Seeing is believing........

Can you see this?

Having had perfect eyesight for many years, I now am frustrated by weakening eyes...and find there is much I can just not do without my reading glasses now!

 It makes me mad!!!! ( and explains, much to my friends' annoyance why I seldom use my mobile phone these days) 

But if I forget my glasses, that is just my sillines and is easily fixed!

All I have to do is find my extra pair of glasses and life is fine again.........

Or increase the font size....:-)

Matthew has almost finished our Guangxi school visits for this year and while our girls are happy to have some help with their food support, extra school expenses and High School fees, many are STILL struggling because they simply cannot see!

They have poor eyesight, steadily getting worse and no means to purchase glasses which would make the difference between seeing or not?

How awful not to have the ability to see.......

How awful to manage to remain at school despite all the odds, working to have Hope for the future

...and be unable to see?

Some problems are too difficult to deal with!

This one is so simple!!!!!!!

                                                                             £15/$25

                                                               is the simple difference
                                                          between seeing and not seeing!

              We currently have 11 girls who have asked for help for glasses, with more to follow.........

If  you can help one of our girls to see, you can donate any amount, small or large,

 on our Paypal Button at the top of the Blog.

                                                               Thank You so much........

Silky makes his way to Scotland.........

From here...in Old Desheng.......

                                                                 to curious little fingers.......

and eager little hands........

                                                  to my computer desk in Scotland!!!!!!!

I watched in amazement as this wee surprise package slowly emerged from the cocoon I found in my bag

                                                  until little eyes began to stare at me

                                            and then the moth began to separate from its shell....

At this point, I freaked..and thanks to a Facebook vigil/ advice with friends all around the world, I decided to phone the SSPCA- Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals( Thanks, Kit for the advice)......I was busy thinking I was nuts...but somehow I just couldn't let it fly away to die, or be eaten by the very interested cat! By this time the girls were very keenly following events and had named our new Desheng friend, Silky. They were not impressed when 30 minutes later this lovely girl from SSPCA arrived at the door to take Silky to his new home.

                          Goodbyes were said and photos taken before this pair would go to their beds!

Sad that they would not see Silky again :-(

However, behind the scenes little things were happening, and the next day I had a call from SSPCA to let me know that they had sent the story to the local newspapers.

Next we had reporters phoning to ask for details about Silky's journey. His story appeared on local news and in several newspapers around the country...

  

http://www.scottishspca.org/news/508_silk-worm-found-in-suitcase

http://www.animalfriends.org.uk/afi-pet-community/pet-news/funny-animal-world/silk-worm-stowaway-has-happy-ending-800231547/

So far from being over, the story had taken another turn, and we learned that Silky was still alive and well in Edinburgh's Butterfly World!

                                            So of course we had to visit there on the Saturday

where we were ushered into meet our little friend,

 who had proved that HE was a SHE, by laying some eggs!!!!!

Unfortunately as the eggs were not fertilised they would not survive ,and as Silkworms are only born to reproduce then die, we knew Silky would not be around for much longer

So we said our goodbyes again :-) then had a look at the other marvels which had emerged from their cocoons at Butterfly world.

This blue one was so similar to the huge beauties which flitted around in Da Mo on our trip.

On the way out, we found a fantastic toy set with cocoon, caterpillar, moth & mulberry leaf to remind us of Silky's adventures.

But the story is not over yet!

No, we did not phone again to check or visit..we let nature take its course and were just thankful that Silky had made it all the way from Desheng to Scotland ( Eilidh said- "just like me:-)"

and had experienced a little bit of life!

However freinds have been in touch, and Silky's adventures will be made into a children's book linking Desheng to Scotland along with Eilidh and the lovely old, wise  women we met in that ancient street.....sold to raise funds to help children in Desheng.

Watch this Space!!!!!!!!!

Silky Lives On !!!!!!!

Journey on the old Silk Road..............

Its been a while.......life has been toooo busy.......but back to where we were......

After an amazing morning with the Desheng foster children, foster families and SWI staff, we headed for the peace and calm of the Ancient Desheng wall and Street, while we waited for the time to meet the Yizhou SWI Kids.

It was hot, peaceful, quiet and so calm after all the excitement of the morning 

                                            as we drove along the bumpy lane in our van.

I have visited several times with the girls,

 but it was lovely this time to share with  friends who hadn't been before

I could sense a visible relaxing all round as we stepped out of the van and just breathed it all in......

Aahhh... I can feel it now :-)

PEACE!

                               These are the ancient houses,100s of years old, almost in a time-warp

    with locals tending to their silk worms,

 carrying out their work on old bikes or trucks

                                                                   free range chickens.....

  We all stepped through the Ancient Desheng Wall,
 built by a Captain at the end of the Song Dynasty, over 1000 years ago.  

   and just marvelled in the scenes before us....... 

ancient houses with traditional rural lifestyles.

                                                  The Desheng Fu Sisters at their door......

I have only just recently fully understood the upside down Fu. I knew it it was to keep the Good Luck in, but never really quite sure how. Thanks, Pam for the explanation :-)

 "Idea is that you put the 'fu' upside down on your front door then when some one arrives they say 'Fu dao le' which means the fu character is upside down. But 'dao' also means to arrive so by saying 'fu daole' thay also say 'Fu (good fortune / happiness / luck) has arrived' so bringing good wishes to the house at the beginning of the New year." 

"Fu sisters".........off on their own Desheng travels........

The houses are mainly open to the street and locals are very friendly. I am sure there is not a huge passing tourist trade there, but they didn't seem too bemused by our presence?

and even invited us in to their homes........

                                                          checking out the Ancient Well

and using the "local conveniences"( that was a story in itself :-)

                        The fields around are full of Mulberry leaves used to feed the silk worms

                                                 rooms in the houses just full of silk worms.....

the next stage in the process

all done by hand

the girls were fascinated to touch the cocoons and learn all about the cycle

Somehow, one of these sweet little fluffy cocoons ended up in a bag heading for Scotland..check out tomorrow's Blog to see what happened to it!

                                        For now, we were back on our travels down the street.....

                                                        cleaning up as we went along

                                                      getting ready for some winnowing

                                                               and saying goodbye to our friends

                                      Shawn just couldn't resist a wee cuddle before we left.......

Love this picture which just sums up the beautiful connections we share around the world.