August 2011 Newletter
Dear supporter,
2011 has so far seen an outputting of God's goodness to us and this - His work. We have had numerous visitors working towards increasing the quality of life for our children and an increase in the number of preaching and speaking opportunities we have been given in Australia.
The children have been blessed by the presence of two teams of young adults.
Eleven young adults (World Race) from the USA visited for most of March. They released staff for in-depth training, gave the children lots of extra contact, took them on outings and painted murals on the walls of several rooms. Here we have QingQing and JiaLe out shopping with two of the team and the fabulous mural in Eagles' Wings 3 painted by some of the team.
In June, A team of ten young adults from Singapore spent about two weeks with
the children in Eagles' Wings 3 and Xi Wang Le Yuan (the school) teaching them about Love, Joy and Peace through songs, stories (told in skits, pictures and shadow puppets) and games. They also took them out each day for a walk and some exercise. Their presence allowed some staff to take leave without disrupting the care of the children. At the left is the team and the children enjoying KFC and at the right enjoying time with Chew Gim.
Beth Griswold (a Physical Therapist) and Cindy Pearson (Special Education Teacher) are based in China. They visited us for a short time and assessed and suggested appropriate programs for the children and trained staff in how to implement these.
Partly as a result of this and to use our staff more efficiently, we split the school staff so that those who had trained as therapists were able to specialise in that area. Their base is now in the Orphanage building where they work mainly with the children in Eagles' Wings 4 and 3 but also visit the other homes. Director Li of the Orphanage has kindly allowed us the use of some rooms on the ninth floor (the floor below the homes) in order to deliver this more efficiently. The therapists are really enjoying their specialised role.
As well as the two teams, we have been blessed with having Australian nurses in residence for longer periods of time to supervise the children's health and to train staff in caring for particular issues. Cathy Inder spent about six weeks there in April and May. She was wonderful with the children and in training staff about dealing with fevers, coughs, rashes and vomiting - as well as other things as they arose.
Noela and Andrew Fay have made a return trip to Eagles' Wings and are coming
to the end of their three month stay. Noela has continued Cathy?s work and Andrew has been handyman and father figure to the children. They are pictured with Guo Xian who is blind - but enjoyed an outing to play in the playground at a local shopping centre. Wei Tao is both blind and deaf - but his enjoyment of the playground is obvious!
Donna has just returned from a well-deserved break with family and friends in the USA. She continued to stay in touch and add her input to issues that arose while she was away. We would have make sure she doesn't get any e-mails from COAT Australia or from China if she is to have a complete break!
Chew Gim has just returned from her three 3-monthly visa run to Hong Kong. Donna will continue to work on gaining registration in China so that these regular runs will not be necessary.
A young couple from the USA - Kaitie and Micah Neely - have just joined us for eight weeks. They married in the USA and then almost immediately travelled to us. Kaitie has chosen to do her practical rotation for her Occupational Therapy Degree with us. Micah is a linguist with an interest in Chinese dialects. Her work will build on and extend that of Beth.
There have also been a number of people there for very short times. The children (and staff) enjoy the extra time short term visitors are able to give the children some individual attention.
Linda Shum (Founder and Director) visited briefly in April to try to resolve some issues that had arisen.
As usual, she thoroughly enjoyed the unexpected chance to see and be with her Chinese grandchildren. Hong Wei and Liu Er were in Australia during August enjoying a little granny time with her and family times with some of their sponsors. The sponsors are also enjoying the chance of this interaction. They did the obligatory trip to Australia Zoo to have their photo taken with a koala and enjoyed the day with The Baumgartner family.
In the last part of July, almost all of our Eagles' Wings 2 (the ones who can walk), 3 and 6 families attended the Summer Camp run by Bring Me Hope (a group from the USA). The children enjoyed this experience. Si Yan and Jia Le met their new big sister - Misha - as well as renewed their friendship with Sarah and other leaders.
Yuan Yuan and Jian Wei have now been collected by their 'forever families' and Xiu Xiu should join hers by the end of this month. Another 12 of our children are in various stages along the adoption pathway. We miss them but it is wonderful to know that they will have their very own family to love and care for them and give them all the opportunities that living in a family will bring them.
A group of 14 intrepid travellers on the first 'Exposure Tour' tour leaves Australia for an action-packed tour of China on 9th October. The team members are all excited about the chance to interact with the children and to see some of this huge country. We plan to take many of the children with us as we explore the Jiao Zuo's attractions, markets and shops. We probably won't do the tour every year - and the frequency will depend on the amount of interest shown. Please contact Margaret (07 54827626) or mishu@coat.org.au to register your name etc for information if we do decide to do it again in the future. A big 'Thank you' to the team at Uplift Tours and Travel and Helen Wong's Tours who have done so much to make this trip a reality.
Statistics time: We now have six homes and the school, 61 children in our care and 44 staff. We could not do this without the in-China oversight by Donna and Chew Gim. Thank you so much wonderful ladies! In another initiative, we have linked with an au-pair training school in Zheng Zhou and have three of their trainees learning the practical aspects of child care alongside our staff.
Date claimer: For those who live in or near Toowoomba, there is to be a fundraiser on Sat 15th October at 2.00pm in the Hume Ridge Auditorium (behind K-Mart). If you would like tickets or more information, contact Carolyn (4635 4968) or St Bart's office (4636 2922). Tickets need to be pre-purchased and are $20 pp or $140 for a table of 8.
(*Lou Huan enjoyed the park every bit as much as the children!)
Thank you so much for your continued yarping and financial support.
Blessings
Margaret Mason
COAT Administrator
