They Call Me "Mama", & They Mean It!

When I chose to work with orphaned and abandoned children in Qinghai, I never realized how deeply I would care for them. Whenever a child needs help, I imagine that he or she is my own flesh and blood, and then take action. I know that childcare is not easy, but caring for disabled children is even harder. Because I cannot be a full time mother to them, I rely on house mothers. While filming a video for our recent 25th Anniversary celebrations, two of them opened their hearts to me...

House mothers at our Small Group Homes in Xining face many challenges, unfortunately many quit their jobs after a short while. Mother Li has resisted the temptation to quit because she finds her job very meaningful. She has been a housemother to Bin-Bin and Ming-Hui for many years. "Watching Bin-Bin overcome the obstacles he faces because of Apert Syndrome keeps me going. I don’t have any disabilities, how could I abandon these children who just won't give up on their own lives? I could find another job, but these children never give up on themselves. Everyday, they call out to me, Mama, and they mean it. I keep encouraging myself to be the mother they need. When I'm depressed, I remind myself that both the children and I are working hard to keep our spirits up, so I have to stay and keep on trying to be there for them."

Mother Li works together with Mother Zhang. When she talks about their 'children', she gets a little smile on her face. "They are all my children. Two of us make up this family and take care of them. They feel loved. As matter of fact, all children want to be loved by their mothers! Ming Hui likes to put his arms around me and say 'This is my mother’as he pushes the other children away'".

At Christian Action, we want each child to experience a mother’s love. Establishing small group homes is one way of achieving our goal. Each family group has two ‘mothers’ and eight to ten children.  Your support means we can establish additional small group homes. You can share in giving the gift of a mother's love by clicking on the Donate button.