Our Administrator Mum is Outstanding!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 12:18AM | Share Article 
I spent last week at our Xining Children’s Home in Qinghai Province, and I felt I must introduce you immediately to a very special lady. Madam Li Yonglian was the Administrator when Christian Action was invited to co-manage the home in 1998. Since then she has won many Awards, including the Civil Affairs Bureau’s Outstanding Worker Award 2001 and the China Worker’s Association’s Outstanding Administrator Award 2007. After working with Madam Li for 11 years I know that if there was an Outstanding Mother Award, she would have won that too!
You will get an insight into her heart for our children when you read the following letter which she wrote in June to some of the children who have been adopted and gone to live overseas. She was with me when we visited some of those adopted children in 2006.
My dearest children,
How are you? I was deeply impressed by the 2006 United States trip. During the trip, although I could only meet 20 of you, I have seen for myself that you are growing up so healthy and happy. Your family tries their best to bring up each of you who have different backgrounds and stories. Your Dad and Mum love you whole-heartedly and you are all growing up in this warm and compassionate environment. I got to know from Siew Mei that Hu Yang is going to the University and Bingjie has graduated from high school. I heard that the kids have asked about me and miss me and that really makes me happy. I miss you all, too.
There are now about 70 Xining kids staying in the States, I think Lingling, Qiannan, Meizi, Linjuan, Wenxiang, Yunjie, Hingya, Huijie, Fangxin, Yuxin and other kids have all become big guys. Perhaps they have forgotten me already! But I always cherish the memories of your lovely faces. As your Administrator Mum, your happiness is my greatest wish.
Now, we are still taking care of your younger brothers and sisters. They live happily at the Children’s Home. Sister Junjun had been working and just got married on the May 1st festival. Dai Zhenlei has got a job in Kunming after one year of studies in the technical high-school. Xiaoyi will take the high school entrance exam very soon. Anyway, we are all trying our best to make the kids happy and content. I hope you all will value your lives, love your lives, respect your Dad and Mum and, last but not the least, make more contributions to our society.
Love you, Your Administrator Mum
LiYonglian
Aren’t you happy to know that someone like this is looking after our children in Xining? I’d like to ask you to do something special please: if you are a praying person, would you pray for strength and wisdom for Madam Li in her significant role? As you can see she shoulders great responsibility and needs all the support we can give her.
Thank you for sharing our news with your friends – getting others involved in this work of compassionate care for the most vulnerable children in Chinese society is very important as you know.
God bless you!
Siew Mei
Reader Comments (4)
Dear Miss SiewMei:
i cannot believe it. i thought that Madam Li had already retired last year. i am happy that she doing well. thank you
for shared my good news with her. BingJie is going to back to High school for one more year to bring her grades up some.
today i am officially became a member of CNU family. i am very excited and very nervous as the same time to attend CNU for the school is going to quit hard to maintain high GPA. i am plan to enter the MAT(Master of Art in Teaching) program. i have to have least 3.0 GPA in order to get into this program.
please keep me in your prayers to get up with my studies at College
Thank you
Love Abigail
We adopted our daughter from the Xining Children's Home in October 2007. Guo, Tian Yao. We had the pleasure of meeting Madam Li and the staff of the Xining Children's Home. They are wonderful people. The love & care that our daughter received while at Xining Children's Home is seen daily. She has adjusted to her new family wonderfully, while we remind her of her family in China. Courtney is the absolute love of our lives and is a very smart, caring little girl and that I believe is from the care given to her by Madam Li and her staff. I can not begin to thank you enough for what you all do for these children. God Bless You All.
Our Best Always.
Tammy & Don Courtemanche
Dear Tammy and Don,
I am so happy to learn that Tian Yao is adjusting well and most of all that she is the love of your lives. It is our dream come true when these precious children are loved as they should be. I am sure you will continue to bring Tian Yao up to her full potential and a blessing to those around her as you have mentioned that she is a very smart girl. GOD IS SMILING! I will pass your comments to Madam Li and I am sure she will be so happy to hear from your family.
Thank you very much for reading my blog and I hope that this will serve as a platform for sharing and staying in touch with our Xining Children and their new families from all over the world! Please do pray for us and keep in touch.
Love,Siew Mei, and a big hug to Tian Yao, please.
Dear Abigail,
How very nice to hear from you, and yes, it was indeed great news for us that Madam Li decided to postpone her retirement for another year or so. We're all dreading her departure after having worked so hard and experienced so much together during the past 11 years! Coincidently that's what we have been discussing when I was in Xining two weeks ago.
Please send my best regards to BingJie and I'm very happy to hear that she's working hard for her grades. I hope she does well and achieves what she deserves.
Congratulations on getting into CNU. I'm so proud of you, and please have faith in yourself, as long as you do your best and try your hardest; you can overcome anything in life. I am sure I don't have to remind you as you are doing well!
Do keep me posted with your latest news, and take good care of yourself. My love to Mum and Dad.
God Bless,
Siew Mei