Today I read through all the staff work blogs as part of my morning routine and excitement. Although it is Friday in the US, I'm reading our Lanzhou and Beijing's staff stories from yesterday. There were two highlights: Haoyang's bright smile has returned and a thank you letter from 小娜。
These two faces and stories stirred in me Immense feelings of love for the work I do. I am honored and joyful to have the opportunity to serve and love these children, our staff, and our partners. Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Chao for giving me this opportunity.
3/23/12 Huang Family $10,000 General 3/22/12 May & Kai Chao $20 小红巾 3/20/12 Kaitlyn Cheung $20 HOW EB
3/5/12 Frank & Betty Lau $100 General 3/1/12 Amandine Cotton-Yu $100 General 2/27/12 Steve Ko $20 HOW EB 2/22/12 May & Kai Chao $20 小红巾关爱 2/20/12 Xi Li $50 小红巾 2/16/12 Anonymous $200 HOW EB 2/15/12 TFish Fund $366 靖博 2/14/12 Chao Foundation $1715 野百合行政
1/15/12 Shirley Lau $200 General 1/10/12 Cindy Chung $100 小红巾靖博 1/8/12 Mai Le $100 General 给NGO的支持信, 请回复: Best wishes to your organization! 1/3/12 Syntest Tech $200 General 1/1/12 Anonymous $40 General
12/30/11 Gary Wong 小红巾关爱靖博 给NGO的支持信, 请回复: Keep on continuing doing good work by saving lives and using the money wisely! 12/29/11 Dr. Cho $1000 General 12/29/11 The Alton $180 General 12/29/11 Jon & Carol $100 野百合鸡蛋 12/25/11 Sharon $180 关爱靖博营养 12/23/11 Anonymous $300 小红巾手术 12/21/11 May&Kai $20 小红巾关爱营养 12/21/11 Mr&MsWang $200 关爱和鸡蛋 给NGO的支持信, 请回复: Congratulations to Toumingyu's achievement in 2011! Wish Toumingyu a successful 2012!
12/20/11 Shau-Ru Lin Chao $10 小红巾关爱靖博 12/20/11 Edward Chao $10 小红巾关爱术后营养 12/20/11 Ellen Yuan $200 General 给NGO的支持信, 请回复: Keep up the good work! 12/19/11 Cookie A $100 General 12/19/11 David Cotton $50 小红巾关爱文具 12/19/11 Sophia Penner Sutliff $50 小红巾关爱靖博 12/19/11 Paul Sutliff & Barbara Penner $50 小红巾手术费用还款 12/19/11 Melissa Gordon & Luke Sheehan $50 小红巾越南 12/19/11 Irmgard Penner $50 小红巾关爱术后营养 12/15/11 Dr. & Mrs. Chang $5000 General
12/13/11 Dr. & Mrs. Chang $1500 野百合鸡蛋 12/13/11 Dung Nguyen $100 小红巾越南 12/11/11 Ching Yu $10 小红巾手术 给NGO的支持信, 请回复: 祝福所有的孩子們早日康復 !!!! 12/11/11 Ching Yu $10 小红巾关爱计划 给NGO的支持信, 请回复: 祝福所有的孩子們早日康復 !!!! 12/11/11 Ching Yu $10 小红巾关爱计划 给NGO的支持信, 请回复: 祝福所有的孩子們早日康復 !!!! 12/8/11 Angie Vong $50 小红巾越南 给NGO的支持信, 请回复: Just wanted to help out to the people in need. 12/8/11 Angie Vong $50 TFish General 给NGO的支持信, 请回复: Just wanted to help out to the people in need. 12/7/11 John G $10 Masks for Beijing 给NGO的支持信, 请回复: Stay protected. Your life is precious. 12/6/11 Jean Yu $30 小红巾关爱计划 给NGO的支持信, 请回复: Wishing all the best for the project. Thank you for doing such a good job. 12/6/11 Thuy Nguyen $10 小红巾越南 11/29/11 Nancy Nguyen $10 小红巾手术 11/26/11 Charity Dinner $1101 小红巾关 11/26/11 Charity Dinner $99 野百合鸡蛋 11/26/11 Charity Dinner $44 小红巾手术 11/25/11 Ping Chao $10 野百合鸡蛋
11/25/11 Ping Chao $30 小红巾关爱计划 11/21/11 Krystal Le $10 小红巾关爱计划 11/17/11 Steve Ko $10 小红巾关爱计划 11/16/11 Amy Chao $1971 野百合鸡蛋 11/15/11 Amy Chao $5000 乡村教育 09/16/11 Amy Chao $656 野百合鸡蛋
This is my informal reflection on the TFish Fund Launch event. The big day ended with our team huddle and debrief. Everyone left with a smile on their face and mine is certainly still here when I came home. I have so many thoughts that I wanted to write a quick reflection before it call it a day. I'll have someone translate this so everyone can understand. Our staff will have a formal event summary updated on Toumingyu news soon.
