LWB Community

As the whole world shares the weight of a pandemic, the truth that love has no boundaries has never rung truer. There is a collective ache we feel, a grief we share, from the United States to India, and from China to Uganda. Hard stories abound, and no country is spared. Nevertheless, beautiful stories abound as well, because we also carry collective compassion and collective hope. Running in tandem alongside all the challenges are brilliant light and many illustrations of great humanity and love for others.

Jeri is a five-year-old boy in our Huainan On-site Family Care Program and Education Program who is waiting for adoption. When he was a baby, Jeri came into our care as a resident of our China Healing Homes program. Jeri quickly transformed from a serious little one to a jovial baby who could easily be teased to laugh and love to interact with the nannies and other children at the healing home.

As I mentioned in my blog yesterday, I recently had the opportunity to visit several locations in the impoverished western region of Odisha, India, meeting with a wonderful local charity called YCDA. With limited resources, they provide essential support to orphaned and vulnerable children. During my trip, we were given permission to visit several local orphanages.

Some estimates state that the number of children growing up in orphanages in Uganda has reached over 50,000, despite the vast majority of those children not being orphans at all. While it’s difficult to know exact numbers, those of us working in the field believe at least 80% of children in Ugandan orphanages have known relatives. Thankfully, there’s a growing movement among the government and many charities to move as many children as possible out of institutions and into family care. LWB was excited to begin foster care in Uganda in early 2018, and while the program is still small in numbers, it’s huge in impact for the children we’ve transitioned.

This week, Maria turns 13 years old. In China, this means that she has just one year left to find a family before she is no longer eligible for adoption. To help raise awareness of her situation and the limited time she has left for adoption, LWB is offering a $3,000 Adoption Assistance Grant

We were recently able to deliver four wheelchairs to children with special needs in Uganda. Although it took over a year to get them there, their arrival has been truly life-changing for a couple of the children in particular at the Mukono Healing Home. Andre has been so excited to be able to get around quickly. He can push himself a bit, but he truly loves to be pushed around.

Last month, one of our Cambodia team members met a young boy named Heath. Heath is eleven years old and has severe cerebral palsy. He always wondered what was inside books and wanted to learn to read so badly. However, Heath has never been able to attend school due to his special needs. The very first thing we arranged for Heath was new crutches to help him with mobility, but then we began talking with his family about how it could become possible for this bright little boy to finally go to school.

This Valentine’s Day, we invite you to give back to a little girl whose parents who have devoted their lives to caring for orphaned children in China.

Shayla’s parents both worked tirelessly for the House of Love, an incredible residential care facility on the grounds of the Guilin orphanage in Guangxi.
Read more.

Children are like flowers, water them daily with love and watch them bloom.– Anonymous

Change can be difficult for everyone. For a child in an institution, however, new experiences — even positive ones — can be especially hard.  That was the case for sweet eight-year-old Bronwyn who joined our Believe in Me orphanage school in Jinjiang last fall. Read more.

Over 100 orphaned children with cerebral palsy live at the Physical Therapy (PT) Center in Kaifeng, Henan. The center serves the entire province, and orphanages from throughout Henan send their children to the center for healing care.

In addition, a number of children in the local community are served daily by the PT Center even though they do not live there as residents. Read more.