Joanne is a friend of mine from college who now works near Beijing teaching English. She also serves as the Asia Representative for Portion for Orphans. She has spent the last 2 days here with me at New Hope Foundation. Joanne’s insight into this culture has been very helpful, especially in terms of being cautious while blogging.
Joanne encouraged me to explain why PFO is helping New Hope Foundation when it seems like a five star hotel compared to other places nearby. There are a few reasons, one of which I won’t explain here. Secondly, although my early dream was to help grass roots orphanages, it seems obvious now that the better method is to further enable the work of those who are already doing an exceptional job caring for orphans. This is much more realistic than attempting to change the methods of existing orphanages or create something new, from the other side of the world. This is our vision in each of the countries where we work, to expand the reach of those who are truly making a difference in the lives of orphans, enabling them to take in and provide for more children. All of us work hard for the funds that we are donating, and PFO is committed to ensuring that every dollar given really does reach and benefit children without parents.
The vision for New Hope is to provide medical attention for kids that Chinese orphanages are not able to provide for. These kids come from all over China, and after receiving medical care, most of them go on to be adopted into families of their own. Did I mention that over 800 children have come through here in 10 years?
A number of Chinese orphanage directors have even asked the directors here to implement this program within their orphanages. Three have given New Hope an entire floor to call their own within their government orphanages. So, New Hope has multiple facilities. They go in and create a floor, with nurses on staff, where sick children can be cared for. Other orphanage workers are sharing and implementing what they’ve learned from New Hope about child care. This place is raising the standards of care provided to orphans in this area.
Tomorrow, I’ll go to church and spend my last day at New Hope. It is legal for foreigners to go to church, I’ll just have to show my passport to get in…………….!
These pictures are of Joanne meeting Jade and Sally with a precious baby girl that has a rare stomach disease, causing her to vomit 7-8 times a day for days at a time. She is a princess, and now that I'm looking at this picture she seems to be pondering the word 'orphan' on my shirt. It's hard not to bring them ALL home. I'm praying for families to rise up for that purpose. 
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