Two key highlights for me:
1. seeing my staff's significant transformation and growth in doing service and professional career skills through running the event
2. listening to the diverse fields and passions of each grassroots NGO
Although I was busy all day, I honestly had a lot of fun and really enjoyed it. Our staff ended the day leaving the event space laughing away.
What a rare opportunity! Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Chao, every guest that came, and to our TFish staff who seems to always surprise me with their quick growth and passion.
Our staff in Beijing had the pleasure of hosting two Stanford undergraduate students in the office today! Alice and Emily (center) are working on a documentary about NGO culture in China and were interested in learning more about the foundation. They interviewed our team about what motivated them to join the nonprofit sector, our biggest accomplishments, differences between NGOs in U.S. and China, and much more. We were honored to have met them and can't wait to see the finished product of their hard work! (report by Shauru Lin)
Yesterday a group of young working professionals interested in nonprofit work in China came to visit our TFish Lab. Our staff welcomed them with excitement. We shared stories about people started doing non-profit work. We welcome more groups of all types to come and visit our lab and learn more about philanthropy in China.
Today I finished writing some children's touching stories and went to the operating room to watch a few cleft lip and nose surgeries. A total of 47 children have been fixed of cleft lip and palate. Some people draw, some people knit, some people sew, some people can attach lips and reconstruct faces. The craft of a surgeon is truly a miracle and it was an honor to witness the work. It's amazing to see how happy the families are now. They are so relieved that their children can look like normal children now and are not stared at as abnormal. The world is open to their child and the family's worries are cured as well! It's amazing to see the team of local and international doctors, volunteers, nurses, and sponsors come together to make this trip happen. Thank you Operation Smile for your life-changing work for children in Nanjing and all around the world.
Here is one of the life-changing before and after miracle I was honored to witness.
Yesterday was the first day of medical/dental screening for 99 patients with cleft lip/cleft pallate. I've never seen that many cases of cleft lip/pallate all in one location. Most patients were from Anhui and Jiangsu province. Their economic background is mostly rural farmers. By 4:30pm, the list of 60 patients were selected for surgery which will begin today in the afternoon. I collected stories from most of the patients while they wait for screening and organized two other BNU students to also collect stories and photos for the TFish platform. Nanjing will serve as the pilot project for Operation Smile to see how the TFish platform will serve to faciliate story and information collection in conjunction with all their other forms of publicity.
Myself with one of the children with a more complicated case cleft lip & pallate.
Tomorrow will be the first day of medical screening for children with Cleft Lip Cleft Palate. There is a whole team of story collectors for Operation Smile and they will also be updating these children's story on our TFish platform. There are two volunteers from Beijing Normal University. I'm excited to meet the children and hear their stories. The weather in Nanjing is cool with a little bit of smog. I'll need a good night's rest to start the day tomorrow. The team of medical/dental professionals and volunteers total around 100 people and the base is the Drum Tower hospital.
The East Villagers Service Conference will be held at Stanford University on Saturday, May 14, 2011 from 10:00AM until 4:00PM PST. The Service Conference aims to engage youth in an interactive and personal way to promote service globally and in their communities. Speakers who have had compelling stories for service will motivate youth to serve in any way they can, using any abilities they have. It will also be a forum for various non-profit organizations to inform people around the world via the live-streamed web portion of our conference about various global concerns and service opportunities. The conference will end with an exciting one hour music concert by the TakeNoGlory Band. The EV Conference is sponsored by the Chao Foundation.
East Villagers is the only online community and news wire dedicated to non-profit organizations, their projects, and volunteers’ life-changing stories. For more information, please visit www.eastvillagers.org.
