Beijing Summer Camp 2007
Report No. 5: Tianjin SWI Visit
by the editor, August 20
On the sixth day of the summer camp the children visited Tianjin Social Welfare Institute.
The children from the SWI put on a performance for the campers, and the campers sang a Chinese song they have just learned. The campers also performed a Hawaiian dance and a song in English.
One camper, Xiu Xiu Cooney, who lives in Hawaii, danced a hula.
The children in the institute and the campers exchanged gifts, talked and laughed together.
After the party, the campers visited the institute and learned a lot about how the kids there are taken care of.
Three of the Tianjin girls are disabled and wheelchair bound.
As it turns out, Madame Feng, the director of the Tianjin Children's Home, had asked Mr. Zhang Zhong, Deputy Director-General of CCAA, to see if anything could be done to help these girls. At lunch, Mr. Zhang asked Gongzhan Wu if he could help. Gongzhan spoke to the campers:
"These girls," he said, "have been in wheelchairs for more than ten years. Their biggest wish is to stand up like every one of you. Mr. Zhang wants to help them. Madame Feng wants to help them. We five chaperones want to help them. Would you like to join us? It could be a project for this first CCAA summer camp. All of us here would participate. If you would like to be part of the project and help these girls, please raise your hand."
All the campers raised their hands. Everyone applauded. It was a very emotional moment.
This will be a challenging project. It will be some time before we can even define the scope of it. We know that the initial task will be to get a clear assessment of the girls' medical condition, to first determine why they cannot stand. For this, they will have to come to the United States for an examination.
One thing we do know is that we will need a lot of help. Perhaps you would like to raise your hand, too. If so, please let us know.
Hula by Xiu Xiu
There are many ways to help these girls stand up. Financial support is, of course, one important way. But we will also need medical professionals, people in the travel, lodging and transportation industries, the media, and many other individuals to lend a hand. It's hard to imagine help that we won't need.
If you would like to raise your hand, just fill out the form below with your name and e-mail address. As the project develops, we will be in touch. We will not give your contact information to anyone else.
The China Initiative is a bold endeavor to benefit children in Chinese orphanages, children who have been adopted from China, and adoptive families. It is also an extraordinary opportunity to strengthen the bond families and children feel to China.
Click here to learn more about the China Initiative.