Bringing some Hope this Christmas....

At this time of year, we are bombarded with images and adverts for all those things we "must" have?

I know that many have had enough of this! 

We have so much! 

Our children have too much! 

And the over-commercialisation of Christmas is just not what we want!

There are so many places where children and families have so little.....

 We have visited so many homes in rural Guangxi where families do not even begin to have the basics....

                                               ...not even running water in their homes

                                                                     very basic cooking facilities

                                              and very basic living and sleeping arrangements

               At this time of year, with no heating in the homes, and very thin walls, families are cold!

Our Girls in the Guangxi Girls Education programme do not have much!

They have HOPE!

And the support of a wonderful group of staff and friends who are more like family.

They do not ask for anything....

...but at this time of year, we aim for our staff to travel to their places around Guangxi, bringing some real, personal Christmas cheer, warm gifts given by Community Roots China , along with a Christmas card from their sponsors.

In order to do this we need to raise around £500 to cover travel and other related costs.

Instead of buying gifts that so many do not need, or even really want, would you consider donating to help us make this possible?

We can personalise a Gift Certificate for you to give to friends, neighbours, teachers, showing that you have given a gift in their name to help those who have so little this Christmas.

Let's bring some Christmas Joy!

Can you help us?

Any donation can be made on the Paypal Donate Button here.

And you can contact us at linda@hope4china.com if you would like a Gift Certificate sent out :-)

Thank you!

Autumn Moon Paintings for Auction

Nearly time for Autumn Moon Festival 2014

and time to bring out our old favourite...the story of The Ten Blazing Suns.

Illustrated and told by a wonderful community of people , all wishing to help us to help the girls in Guangxi who needed help to go to school.

This year, we have are giving a special opportunity to purchase the original drawings used for the book.

Some have already gone to loving homes, but we offer here the nine remaining pictures for Auction.

Each picture will begin at £5, and go up in £1 offers. The successful bidder will also receive a copy of the book The Ten Blazing Suns.

Picture 1 - 12 x 8"

Picture 2 - 10 x10"

Picture 3  - 10 x 7"

                                       
                                                                 Picture 4

                                                            Picture 5 - 12 x 8"

Picture 6 - 12 x 8"

Picture 7 - 12 x 8"

Picture 8 - 12 x 8"

Picture 9 -12 x 8"

The Photos and Auction will be running on our Facebook Page,

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hope4ChinasChildren/

where you can make bids until closing on 

September 8th at 10pm UK time.

If for any reason, you are unable to access FB, you can email linda@hope4china.com to make bids & check progress.

Successful bidders will receive their original painting/drawing plus a copy of the book in the mail.

All proceeds , as always go to make our work possible, changing lives in China.

Happy Bidding.......

Hopes and Fears, Joys and Challenges of the last school year...

2013/2014 has been a good school year!

In the school year 2013 /2014, there were  420 girls helped by 

Guangxi Girls Education Progamme. 

Here are some of them from the areas where we work...

Rongshui

262 girls are helped by international sponsors.

158 girls are now being helped by Chinese sponsors. 

Thanks so much to our sponsors all around the world.

- with your help, all these girls can go to school and enjoy their school lives, follow their dreams and have a better life.

One thing we have noticed and are very  glad to see, is  that right now girls do much better than boys at school. This situation has changed a lot over the years!!

14 of our girls have graduated from college/university this term. 
Some of them have already found jobs, and some are still looking....

They are working as company employees, teachers, nurses....we will share more of their news later :-)

They are doing so well with their jobs, and are starting to make a contribution to their families and communities.

Be very proud of them!!!!!!

                        

One of the things we are introducing this year for our college/university girls, is a plan to help them become more independent. For the fist year of college studies, we will continue to support them, and for most girls , also the second year. But from then on, we are encouraging them to take on a job, apply for government loans, and be more in control of their own lives. So for these last years, we hope they will not need financial support, but they will remain a part of our group, so that Lucy and Matthew can arrange help where needed. This also means we can follow thro with sponsors to see their girls graduate, and share in their Celebrations!

                         However, every girl has her own special story. 

                       Not every girl will follow the main life path.  

We are here to support and give equal opportunities for the girls to follow their dreams. Not all girls will follow an academic path, but they will all be encouraged to learn, have confidence in themselves, and be independent. 

There are two girls:  Caichun and Shufang. They met the people who loved them, care for them and provide them a home. So they chose to leave school and get married. That is another life path. We hope that they will be happy!

 Although conditions for some of the rural girls has improved slowly over the years, we still see that some families are struggling for their lives. 

 Yuhong, her family had a not very rich but still good life before she got ill. 

But now they have to travel to Nanning every 3 months and pay huge  medical bills. We are doing all we can to help her and her family.