Each week I will be posting my favorite photos of the week. If I have enough photos, I will write photo stories (definition: a story depicted by pictures and 1 line descriptions). I ask all staff, interns, and volunteers in joining me to post your photo-stories and favorite photos!
I like this photo because it shows the joyful and hopeful relationship between parent, child, and doctor as the three work together to battle death and hope for the success of our children's recovery.
Two days ago, my two friends and I went to Anzhen Hospital to visit two of our Little Red Scarf children who have just arrived in Beijing to be seen by Dr. Liu (china's expert on congenital heart disease). Both children's cases cannot be treated in Lanzhou due to the complexity of the heart disease. Haoyang is much cuter than the videos I've seen the Lanzhou staff upload online. He was shy at first but quickly opened up. His family is extremely poor from rural Gansu, borrowing every dime possible from relatives and friends in hopes of Haoyang being cured.
They waited in line for 3 days and this morning, they finally finished the health exams. They will need to wait a couple of more days to be seen by Dr. Liu. They are staying in a run-down hostel, and this is their first time in Beijing. I placed my hand over Hao Yang's heart and I can feel loud beats followed by *whoosh whoosh*. His mom said he cannot be like the other children. He cannot run. After walking a few steps, he will need to bend down and sit down to catch his breath. He can only sit in one spot and play. Haoyang is energetic and smart by nature, please continue to follow and care for his healthy progress. I will continue to write updates on his story.
My friends and Hao Yang's parents and uncle.
These bags serve as placeholders in the long line at the hospital.
Haoyang and Father are waiting in line all night long.
(Reuters) - Japan confronted devastation along its northeastern coast on Saturday, with fires raging and parts of some cities under water after a massive earthquake and tsunami that likely killed at least 1,000 people.
Daybreak was expected to reveal the full extent of the death and damage from Friday's 8.9 magnitude earthquake and the 10-meter high tsunami it sent surging into cities and villages, sweeping away everything in its path.
World Vision is on high alert after the largest earthquake in Japan's history struck the country Friday and triggered a devastating tsunami along the eastern coast. Hundreds were killed, hundreds more are missing, and tens of thousands are displaced after their homes crumbled or were washed out to sea by the 30-foot waves.
Your help is needed now! World Vision relief staff is on stand-by to help meet the most urgent needs of children and families in the impacted areas.
World Vision is often one of the first organizations to begin relief work when disaster strikes, including the deadly 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, as well as earthquakes last year in Haiti and Chile. And we remain on the ground for the long haul, rebuilding communities and restoring hope.
If you can, please donate now to help us meet the urgent needs of disaster survivors in Japan and other areas devastated by the massive tsunami. And please join us in prayer for hurting children and families.
[Via Vancouver Sun] How to donate to help victims of the devastating tsunami:
Red Cross:
Canadians wishing to help support relief efforts underway in Japan are encouraged to contribute by donating online, calling 1-800-418-1111 or contacting their local Red Cross office.
Cheques should be made payable to the Canadian Red Cross, earmarked “Japan Earthquake/Asia-Pacific Tsunami” and mailed to the Canadian Red Cross National Office, 170 Metcalfe Street, Suite 300, Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2P2.
As of today, Canadians can donate to the Society via text messaging. Donors interested in this option must simply text REDCROSS to 30333 and a one-time donation of $5 for the Haiti Earthquake fund will be added to their mobile phone bill. The charge will be posted once the donor responds to a confirmation text. Text messaging donations are available in $5 increments*.
*Standard messaging rates and additional fees may apply to donation texts. All charges are billed by and payable to the mobile service provider. The service is available on most carriers. Donations are collected for the benefit of the Canadian Red Cross by the Mobile Giving Foundation and subject to the terms found at www.mobilegiving.ca/. Donors can unsubscribe at any time by texting STOP to 30333.
Global giving
You can donate to relief efforts in Japan by visiting their website.
Oxfam:
Visit the Oxfam website to donate to tsunami victims.
CARE:
CARE offices in Asia are on high alert and have ensured that staff are informed of the tsunami warnings and other related developments. In the Philippines, CARE’s partner organization has assisted five villages on the coast to evacuate inhabitants.
CARE’s emergency staff is currently standing by and will continue to be ready to assist should the tsunami hit the coasts of developing nations such as Indonesia or Papua New Guinea.
