Update April 2005

Dear Friends and Supporters,

We are having a very busy time this month, both in Beijing and in Henan. Apart from dealing with our own kids, we are assisting in facilitating surgeries for children-in-need, outside of our home. Rob will accompany Zheng Qi an 18 year old orphaned boy from Shandong province to the US for bladder surgery. The Mongolian boy Yan Jian Xin with Leukemia is doing well, and has only a few more treatments to go. We have also been asked to help a child from Luoyang orphanage with a facial deformity.

Foster Home Shunyi, Beijing

The babies:. We have had an outbreak of bronchopneumonia which has infected almost every single child and has kept us in our toes. Just before this happened, we received a huge supply of antibiotics and nebulizer solutions from medical friends in Malaysia and the US and that has been a tremendous help. Our one and only nebulizer has been going almost non-stop. This has highlighted the urgent need for more. (See below).  We are arranging for neurosurgery for 4 new babies with Spina bifida. All of them are very young, ranging from a few days old to a few months old. They all have open defects that need to be closed as soon as possible to preserve whatever lower limb function they have. Again neurosurgeons from UCLA have come to the rescue and they will operate in Shanghai United Family Hospital early next month. We are told that the child from Xinjiang province, who also required neurosurgery, is too weak and is unlikely to survive the trip. Unfortunately we have had him taken off the list. We have a new baby from Luoyang who needs cardiac surgery but he is too weak at the moment and needs building up before this can be done. We are working on him.

Alicia Dang Ji Bei and SaraGrace Dang Jian Chao are in Singapore as I write, having heart surgery. We hope that they will soon be home with us by the end of this month and that their adoptive parents will be here soon to pick them up, welcoming them into their families and giving them new life. Eric Wu Min was admitted to hospital for reconstruction of the anus but his operation has been delayed. Surgery is being arranged for Dang Guo Kun who has a cleft lip.

Volunteers ; This month we have Red H. and Jo H, a team from the UK and a group of students from Germany

Shunyi Outreach Foster Program.

All 11 children in our Outreach program are doing well. Tests have been done on Fu Tian Suo and he has been found to have male chromosomes. Surgery will follow at an appropriate time..

Foster Home Sai Qi Fujian Province:

We will buy 4 more walkers for the children there with funds donated by Harvard China Care. Guo Yan Fei has had successful heart surgery also sponsored by Harvard China Care. Rob visits them again at the end of this month and we will be able to report more on the possibility of the planned renovations as well as sending updates top all the child-sponsors.

 HFH Special Care Unit , Henan Province:

Since Jan 1^st we have had 25 children through the unit. 8 new ones have been transferred to Beijing for Medical care filling up every single bed we have. Sadly Lucy Ge Lan , with severe brain damage died on March 31^{st .}  She was loved till the very end.

Lyn G is back volunteering at the unit.

Our Thanks;

1)       Thank you to Clive and Leap Foundation, Primavera, CEO Hong Kong, and the ladies of the British Club and all you generous individuals for your continued financial support.

2)     Thanks to all the travellers from Singapore who are bringing in our Soy milk supplies.

3)     Thank you to Love without Boundaries for your support for some of our recent needs for surgeries, your continued support for the Outreach Program and for working closely with us to help so many other children.

4) Thanks to a special individual, JT who has offered to sponsor the renovations of the 6th floor in our Special Care Unit to care for long term older disabled children. However unless we have a long term volunteer willing to be there , we will not be able to manage another project at the moment.

Our Needs:

1)     Please pray for our 4 babies going for neurosurgery soon. Fu Dong Yu ( 1 month old), Fu Chun Yi ( 2 days old), Fu Chun Chao ( 10 days old) and Fu Xiao Tian,( 6 weeks old)

2)     We need another 1 or 2 nebulizers. One regular one and one portable one will cost about US$260

3)     We are in need of paediatric colostomy bags for babies born with Imperforate anus. These bags are not available in China. Donations of these or funds to buy them would be greatly appreciated. A box of 30 drainable bags costs about US $60 and this will last one baby about 3 months. We have 2 babies in need, Grace Marie Fu Tian Hua ( Thank you Kathy H.) and Eric Wu Min

Thank you all for your wonderful support.

Robin and Joyce.

"Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end."
Scott Adams