear Sponsors, It’s been a while since I’ve updated you on all that is being done through Altrusa and Amity . The last several months have been very exciting and busy. One of our project assistants, Becky Miklos , traveled with the Amity director to four of our orphanages while she was adopting her second Jiangxi daughter in October. More recently some of the Amity staff visited several of the orphanages in March and then Amity held a conference in Nanchang for many of our Hugging Grannies. And we have a new list of children currently in need of funds for various surgeries and medical needs. Donations to help meet these medical needs or to help support our Hugging Grannies would make wonderful Mother’s Day Gifts. We do have gift cards available!
Becky’s Visits Becky’s older daughter is from the Nanchang Orphanage and Becky has been organizing our Nanchang foster sponsorships for the past couple of years. Last fall she received her referral for a daughter from Shangrao which is also in Jiangxi province and is one of the orphanages we’re helping. She made arrangements to travel early and was met by Wu An An, the director of the Social Welfare Division of Amity Together they visited the Nanchang , Shangrao, Hengfeng and Yingtan orphanages. She saw the children in the orphanages and the Hugging Grannies and visited many foster homes. She also met some of our sponsored schoolchildren and some of the children with medical needs. A full account of her trip is at our website at www.altrusa.ws, look under the “Moms Go Back” section. Photos are also available so contact Becky at dalchinama@hotmail.com for more information on how to view them. It was an exciting trip for Becky and she was very impressed with Amity ’s work. In particular she was touched by the foster mothers she met and wrote this in her report: “As we walked back to the van Wan Chang Ping asked me for my thoughts about the day. I related through Wu An An that I was most struck by how much the foster mothers loved the children and how much tenderness they showed toward them. These women are mothers first, I say. Clearly they bond with their foster children and in that bond is healing and hope. I promised that I will share what I have seen with others in the adoption community at home. Every adoptive parent knows what it is to embrace an unknown child, and claim and heal that child. I say I will testify to the raw pain I saw on the faces of the two foster mothers who recently “lost” their children to international adoption. One tried to hide the tears she could not stop by nuzzling the nape of her new foster child’s neck. These are good mothers. Mothers who do what mothers do everywhere – make sacrifices, worry, hope the best for their children. They are mothers who love. I also saw that foster care fulfills a need for both parties: it gives the children love of a family, and it also gives the mothers an opportunity to love another child. Everywhere in Nanchang families only have one child. Many have hearts that yearn to love another child, and foster care fills that need. The joy is palpable.” I felt the same way when I visited the foster homes, especially when I went back to the orphanage after visiting the foster homes and watched the children there, comparing them to the children in these loving foster homes. No matter how much our Hugging Grannies are able to improve conditions at the orphanages they cannot match what a loving, interactive foster family can provide.
Hugging Granny Conference But we can’t get all the children in foster homes and our Grannies are making a world of difference to the children that they work with in the orphanages. In April we sponsored a conference for them in Nanchang . They had lectures on child development, what to expect, how to promote it and how to evaluate the children under their care. There was also information on sanitation and hygiene and material from PKIDS (Parents of Kids with Infectious Diseases) was used to teach them standard precautions. They in turn will share this information with the staff back at their orphanages. They were taught rehab exercises to do with their handicapped children and there were demonstrations and an opportunity to work with some of the handicapped children at the Nanchang orphanage. There was also time to share with each other the difficulties they’ve encountered and to encourage each other to continue in this very important work. Letters from some of our Granny sponsors were read to them and they were very happy to hear of our appreciation and encouragement. Photos and more about the conference are at the website at www.altrusa.ws, choose “Granny conference” from the left sidebar of the home page.
Amity Visits In mid March Amity staff visited the Nanchang , Ganzhou, Ruijin and Fuzhou (Linchuan) orphanages. Then in April while there for the Granny conference they also visited the Jiujiang orphanage. They saw the marvelous work the Grannies are doing at each orphanage and gave some additional advice. They visited many of the foster homes and were quite pleased with how well the children were doing in them. Children with medical needs were assessed and they talked with the schoolchildren, encouraging them in their schoolwork and finding out what problems they’re having. They also checked to make sure that all equipment that was to be purchased with funds sent to the orphanages by Amity was present. A detailed report of their visits is available at the website (the Jiujiang report may not be up for a few days).
Medical Needs Many children were found to have medical needs and Amity recently sent us a list of these. Photos of most of the children can be viewed at www.altrusa.ws under “Orphanage Requests”. A few sponsors have been found but more funds are needed. You don’t have to sponsor the entire surgery or need yourself, donations of any amount are much appreciated. Here are the needs that are unmet so far:
Ganzhou: ZXX, a girl born in March of 2001, has a VSD and will need heart surgery (US $2591)
Guixi: GAH, a girl born in November of 2002 needs cleft lip surgery (US $130) GDD, a girl born in July of 2002 needs excision of a hemangioma at the back of right ear (US $259) GL, a boy born in September of 2001 needs clubfoot and hernia surgeries (US $583)
Leping: GF, a girl born in October of 1990 needs a post surgery brace for her right leg. (US $181) HTZ, a boy born in June of 1988 needs medical treatment for chronic nephritis syndrome (US $259) LXT, a girl born in 2000 needs a post surgery foot inversion brace (US $78) LYG, a girl born in October of 2002 requires an excision of a hemangioma on her head (US $168)
Nanchang: HYH, a boy born in August of 2001 needs surgery for right foot inversion and braces for both legs (US $583) HZY, a boy born in September of 2001 needs treatment for palsy of the legs, surgery on clubfeet and a brace after surgery (US $777) WYJ, a boy born in 1989 needs a polio brace replacement (US $324) FNH, a girl born in 1982 - meningocele (post surgery), needs surgery on club feet and brace after surgery (US $725) HFP, a girl born in 1993, needs heart surgery for tetralogy of fallot (US $4534)
Pingxiang: HYP, a girl born in December of 2002 needs surgery for a cleft lip (US $389)
Ruijin: JLX, a boy born in March of 2002 needs heart surgery for tetralogy of fallot (US $5182) JFX, a girl born in January of 2002 needs surgery for congenital heart deformity (US $5182)
Shangrao: RJJ, a girl born in January of 1994 needs medical treatment in hospital for chronic nephritis (US $259)
Xinyu: YZZ, a girl born June 2002 needs heart surgery for tetralogy of fallot (US $4534)
Please consider sending a donation toward these medical needs. Donations should be made out to Altrusa Foundation (tax deductible) and mailed to me at:
Altrusa
Foundation If you’d like us to send you or your designated gift recipient a gift card let us know. And we should be able to get the card out in time for Mother’s Day if you donate with your credit card online (see above). Thank you again to all of you that have contributed, together we have been able to help many children. And as Becky can now attest to, seeing the changes in the children touches one deeply. With your help we’ll continue to make a difference in their lives.
Sincerely,
Peggy Gurrad
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