U.S. charity organizations to aid children with CHD in NW China
LANZHOU, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Four hundred children with congenital heart disease (CHD) in northwest China's Gansu Province will benefit this year from a charity program inaugurated in the United States four years ago.
The program, initiated by the Little Red Scarf Alliance, will offer each child with CHD 2,000 U.S. dollars for heart surgery, Ping Chao, one of the sponsors of the program, told reporters Tuesday.
The Little Red Scarf Alliance signed a renewed contract with the First Affiliated Hospital of Lanzhou University on Monday to provide financial assistance to more children in need.
"I hope we can assist in surgical operations for another 400 children this year, and that figure is likely to go up to 1,000 in the future," said Chao.
The Little Red Scarf Alliance was jointly set up by three U.S.-based charity organizations, the Ping and Amy Chao Family Foundation, CCHC Love Focus Fund and Angel Heart International.
So far, 419 poor children with CHD from Gansu Province have undergone surgery with the financial assistance from the alliance since its inception in 2007.
The program is expected to last 10 to 20 years, according to Chao.
I came outside today and was totally blown away. I felt like I was a bear in a long hibernation. How is this even possible? Local Beijingers told me in confidence that there will be no snow this year. I asked them if they were sure because every winter I've been in Beijing, it has snowed. They said without doubt. Growing up in sunny california where it's summer all yearlong, I smugly smiled thinking my wish came true: I wished for a warm winter without snow in Beijing. I thought about how cold Beijing would be, dreading to come back. Oh, how I was proven wrong today! After a long slumber, I walked down stairs in the dim hallway and saw glimpses of snow on the ground. What do I do? Snow has covered the streets, the cars, the housetops, and even me! I have a confession: the white snow and falling flakes have enchanted me. I guess not getting my wish is not so bad after all.
Here are some photos outside of our TFish Lab:
Beijing faces longest wait for snow in 60 years! See the article clip below.
BEIJING, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Snow fell in Beijing Wednesday night and continued into Thursday morning, in the latest first winter snow in the city in 60 years. Beijing has had no rain or snow for 108 consecutive days this winter.
Meteorologists said that from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday, precipitation in Beijing averaged 1 mm.
Beijing residents who stayed up late and saw the first flakes of snow left their postings on microblogs. "The world in pure white," said one. "It's the most beautiful landscape in winter."
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Yesterday, I went to the Academy of Sciences to discuss the text message platform in detail to see their capacity.
Present was Caoxuan, another coworker, and the man we met in Holiday Inn.
At first they suggested we continue to email them all the programs and phone numbers and they will send it for us. They mentioned December is their busy month for year-end reports so they will not have much time for fixing/development.
I asked a few questions regarding the platform:
1. Does it support China Telecom because my phone is telecom and it hasn't receive any of the messages. They said it should but they will contact China Telecom company.
2. Since we have more and more programs and phone numbers to test (we are on our 3rd set of LRS parents), our TFish staff can help them input the data. They decided to give us a training today at 9am on how to use the platform and open access for us.
3. They admit that the platform is new, just opened this year so there will be a lot of bugs and days where it doesn't send/work.
4. We are allowed to send 5000-10000 texts a month for now. Next year, there will be caixin (text with photos). They have not opened that this year.
5. I asked about automatic subscription. And for the program to feed back a list of program choices where the farmer can select what they want to learn about. So far, they need to fix their automatic subscription, so it has to be done manually. The selection also has not been programed.
6. I told them that we are look at robust capacity in the future and if they are able to handle 50+ text health education/nonprofit advertisement programs as well as thousands of villagers. They said they hope they can develop the program to support that and will need our help on sponsoring the technology needs if they need to send more than 10,000 texts per month.
7. They have a few cultural and psychological texts they can also send to our Gansu population to add into our program from their prior research studies.
8. The platform can receive texts and reply to texts.
I called YunYun yesterday to start calling the parents from a list of 35 to start evaluating the program's impact.
