May 27, 2009

Today was my first day at The Philip Hayden Foundation, an American run children’s village for 100 orphans, many of whom are adopted. 95% have a physical disability or serious medical condition. The organization has provided corrective surgeries for more than 3000 orphans since 1996. I’m currently visiting their new children’s village, Shepherd’s Field. This is an all-purpose facility, the largest of it’s kind in mainland China. It is equipped with foster homes, a medical clinic, a school, and a vocational center. They are still fundraising for the school. Here’s a picture of the front building.

 

This morning, I had the privilege of meeting a 14 year girl named Ling-Ling, or Shelby in English. During PFO’s Christmas Sponsorship Project, a missionary friend of mine in Germany, Leah, signed up to be a monthly sponsor for Shelby. Leah sent a necklace and a picture for me to deliver to Shelby. She was ecstatic, gave me a kiss, and put her things in a very special place to protect them. This picture is of Shelby, holding a picture of Leah, and Leah’s adopted sister Alicia. Sponsors send $35 a month to provide for a specific child of their choice. Sponsors then receive pictures and updates of their child, and can even visit and send gifts. Each child needs 6 sponsors. For more info on sponsoring a child, see http://www.hopefosterhome.com/babies/index.htm or http://www.chinaorphans.org/sponsor.htm Please let me know if you sign up, sally@portionfororphans.org.

 

There are an estimated 143 million children without parents in our world of 6, 790, 062, 216 people. That can make us feel incapable of making a difference, but have you heard the Starfish Story? A person was walking down a beach tossing beached starfish back into the sea after a storm. A passerby came up to him, struck by the futility of the task, and said, "You must be crazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can't possibly make a difference." The person looked at the man. He then stooped down and picked up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said, "It sure made a difference to that one!"

 

J Go light your world!