Happy Birthday to our Desheng girls

Arriving back in Desheng town, we waited for all the girls to arrive from the schools all around the area.

 It was that time again........the Desheng GGEF girls look forward to it every year as their Birthday Party!!!!

Great excitement as the girls began to arrive. Last year we nearly had riots as they all tried to grab the squeally balloons I had taken along. I had only taken one large packet. This time I made sure we had lots!!!!!!! So there was great fun as we waited blowing up the ballons and giggling as they screeched up in the sky and flew back down on the girls.

Great Icebreakers!!!!!!

It took a wee while for everyone to settle around the tables and wait for the food.

Once it came, the fun began and everyone relaxed and had fun!

After a lovely dinner, the party continued........

Eilidh's Sunday school had purchased a parachute for the Desheng girls to keep - it is amazing how much fun can be had with a big sheet?

Some precious paper lanterns made by Eilidh's friends at Rainbows and transported all the way to China to share with friends.

Some lovely singing from the girls............

arts and crafts,making jewellery..... drawing, sticking things........

face painting........

And then time for the Big Birthday Cake!

Many of the girls have never had a Birthday party, Cake or Present.

Some don't even know when their birthday is, and so we take the opportunity when we are there to celebrate everyone's birth all together, reminding them of how precious they are!!!!!!!!

After all the sweet stuff, some new toothbrushes brought from USA - Great Excitement !!!!!!

Then the Silly Stuff started - with face-paints - and cream from the cake!!!!!!!!

Sponsors from all around the world had sent gifts - T-shirts this year:-), along with letters and photos. There is great excitement as these are given out. Really the girls seem to love the photos even more than the gifts - it is just fantastic to be a wee cog in the wheels that bring together such wonderful sponsors & fantastic girls across the world.

Here are some of the letters the girls have written............

Dear sponsor,

How are you! Do you remember me? I am one students of GGEF which you sponsor. My name is Qin Huixiao, I am very sorry that I don’t write a letter to you for a long time. And how are you? I miss you very much, sometimes you are in my dream. I will never forget your help and you kind forever. Your sponsor makes me feel more power and warm. And let me know there is love in this world.

Every time I receive your gifts, I am very happy and love them very much. So I pack them away very well because it is very precious for me. Thanks very much and l love you!

Best wishes for you and your family, wish you have a happy life!

Yours, Qin Huixiao

Dear sponsor,

How are you! I am happy everyday but I am also sad because I have no progresses in my study.

I can remember Oct.10 of 2009 forever, because Linda and Cindy come to meet us. We had a good time and were very happy. We played together, ate together and phoned together. We like friends.

It made me moved that you can come from far away to visit us. Thanks very much!

Best wishes for you!

Yours,

Lan Lihong

                                 So, A HUGE Thank You

to all the sponsors around the world

who make this possible each year,

and a wee reminder to you all to send letters and gifts for Matthew's next visit after Chinese New Year.

There will be some very excited girls in Desheng, and around Guangxi waiting to receive them.........

One Special Child, Jack from Jinchengjiang, needs help.....

Baby Jack, being held here by one of the longstanding Jinchengjiang Nannies was found in 2007 with the most severely malformed legs and club feet our staff had ever seen. He has been lovingly cared for since then at Jinchengjiang SWI, Hechi City.

He has had some surgery but still has constant pain and needs physiotherapy to ease the pain in his spine and his feet.

On recent visits, the Grace-Hope staff have noted how much pain he is in and how he urgently needs help which the SWI has no money to provide.
Our staff have spoken to a German physiotherapist who can help with therapy to ease his pain.
It is going to cost around £40 a month to provide this treatment - or $66 a month which will give him a new lease of life.

Could you help him?

If 12 families could donate £40/$66 that would cover him  each month for one year of treatment.....

Or if 52 families could donate around £10/$16.......

 Or whatever anyone felt possible?

Together we could make life bearable for this litle soul, while he waits for a family of his own.

You can contact me at info@hope4china.info, or simply use the Paypal button here to donate.

Hoping that together we can help this little Starfish?