From YunYun: 今天接到nancy的电话，是有关对短信平台和爱心夹的使用情况做一个后续调查，我今天下午打了七个电话，家长们对短信内容各有说词。六位家长六种情况，第一种情况完全按照短信的内容去找个孩子的，第二种情况家长是不识字，干脆没看。第三种情况，短信内容和医院交代的差不多，可以仿照一部分，比如吃饭和运动。第四种情况，家长没有看，直接给孩子在看，家长说，孩子反映不错。。。。第五种情况，孩子性格比较犟，想吃啥就吃啥，家长没办法，（可以说参照的很少）。第六种情况：没收到信息。这六位家长里有四位家长当时发放了爱心夹，依旧是四位家长四种情况，第一种情况，不识字，放在抽屉里了，第二种情况，不清楚的时候，看完之后觉得更清楚一点。第三种情况：孩子已经上初中了，自己可以看懂，所以让孩子看。第四种情况；孩子身体没啥不舒服的，所以拿回家还没看。今天联系了六位家长，还有25位家长，我会在做后续的联系和调查，患儿家长都很谦虚，也许从他们内心来讲，觉得小红巾帮助了他们，在提出建议是不是不好啊？呵呵。。不是这样的。因为有大家的建议才可以帮助我们做得更好。所以当问到他们可以给点建议的时候，家长的说词几乎是雷同的：“谢谢你们啊，麻烦你们了。”
My gut feeling: I feel that texting is beneficial; however, it is one of a few education/awareness tools to bridge the information gap. Some people will respond more to this method, while others will respond to other methods depending on the farmers situation, reading level, and personality. Other important tools: in person exit interview where staff/volunteer walks them in detail explanation about after-surgery care and ask the right questions to get feed back (in person health education 1on1 or 1on2), a paper flyer with pictures to hang on their wall of most important educational points (paper flyer), a little picture book with most important points (culturally sensitive photo booklet), a free phone hotline where farmers can call in anytime with questions since they are too modest to call doctors/nurses (doctors and nurses are too busy to answer their questions), in farm areas loud speakers are used daily with propnda and daily news for the village, village bulletins, village medic 1on1 health education, friend to friend word of mouth, etc...
Education Tools we can control: after surgery in hospital 1on1 health education, text messaging, paper flyer, photo information booklet, and phone hotline.
These past few days people in Beijing have been sick from the change in weather. It is extremely cold now, and it's unbearable to go outside with only two layers.
Despite the cold weather and sickness, I want to begin logging about some of the little things I've seen over the past few days that have warmed my heart and soul!
-During a wintery evening at BNU next to the basketball courts, a student was holding an empty water bottle that he had quickly finished. In a respectful gesture with both hands, he presented it to a frail elderly lady who was collecting cans and bottles. Her face lit up and smiled gratefully. The young man bowed and walked away.
-While people were bustling around the graduate students dormitory, Peter picked up all the fallen bicycles and stood them upright.
-On an extremely crowded bus, an old lady was struggling to the center of the bus and yet no one had given up their seat for her. To ensure that she could have a place to sit, I gently grabbed her arm and, pushing the crowd aside, led her to my seat.
-An old lady was falling asleep on Bus 104 (Yu Tong) and I was afraid that she would miss her stop. I asked a friend to be sure to wake her up for her stop which was the same as ours.
-At the Beijing Zoo Station, my brother and I stood clueless at a map not knowing which exit to take. I asked a lady who was passing by and she told us to come with her. As she walked with us, it felt like she was leading the way as though she was our grandmother.
-Someone left their empty boba drink on the ground at BNU, my friend decided to pick it up and cheerfully skipped to the trashcan to throw it away.
-Today an intern noticed my empty tea bottle. I had not given it much thought, but she asked if she could refill it with water for me since I am sick and should stay hydrated. She brought the bottle to the dispenser and with care mixed water from the hot and cold taps to make sure it was not too hot.
A simple act of love can make a difference. Join us this holiday season in bringing joy to the lives of others!
Dear friends and family of Little Red Scarf, The past month has been challenging and fun for my family as we embarked into Vietnam to try to understand the situation of nonprofit work and congenital heart disease here. We found much more than we were looking for and the results are very promising. We have three days left here and plan to make it as worthwhile as possible before we come back to Beijing. I always wonder how everyone is doing in Lanzhou and Beijing and how Mr. Chao and Amy are doing in the states. It's due time for an update which will come shortly. Thank you for bearing with me as I have not updated in two months. In the meantime, before I forget due to how fast things are moving here, I wanted to jot down some thoughts and development for Little Red Scarf.
