Changing the Community

Last week Pastor Luke Wong, from South West Chinese Christian Church in Sydney, took nine members of his congregation to Qinghai for the eighth consecutive year. They received quite a surprise!

Qinghai, on the Tibetan Plateau, has a short summer, so children who are 'shut in' for many months just love going outdoors. But because funds and therefore manpower are limited in Xining Children's Home, the disabled children seldom leave the Home unless visitors are willing to take them on outings.

Pastor Wong received a surprise when his team took 10 children on the outing this year. He said, "Usually people stare at us and the children, and give us a wide berth, but this year it was totally different. People came over and asked questions, they weren't just curious in a macabre sort of way, they were genuinely interested!"

"At first they thought the children were our own, but we explained that they had been abandoned and lived at Xining Children's Home.  When we told them that our group had travelled from Australia to visit children they had been supporting for many years, two ladies (who were themselves Chinese but were tourists from another part of China) were so moved they burst into tears. Two other gentlemen, both local residents of Xining, were so blown away that one of them donated RMB1000 (an average month's salary) on the spot! They profusely thanked us as foreigners for giving time and money to do this for the children."  Pastor Luke took the opportunity to explain that these children were the responsibility of the community.

Our Community Education Programme aims to educate the community about children with special needs, and it's very rewarding to see this evidence that our efforts to change attitudes are finally bearing fruit!

All children love going out for a meal and disabled children are no different.  So Pastor Luke's team took the children to a local restaurant. A staff member, Ms Xu, said, "Everyone was thoroughly exhausted from the effort of taking out ten children with special needs, many of them in wheelchairs, but everyone was also very happy, especially since we are able to see the attitudes of the people in the community changing."

You too can become a Friend of Qinghai Children. This programme targets specific areas such as education or rehabilitation for a child with special needs. Click on this link to receive the monthly newsletter:

http://www.christian-action.org.hk/images/pdf/foqh_news_letter/fqh-201010_eng-email.pdf OR Click on the next link to become a Friend: http://www.christian-ction.org.hk/images/China/20110525_qinghaihomedonationform.pdf