Update March 2005

Dear Friends and Supporters,

We had a board meeting this month. We are happy to announce a new member on our board Mr. Johnson T. Johnson is a lawyer and has been a wonderful supporter of the Hope Foster Home for the past 2 years. We now have 7 members on our Advisory Board, one each from the US, Malaysia, and Australia and 2 each from Singapore and the UK. We presented our financial report which had recently been audited. This financial information is available to anyone who is interested.  Please email us if you would like a copy. We presented our progress over these last two years.  Since we opened this home less than 2 years ago, we have cared for 71 children (not counting the 31 we support in Fujian province) 32 have had corrective surgery, 9 have died and 7 have been adopted. 6 more have been chosen for adoption and are waiting for their parents to come and get them.

 4 opportunities that would benefit many more children have been brought to our attention:

1) Opening a unit in Jiaozuo Orphanage (Henan Province) for bedridden older children. (Funds needed)

2) A Palliative Care unit for dying children in Luoyang ( Henan Province) ( Funds needed)

3) Foster Home and Outreach foster care program in Ning Xia Province (Funds and long term manager needed)

4) Building an extension to our Shunyi Home to accommodate children who have been saved but are brain damage and are unlikely to be adopted. (Funds and long term Manager needed)

The above decisions are being carefully and prayerfully thought over and more information will be gathered. We do not want to rush into anything that God is not leading us to.

 Foster Home Shunyi, Beijing

The babies:. Baby Fu Dong Qiang, (3 months, hydrocephalus), continues to improve and is no longer distressed or in pain. The shunt is working well and his head size is slowly coming back to normal.

We have a new baby Fu Xiao Tian, brought in to our Special Care unit when she was only a day old. She has a severe lower spinal defect which has rendered her paralyzed below the waist. However she feeds very well and is thriving. We transferred Lucy Ge Lan to our Special care unit. She is premature and severely brain damaged and after 2 months with us in Beijing, we can do nothing more for her other than keep her fed, warm and loved. Fu Tian Hua (Imperforate Anus) has had surgery and will soon be home with us. Alicia Dang Ji Bei and SaraGrace Dang Jian Chao have been accepted for surgery in Singapore and they should leave as soon as all the paperwork is complete. Sara Grace was admitted to Beijing United Hospital with a high fever. She is now home and much better. Russell has left to be with his new parents

Volunteers ; We say a sad good bye to our Pre-school teacher Charlayne S. this month as she returns to the US.. She has been such a blessing to the children we will miss her terribly. The preschool continues with help from Bonnie G, Lyn P and Liz till September when our long-term teacher Becky P. arrives. Becky and her husband Lee (from UK) will be with us for at least a year and we are very grateful for their wiliness to serve with us.

Shunyi Outreach Foster Program.

We now have 11 children in our Outreach program .Fu Tian Suo (Ambiguous sex) has been moved into our Outreach Program to be with a family while we do further tests. He will be cared for by Dana’s (Dang Jiang) parents as Dana will soon leave us to be adopted. Her foster parents are so distressed by this so we hope that Tian Suo will help ease their pain.  Fu Tian Yu (4 months, distended abdomen) was investigated and no abnormalities were found. He has been placed with a new family.

Foster Home Sai Qi Fujian Province:

Plans for re-building this Home are still being discussed. We bought a walker for Xu Li Li who is disabled as was using chair to help her to walk.

 HFH Special Care Unit , Henan Province:

We were too late to save Fu Xiao Hai, our 4 month old blue baby with a severe heart condition. Despite sending his investigations to Singapore we were unable to get him surgery in time. He passed away suddenly on March 7^th. We were able to comfort 2 premature babies Fu Dong Li and Fu Dong Ting who survived only for a day. Fu Dong Zhe was also admitted to the unit as he was not feeding. We will investigate but so far he is doing well. Red Hughes is manning our Special care unit for the next 2 months and we have Bev S. and a US Paediatric resident visiting with Beijing United Hospital, there to give him a break for a week or so at the end of this month.

Our Thanks;

1)       Thank you or your prayers for Xiao Xiong and Dong Qiang. They are both well. Thank you too for your prayers for Alicia and SaraGrace. They will be on their way for surgery soon.

2)      We thank all of you (Love Without Boundaries, BICCO, JT, J&J) who have been supporting the medical treatment/surgeries of our children. Your generosity saves lives.

3)     Thanks to our new Child/Nanny-sponsors. Your help is much appreciated.

4)     Thanks to all the parents of our children who have been adopted, for sending photos and updates on them. It is a real pleasure to see them grow in your love.

Our Needs:

1)       4 more disabled children in Sai Qi need walkers.  Total cost of these is about US $136

2)      We are trying to assist a 1 year old child from a remote town in Xinjiang province who requires neurosurgery. This child is not an orphan but her parents are very poor. We hope to bring her to Beijing for possible surgery. The estimated cost of this is about US $3000. A photo of this child is available if anyone is interested in helping.

Thank you all for your wonderful support.

Robin and Joyce.