Until next post,
Nancy
I need your help in developing many ways to capture an ordinary person's attention to the urgent cause of congenital heart disease by developing short phrases and images. I have some ideas to get us started.
We are racing against time to save the remaining 5,665 children with congenital heart disease. (clock)
Save a Heart. Save a Life. (heart with hole, heart patched photo, before and after of real child)
Saving a child's heart will save his entire family. (family thank you photo)
Blue children need our love too. (photo of very blue child)
They are running out of time. (photo of child's hand in ours)
They are dying soon ... because of congenital heart disease. (heart with hole)
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 - This is the first day of our staff training. It went very well. The staff were all actively listening and responding. They are very happy to be learning all the protocols of their work. They realized that there is a lot of work to be done and we are looking for a few more helpers to cover all the work.
A whole half day on the bus back to Lanzhou. It felt good to see the toll booth and sign for Lanzhou. Upon entering the traffic, the dust, smog, and sunlight made me remember why I liked Pingliang. Environment aside, it's good to be back to prepare for a 6 day staff training. On the bus ride, I saw many many beautiful sunflowers. I love sunflowers and have never seen real ones all growing in such a long plot of land. The view was amazing. Green rolling hills... p.s. I forgot to tell a very funny story. Last night, I had a random idea for the staff and volunteers to dance our Auld Lang Syne song that I taught the kids in public because we were walking around at night. We chose the most lively street and since they all were wearing the Little Red Scarf tshirts and Peter and I were wearing normal clothes, we acted as bystanders to cheer them on and attract a bigger crowd. We collected 30 RMB in donations from 2 ladies and a big crowd. The singing and dancing carried on for one hour. We all had a really good time - a first time for them as street performers and a first for Peter and me as bystanders.
Pic of the Day: Staff and Volunteers singing and dancing on the street to ask for donations for children with congenital heart disease
Monday, August 16, 2010 - Today is the conclusion of the fun-filled weeklong summer camp for children in Pingliang county. I keep having a thought that I wish I can see the same children and their progress year after year. I see so much potential in them. They worked hard in the morning to prepare a skit for the parents. After lunch time, the parents all arrived in the classroom and we began the summer camp ceremony. The children acted out each of the volunteers and what they learned at the camp. They then danced and did a skit on the whole Little Red Scarf process of finding a child to surgery to summer camp. It was very nice to see them so brave and communicating so clearly. We see the change and the happiness in their faces eager to make their watching parents proud. Parents laughed and were surprised by the relationship and changes in their children. We shared videos and photo slideshows with the parents and I said a conclusion speech to thank them for giving us an opportunity to love their "baobei" or precious kids. The ceremony ended in tears and hugs. The children held onto our hands and didn't want to leave. The real change will be on their own in their walks of life. The scar on the outside from the heart surgery is a reminder for them that their lives are precious and that they are unique from enduring a life-changing experience. I hope they will remember it and pay it forward by loving others. Thank you children for giving us a chance to love you and experience your love.
Pic of the Day: Last moment Kuai Le Yi Xia Cheer with Parents and Children
Sunday, August 15, 2010 - The kids went on a field trip to Kongtong Mountain. No one knew how long the hike was or how high the mountain was. We went in good spirit. My brother came home saying, "Now I know why hiking trips are life-changing because you would never imagine finishing such a feat." I agree. If it weren't for this field trip with the kids and being a big brother and sister to the children, I cannot imagine myself hiking from 8:30am to 6pm 2130 meters above sea level while having a cold. It feels good to have finished such a hike and the children were at some point hauling the volunteers - this proves how healthy they are after surgery. We sang and danced at the peak. It was a magnificent sight. These kids have never gone on such a trip. We reached the peak and hiked to the bottom where we saw a beautiful lake. We put the kids live on Skype to say hi and thank Mr. Chao for their sponsorship of these kid's life changing story and summer camp! The hike allowed us all to have fun in each other's presence and suffer the heights and length of such an endeavor.
Pic of the Day: Little Red Scarf goes on a field trip and we made it to the top of Kongtong! Without each of us waiting and helping the other out in times of tiredness, we would not be able to finish such a hike!