New Hope4Special Children 2010

We are delighted to be able to begin 2010 with some great news.
Hope4China has grown another leg........

From our very small beginnings in 2005 our hope has always been to do more for the children we came across with differing special needs.
During these years we have been able to support Angel House  who care for children with cerebral palsy, enabled one of our Desheng girls to live in at the Ark Centre for therapy, given extra support for our SN children in Foster care and helped with operations and equipment for many children.

This year we are delighted to be able to  start a new programme,

             New Hope4Special Children (a better translation of Hope4China in Chinese,

 Hope4China, with grateful support from Dunfermline Rotary, two local churches and other friends around the world, are now employing Helen to work to improve the lives of children with cerebral palsy in Yongning, and support Ms Li as she goes into Desheng SWI to love, motivate and support the children there.

Helen has begun our programme working with H4C children from the Grace-Hope Foster Care programme in Yongning  -  Linda, Patricia, Adam, Bertha, Jan, and now also Freda, Billy, Monique, Leo and Ally.

She will help train the foster mothers and provide therapy and equipment for the children.

She also hopes to help any local families with children with special needs in the hope that the families will be able to keep and care for their children at home.

As she provides this level of care, we hope that other local families may be encouraged to foster children with special needs, enabling them to leave institutional care and  grow within a loving family environment.

She will also support Ms Li who will go into Desheng SWI every day to provide stimulation, love and support for the children currently in the Rehabilitation centre there.

We are so thankful to have such loving, faithful and dedicated staff in China.
Together with amazing sponsors/supporters around the world, it makes for a pretty formidable TEAM. We are also so lucky that there are experts on hand to support and advise Helen :- Cindy who has been able to assess and order equipment for some of the Desheng children, with Felicity and a growing band of H4C sponsors with expertise in different areas of working with children.
            TEAM!!!!!!!! Together Everyone Achieves More!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Here are some of the precious children with Helen and the foster mothers who provide this care.......

We have supported the care of Linda and Patricia since the early days in 2005 when Helen first approached us to ask if we could help find sponsors to provide the extra funding needed to place them in Foster care. Two wonderful sponsors from the Isle of Skye have supported them all the way through and have been delighted to learn of their progress from these early days. Linda's sponsor was so keen to see how she was doing, that he decided to come with us last October to meet her in China.
                                                                   
                          PRICELESS!!!!!!!

Linda's sweet face is on the H4C Website header, and you can just see the cheeky wee character shining out of her face. Helen says she also has a VERY stubborn streak and objects loudly to the exercises she has to do to her improve her muscle tone :-)

What a difference from the heartbreaking photos Helen first sent us all these years ago......

We hope that over the years we will see many more of the children thrive like this and reach their potential!

Last week,  Ms Li  visited the children at Desheng SWI and delivered new outfits of clothes for the children there, as a gift from members of Desheng Families who wanted to show their love and concern for the precious souls still living there, still hoping for someone to love them.

Ms Li said the children LOVED them, the girls picked out their favourite colours and they didn't want to take them off - just as kids should be :-)







We hope that this will be just be the start of great things we are able to do to enable them to live their lives to the full. There are so many people working together to help these precious souls - Helen just said today that she has been working with Angel House (centre run by an amazing woman in  in Nanning to help mainly children with Cerebral palsy), and they are sending staff to help her provide therapy. All the connections coming together to make this work....So amazing!

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all who have helped to make this possible.
If anyone else would like to be part of this project, you can now donate here with the Paypal button on the Blog. If you would like to participate, please email me so that we can keep you updated with news of the children.

Barefoot Books

Our children LOVE good books!
Our children adopted from China especially LOVE books about China and other cultures around the world.

Hope4China has an amazing new link with Barefoot Books, and when anyone orders any of their fantastic books through our links, the very kind :-) distributors, one in UK and one in USA will give 20 % of sales to Hope4China.
So please click on the link for your country, order some fantastic books which your children will LOVE, and help the children in China still waiting for their families.

Some great books for Chinese New year!
And a Great Sale on NOW......

Click Here to order for delivery within the UK.

Click Here to order for delivery within the USA.

Win/Win:-)

Happy shopping and reading!