LWB Community

Beautiful Souls

Sometimes we get very honest letters from people who say they find it too difficult to look at photos of babies with unrepaired cleft lip. We work with so many babies with cleft that we don’t even really see it anymore. Instead, we just see their gorgeous eyes and smiles…like Zeke, a current resident of our Anhui Cleft Healing Home (ACHH), grinning below. We’ve always felt that sharing photos helps people see the kids for the beautiful souls they are.

We recently posted Zeke’s photo on our Facebook page and asked our readers for their thoughts on seeing photos like this. We were so thrilled with and moved by the comments that we received that we wanted to share some excerpts here!

The search for a “perfect” look should never be larger than that of deepest happiness. Keep posting “non-perfect” photos of real happy babies!!

The first time I saw my son’s beautiful little face, I didn’t notice his bilateral cleft….all I saw was the face on an angel.
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Life Histories

For many of the kids in our programs, we have a wealth of information. We take so many pictures of the kids in our care – logging in over 15,000 photos of the kids we serve every year! We keep reports on their health status and their activities in school or foster care. The question, of course, is what do we do with this information as a child leaves our programs. Well, right now we keep it all until a family contacts us post-adoption and we can send them everything we have. I know I personally have hard drive after hard drive of information, and our volunteer teams store massive amounts of information from each individual program as well. We love when we can send information to a family of their new child’s earlier days. The reality, though, is that we never hear from over 50% of adoptive families when the kids we help find permanent homes.
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Just a Job?

Are you like me, guilty of things becoming “just a job”? Well, I guess walking the Flora Women’s Mini-Marathon in Dublin was falling into that category for me. Not that the walking was getting any easier (especially now that I am a year older!) But the motivation needed to write and ask for support in my endeavours was lacking. That part of me that needs to step outside my box and ask, openly ask, for money for the Henan Cleft Healing Home (HCHH) was quite hard this year. Promoting the event had become a job I couldn’t quite settle down to do…until I saw the photos of three boys. Three boys, Vicente, Noel (featured above) and Paul who now live in our HCHH getting the nurture and care that their tiny fragile bodies need…never mind the love their beating hearts crave.
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Peter: LWB’s Featured Child of the Week

Peter is an adorable baby who lives in the Henan Cleft Healing Home. He is chubby and happy. However, when he was discovered in an orphanage last fall, he was a failure to thrive baby. Born with a severe bilateral cleft lip and palate, Peter needed some additional attention to eat and thrive. After a brief stay in the hospital, he came to live at HCHH where the loving and well-trained nannies could shower him with love and attention.
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Joseph: LWB’s Featured Child of the Week

Little Joseph came to our Henan Cleft Healing Home (HCHH) as a three-week-old with pneumonia. He was in and out of the hospital multiple times to cure his respiratory infections. We have been so concerned over this little fellow as he often has low grade fevers and has had an ongoing battle with ear infections. Below is a photo of Joseph when he first entered HCHH.
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Let’s Hear It For the Henan Boys!

My visit to the Henan Cleft Healing Home this past June was a day that I loved completely. All of the babies were so healthy and happy, and the home has such a family feel. How wonderful to hear the sound of babies laughing and to watch the aunties singing and playing with the kids. We all said that we wish every orphaned child could live in such a caring environment.
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Baby Joseph: LWB’s Featured Child of the Week

Joseph is a precious 3 month old baby boy from Xinxiang, Henan Province. Joseph was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate and he came to the Henan Cleft Healing Home (HCHH) when he was one month old. After only a short stay at HCHH, he had to be hospitalized for a week for pneumonia and anemia. Finally, he was discharged to HCHH for his further recovery. However, after a few weeks, he had to be readmitted to the hospital due to bleeding in his mouth and nose. He has spent two weeks in the hospital to receive tests, blood transfusions and IV fluids. We are relieved to tell you that the bleeding has stopped and Joseph was able to begin formula again. He was discharged to the loving care of the nannies at HCHH.
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Running Through China: A Stop at the Henan Cleft Healing Home

Early one morning during our recent trip to China, we made a visit to our Henan Cleft Healing Home (HCHH), located in Kaifeng. It is SO lovely. It is completely like being in an extended family’s apartment, and all the aunties and babies are so happy. This home is run by Stephanie Wang, a lovely young woman who has poured her whole heart into making sure all the babies have their every need met.
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Running Through China: A Peek At What Is to Come!

Amy meeting baby Sam at the Henan Cleft Healing Home

As many of you know, travelling in China can be an exhilarating — but exhausting experience.  Our three intrepid travellers — Paige, Amy and Sheri — have been extremely busy and can’t wait to share their stories with us!  However, they are having some computer and internet problems in China and will therefore post tales of their travels when they return home next week.  In the meantime, here are a few photos from their adventures!
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Now, Where Exactly Are We Going?

Little Sam and Eoin look rather confused! In the top photo, these buddies from our Henan Cleft Healing Home are all bundled up and ready to go to the hospital to receive cleft repair surgeries. They don’t look too thrilled with the hats and jackets and they probably weren’t too happy with life right after the surgery…but we know they will be very excited with the final results.  Take a look at them now, just days after their repairs!
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