Peter and I have caught a cold, so we rested for a few sessions to recuperate. The summer camp continues strong and the Big Sib Lil Sib are developing deeper friendships. The children are very intelligent and once given instructions, they know exactly what to do. What's so great is that they are so thankful to be at summer camp and very active participants. What more can we ask for? They do the Little Red Scarf Angel activity everyday which is a secret message box where everyone writes how they are touched by someone each day. This is a way for the children and volunteers to learn how to acknowledge and learn from others and also be a good influence to others. The days are balanced by rest during the afternoon from 11:30-2:30p; therefore, the volunteers and children are not tired. The weather has been good and no rain lately. Not too sunny either.
Pic of the Day: Children and Volunteers stuffed everyday after a good meal
The kids are coming out of their shell and the volunteers are developing deeper relationships with the children. Ketty shared that the children are now serving the volunteers during meals and they are cracking jokes in return. Each of the children have their own character and it's wonderful to see them shining. The volunteers are doing well and form a very cohesive team. I am having one on one meetings with each to hear about their needs, experience, and see if I could provide any guidance or suggestions in making this experience more meaningful for them.
Pic of the Day: Li Na sharing about herself and the things she enjoys
Liu Dajie and Cao Rui took Peter and I on two house visits today. We took 8 buses roundtrip totaling 15 hours on the bus. The sight was beautiful and it was raining heavily. However, seeing the family, hearing their stories, and visiting their children was well worth the trip. These family's are truly poor and they live in mud homes. They eat manto and whatever they plant such as tomatoes and corn for these two families. The children are so lovely and cute. They mentioned have water problems and they do not have toilets. They usually dig a hole in the ground. Caring for their children with congenital heart disease brings a lot of stress for their whole family. As Liu Dajie and Cao Rui would always say, "We save one child, we save the entire family." Peter and I were able to witness the life change among the whole family when they brought their child to summer camp. Their faces are full of joy and peace and not of worry before when their children were still sick.
Pic of the Day: Peter and Child during a House Visit in Jingchuan
Today is the first day of summer camp. The children all arrived and are really excited. The students surprised Peter, Liudajjie, Caorui, and I with a wonderful skit. The students switched roles with the volunteers and acted out the whole process of finding a child with congenital heart disease all the way to hospital surgery, and then summer camp. These students faces were gleaming with curiosity and openness. There were no signs of sickness. One child named NanNan had surgery a month ago, and she looks so healthy and rosy. All the children's complexions were rosy and no longer blue, pale, and sick. They run just like any other child and are full of hope and joy. The first activity that the volunteers had the children do was to draw their self-portrait along with pictures of items that described who they were. The volunteers also drew and partnered up to introduce each other. They also had a Q&A session for the children to ask any questions they liked. All in all, it was a wonderful start in Pingliang.
Pic of the Day: Students and Volunteers Listening Attentively to Ketty's Activity Instructions
Our team of 10 boarded a bus to travel to Pingliang, Gansu for our second week of summer camp for children with congenital heart disease. After 5.5 hours of traveling, we arrived in Pingliang. One child and parent arrived named Xiao Qian. His complexion and health completely changed three months after surgery. Our team had dinner together and a meeting to debrief about last week's camp and this week's schedule.
Pic of the Day: Team First dinner with Xiao Qian and Father in Pingliang
Peter and I started the day with doing some discussion on mobile phone situation here and texting. Peter started developing a simplified mobile version that can be used by all phones in China (2G 3G etc). In one hour, the whole team of staff and volunteers will return to the home and we plan to cook dinner together. I'm very much looking forward to going to Pingliang tomorrow to visit the children and test the mobile phone situation in rural China.
Pic of the Day: Peaches from YunYun's Home, Her family plants peaches, They are so delicious
Sunday, August 8, 2010 - We had a long meeting over tea with Caorui and Liudajie to hear updates and catch up. Afterwards YunYun took us to buy hats for Pingliang. The sunrays during the daytime is pretty strong in Gansu.
Pic of the Day: Meeting at Tea Shop to Catch up with Liu Dajie and Caorui
Shang Laoshi took us out for coffee/tea in the morning and we headed to the Beijing Capital Airport. After a 2 hour flight, we taxi-ed to Northwest Normal University to visit the Little Red Scarf office. We were happily greeted by our office staff, YunYun.