And there is a family in Du’An: mother and two sisters. Their father passed away and the mother is the only worker in the family. The two sisters’ names are  Aiji and Aifei. They are being helped and supported by Chinese sponsors. 

Last year, their mother got ill and could not do the farm work any more. She asked Aiji to come home to do the farm work and support the family and her little sister Aifei. But Aifei asked to leave school and go home to support the family  instead of her sister. Aifei thought her older sister does better than her at school and so she would give up her chance for her sister.

                                    

She wrote a letter to us and shared her decision with us and thank  her sponsor for  helping her all these years. We wanted to help them but we could not do anything, for there must be someone to help to do the farm work for the family. 

Aiji and Aifei are both sensible and lovely girls. In Aifei’s letter, she told us that Aiji lives a hard life at school, and she has one steam bread for breakfast and lunch some day in order to save money and reduce her mother’s burden.

So have seen some improvements, but still many challenges for girls to face.

In this term, we had some sponsors and their children come to visit the girls. Emily, she came to Nanning and worked with us and visited some girls’ homes with us. 

Anna, represents our AFAC sponsors ( in Spain) and came to visit the girls who are supported by AFAC.  She also talked with them and visited their homes. 

And of course, Linda visited Nanning and Cenxi in June, along with Manna. They met with some of our older girls in Nanning, seeing them developing in their jobs. And when we travelled to Cenxi, we met with our new girls in the Programme, and also visited some new girls living in poverty in the villages.

All of this helps to develop communications between the girls and their sponsors.

This is what we do :-)

Thank you for for helping to make it all possible.

Lucy and Linda

Teddy Bears Party in Cenxi

Meeting our new Cenxi girls at their school in the city was a major event for us on this trip.

We have held Teddy Bear Picnics in previous years for many of our girls...

this has always been an exciting connection between sponsors and their girls, 

not to mention a wee problem in transportation of so many bears and accessories.

However it is more than worth it as always to see the delight on the faces of each girl, realising that their sponsors have been involved in getting them their very own teddy and choosing some clothes for them.

But this event started off very differently!

Our wonderful Ms Deng, the Cenxi Primary teacher had already arranged lots of games and fun for our girls AND their classmates....

For the first time ever, I was able to sit back and enjoy, for a few moments, 

before all the Letter and Teddy chaos started :-)

...along with some very special wee peeps :-)

Who wants to play?

                                         OK - Let's get this Party started.......

                                 
                                        

                         





              

                 

                          All the kids had a ball, the big ones and the little ones :-)

Then, while "Our Girls" received their letters from Scotland, 

and we prepared the Teddies and outfits, 

the rest of the school went home for lunch.

         We had a Teddy for every girl, with a personalised tag from their sponsor

And a suitcase FULL of wonderful accessories for each girl to be able to choose several outfits for their bear. So many friends and sponsors donated to make this possible for the girls. We wish you could have been there to see the joy it brought!

The girls were getting excited, and very curious?

           

Firstly, we had to explain what a Teddy was, and how you should care for one, as sadly many of the girls told us they had no idea what to do with a teddy :-(

On our recent picnics where we have given teddies as gifts, even to the older girls, they have told us how they love to hug their teddies and share their secrets with them.

                                                      Anticipation.......

Uncle Matthew got his first and showed the girls what to do..

Just cannot believe he was actually NOT wearing his matching combats this day

 :-)
And just for the record, Build a Bear did not do yellow shoes - we asked!!!!

Eilidh and Linnea gave out the Teddies, 

The girls were so delighted, but it was hard to  keep up with all the excitement and capture the joy on each girl's face....

                         
                                  But, believe me, they were all SO happy :-)

                                  Lucy explained how to dress them up....

            

And could not believe that they had so many fun outfits to choose from.....

This wee one needed some help to work out what to do....

 The Head Teacher - wonderful man! - 

was soon getting involved showing the girls what to do!!!!!

                                                   
                                     Teddies dressed in their special outfits :-)

                                                  Birthday card given

                 And then a wee competition to give the Wardrobe as a prize

              And then all too soon, it was time for the girls to go home......

Unfortunately, one of our little ones was ill and missed the party, but Ms Deng made sure she got her teddy the next day at school.

Our older girls were unable to be there, as it was the time for the college entrance exams at High school and all other students had been sent home.

We left the Teddies with friends who would deliver them to the girls later.

And of course we re able to deliver this one ourselves, to one of our girls who stays out in the countryside.

                               
                                    So all the girls have their Teddies!!!!

Thank you so much to everyone who helped to make this possible....from donating Teddies, Clothes, Accessories, and money to help buy what we else we needed.

We, and the girls appreciate it so much.

We hope we have captured just a wee flavour for you in the photos....

I am sure these Teddies are being well cared for and whispered to as they are held close each night.

Thank you all!