Cleft trips are always emotionally and physically exhausting. The months of preparation, the long plane rides, the huge, overweight suitcases that are wrestled through the airports and begged through check-in without overweight fees, the physical aliments in a foreign country, and the long, hard hours in an unfamiliar hospital all become insignificant compared to the moment that the first child comes back from the operating room. Read more.
All of us at LWB sure are happy that Dr. John Ness came into this world a few decades ago. Before we tell you about the surgery day, we just want to thank this very special man, who has traveled with LWB on cleft trips multiple times to change the lives of so many children. We had an extra special surprise for him today, when we asked him to sit back on one of the hospital beds so the very grateful nannies could make a “baby pile” on his lap in honor of all he has done. Following the photo, the nannies all sang a very special happy birthday song in Chinese to him. Later that night he was presented with a dragon cake, and we hope this was a birthday he will never forget. Read more.
The cleft exchange medical team has arrived safely to Kaifeng in anticipation of the surgeries beginning early Monday morning. In addition, 26 babies arrived on Sunday from orphanages throughout China, and our team helped them get settled into the hospital. We wonder if you can identify the province this group was from by their baby carriers?
We have four wonderful physicians on this trip from Minnesota – Dr. John Ness, Dr. Chris Tolan, Dr. Neil Derechin, and Dr. Kathy Clinch. They spent Sunday doing pre-op physicals on the children and making sure each child was in good health for their life changing operations. Read more.
Love Without Boundaries was invited to visit Duyun, Guizhou in March. This beautiful area in southeast Guizhou is home to the Buyi ethnic minority group, whose villages are almost always located near rivers and whose homes are traditionally made of stone. This region of China is famous for the Libo wilderness area and is filled with rivers, waterfalls, and forest covered mountains.
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The next part of our recent trip to China was to Guizhou Province, which is home to several minority groups, including the Dong, Miao, and Yi. As we reported last year, the Dong people live primarily in eastern Guizhou and are renowned for their beautiful songs about both nature and love. Their songs are very important to their courtship rituals, which always involve music. In early relationships the young men and women sing traditional songs, but as the relationship deepens, they will begin singing spontaneously to each other. We were blessed to be able to listen to several traditional Dong songs on our first evening in Guizhou.
The next morning we visited the new Qiandongnan orphanage facility, which opened earlier this year. This is truly a massive facility, with space to someday hold over 1,000 children. Read more.
We first met Scotty in his rural orphanage in Guizhou Province, one of the poorest regions in China. He was so tiny and weak that his cry was almost inaudible, and his nannies explained that he wasn’t able to eat easily due to his cleft lip. We knew that he needed to be moved to one of our healing homes as quickly as possible, and so we phoned our home manager in Fujian, who asked how soon he could get there.
This photo, coming in at #5 in the voting for our Top Ten Photos of 2011, was taken just a few weeks after Scotty had arrived to our healing home. It is pretty obvious from this photo how he felt about having his own dedicated nanny, good formula, and essential cleft bottles at his disposal. We are so happy to report that Scotty went on to not only find healing, but also his very own adoptive family in late 2011! Read more.
Willow is a beautiful eight-month-old from Guizhou Province. Her orphanage wanted her to get an evaluation and surgery so desperately that they insisted she go to the hospital when another little boy from her orphanage was going for a heart evaluation. Fortunately they were able to travel together, and Willow has received the evaluation needed to determine exactly what type of surgery will best correct her intestinal malformation.
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Excitement continues to grow as we learn of more children whose files are finally available for matching with prospective families. It is such a pleasure to be able to get to know these children in greater detail and to share their stories with all of our blog readers. Lauren is one of these children who has just become available for adoption, and we want to help you get to know her better!
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Lenore Jean is a precious six-month-old baby in one of our newer foster care programs in Guizhou. Looking at her chubby cheeks and sweet smile, one would never know that she has a serious heart defect. Originally the diagnosis was VSD, which is a relatively simple surgery as far as heart defects go. But upon further examination and testing, the results showed something much more serious, and doctors believe the sooner she can have the surgery the better the outcome will be.
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Every year in China, the national college entrance exam (Gao Kao) is administered, and sitting for this national exam remains the best (and often only) way for a rural child to escape a life of poverty. The nine-hour test is offered just once a year and is the sole determinant for admission to Chinese university. Almost ten million students sit for the exam each year, trying to receive a coveted spot at one of the 1900 colleges in China. The competition is fierce, and families push their children to study for hours each and every day throughout their high school years.
Anxious parents keep vigil outside of an exam site
For an orphaned child to sit for this exam is an accomplishment in itself. For an orphaned child to pass the exam with high enough marks to enter university is extraordinary.
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