We had lunch with Shang and Tao Laoshi along with two students. It was a pleasure to hear their thoughts on our new project and partnership. Tao Laoshi is surveying NGOs to hear their thoughts and how to best meet their needs with Transparent Fish. We spent 2 hours at the phone shop to try to get email working on my phone and the problem was still not resolved. However, the workers at the store switched Peter's phone from Chinese to English. We returned back to the hotel and Peter went to play basketball with ShenShen while I packed for Gansu. At night, Peter resolved the problem and got both my email accounts to work on my phone.
Pic of the Day: Meeting with Shang and Tao Laoshi along with Two Students
Peter and I arrived in Beijing and the weather was very cool. We taxi-ed from the airport to the hotel at 8:30am. ShenShen arrived at 9am and began to run errands all day to get phones and a bank account.
The Asiatic glassfishes are a family, Ambassidae, of freshwater and marine fishes in the order Perciformes. The species in the family are native to the waters of Asia and Oceania and the Indian and western Pacific Oceans. The family includes eight genera and about fifty species. The family was formerly known as the Chandidae, a name which ITIS continues to use.
FishBase notes that Ambassidae, which was named by Klunzinger in 1870, has priority over Chandidae, which was created by Fowler in 1905. The Ambassidae reach a maximum size of approximately 26 cm (10 in).
Many of the species are noted for their transparent or semi-transparent bodies. A number of species are used as aquarium fish, noted for their transparent bodies. The Indian glassy fish, Parambassis ranga, is sometimes injected with coloured dyes by dealers in Thailand. The process, known as painting, dyeing or juicing fish is strongly opposed by many in the aquarium community. UK based aquarium publication Practical Fishkeeping has been campaigning since 1997 to stop the trade in these fish and runs a global register of stores who have pledged not to stock them. More than half of the UK's aquarium shops have signed up and the fish are now less common in the UK as a result.
Thank you friends for all your support during my one-year journey to China! To subscribe to my daily updates, please click subscribe button on the right. You will receive an email each time I write a new update. My updates will be in English. Thank goodness right?
To read the chidren's stories and our local Gansu updates in English, click on their stories, and translate to English button at the top of each story. If you want to write letters to the children in the hospital, simply click on their profile on the home page, read their story, and write a letter in English directly on their page. We have a translation team to translate your letters, design a paper card, and bring it to the child you select while they are receiving surgery in the hospital.
據「佳歡醫療基金會（Jia Huan Medical Foundation）」發起及創辦人之一Holly Li，這次演出活動的主辦單位是是該會，協辦單位有美國大西北同鄉會、洛杉磯華人藝術合唱團、美中文化協會及信義會十架堂。自小喜愛音樂的張佳歡經過自學及在聲樂老師的指導下，她曾獲得多項音樂大獎，其中包括在第14屆國際舒曼聲樂大賽上獲獎。在紐約聯合國總部舉行的聯合國成立60周年慶典匯演上，張佳歡作為唯一的殘疾人歌手，演唱中國歌曲「我和我的祖國」。
Holly Li表示，在16日的音樂會上，張佳歡將演唱「The Phantom」、「Angle of Music」、「斯卡布羅集市」以及她自己創作的歌曲「我的夢」和「生命的陽光」。同台演出的還有洛杉磯華人藝術合唱團和小提琴家王晶。
芳弟，一位来自甘肃东南部偏远山区里的安静女孩。她今年15岁，六个月大时便因肺炎住院，从而得知患有先心病。不过由于当时对先心病的错误理解，加上经济与等其他客观条件所限，家里人当时并没有给芳弟治病。十几年过去了，芳弟身体逐渐虚弱、气短、体弱、肤色发紫等情况逐渐加重，家里这才意识到了问题严重性，开始四处筹钱。不过由于芳弟家一家七口只靠爸爸一个人劳动。赚钱和还钱的能力实在太有限，芳弟能手术的希望也变得十分渺茫。
珍重再见 – 由于个人原因，我们所敬爱的刘大姐本月离开了小红巾团队。刘大姐在过去一年半的时间里将满满的爱心投入到照顾兰州陆军总医院的小红巾孩子们与家长身上，也赢得了“大妈妈”的美称。我们十分舍不得她的离开，同时祝福她往后能平安顺利，小红巾也会随时欢迎她回到我们的大家庭。
