GongYi Home of Hope

Since our last web site update we have had several birthdays. Clockwise starting top left we have Henry He Long Qiang with roomates Hank (on the left) and Jerry; Julie Zhang Yan Yan (now nineteen and entering college this year); Seth Yang Xiao Ke; Michael Yang Wen Bo; Lydia Kang Lin Lin in the center with roomates (left to right) Rena, Heidi, Linda and Gail; Tim Tian Zheng Tu; Logan Zhang Xin Zhuan (also nineteen) and in the center of the group is a picture taken at Paul Yao You Bin’s birthday (Paul is on the left) shown with Nathan and Jim Yang Jin Duo. Nathan is telling Paul that Paul is now taller than Nathan is. How well we remember the first day we ever saw Paul. He barely came above Nathan’s waist back then! My how time flies!

Summer Work – For Pay!

Some of the older children, Sam, Hank, Julie, Holly and Tim asked Yie Yie (Nathan) if they could find a job during the summer this year. They said they were old enough now and really wanted to earn some money during the summer.
We try to paint the interior of the dorm building and the other buildings if possible each summer as by the end of winter the walls are showing the effects of having fifty plus children living there.

We told the children they could work right here if they wanted to, painting the inside of the buildings and they all jumped at the chance! It is almost finished as of this writing and it looks really good!

On the left is Julie Zhang Yan Yan. She is studying art in school so she was elected to do all the detail work. The taping of the windows and doors… door knobs… light switches and plugs then paint the places that took a lot of care so as not to get paint all over the adjacent items. She did a great job!

On the right is our “Handy Man” Tim Tian Zheng Tu… actually that is just what we call him. He follows Nathan around anytime he is not in school and even though he is still in middle school he can weld, do plumbing, fix minor electrical problems and much more. Between Nathan and Hai Tao (our true maintenance man) Tim is learning all he can and says he wants to stay at the Home of Hope when he finished High School and be the General Maintenance man for all the different Home of Hope’s in China.

In the back ground is Sam who graduated from High School this year and is preparing to enter college in the fall.

We painted the downstairs (the boy’s section of the dorm) an eggshell white with a 1 1/2 meter high band in baby blue at the bottom.

Upstairs, which is the girl’s section and also the nursery area, we used the same egg shell white with a very, very light pink band on the bottom.

To the left is Hank Cao Hai Kui who also graduated from high school this year and he too is preparing to enter college this fall.

Both Hank and Sam speak excellent English and so it was very easy for Nathan to give them detailed instructions on how he wanted everything done!

We felt this to be a great thing. We would have had to pay a contractor to come in and do the work as we normally do every year but this year the children who are working on this project earn their own money, are learning about having a work ethic and are helping to improve their own home!

On the right is Hai Tao our general, all purpose, all around…. EVERYTHING! He is our driver, driving the children to the doctor and other places as necessary; driving the house mothers to take the babies to the hospital; going out and negotiating good prices and buying many of the necessary things to keep a place like the Home of Hope operating on a daily basis and when not doing that he teaches the boys and does general maintenance work…

The neatest thing about Hai Tao is just what you see! That perpetual smile! He has been with us for over four years now and we have to say we really can’t remember a single time when he was not smiling!