Fall activities and Mid Autumn Day Festival
It has been one very, busy time here in China and we have not updated our website for some time.
To catch up we though we would show several slide shows of the Home of Hope activities over the last couple of months. Those activities include our “Annual Youth Camp”, “Baby Surgeries”, “Mid Autumn Day Festival” and other miscellaneous shots from the same period of time.
ANNUAL YOUTH CAMP
This year we held our annual youth camp at the Home of Hope #2 facility in XuZhou which is administered by Bob and Cindy Sayre. We knew this would be a really exciting trip for both the children from the GongYi Home of Hope and the PingYu Home of Hope. XuZhou is one of the more modern cities in China whereas both GongYi and PingYu are still very much in the development stage of attempting to join the modern world. XuZhou is clean, has clean air, has quite a few Western companies who have opened offices and factories there so there is a lot of Western influence. Not to mention the fact that XuZhou is not so far from ShangHai which is also a great influence on XuZhou as far as advanced development is concerned.
The large bus we chartered to take the GongYi Home of Hope children to XuZhou arrived to pick up the children just before sunrise on the 12th of August. Not one child had to be wakened for the trip. They were all wide eyed and ready. Of course the toddlers and nursery children could not go. This was for elementary school age children and up.
The following few slide shows will give you a good idea of the three days we were in XuZhou. The children enjoyed it immensely and the learned a lot and were able to meet and get acquainted with the brothers and sisters from the other Home of Hope facilities. Some of the slide shows are fairly long so take a little bit to load, depending on your Internet speed.
We hope you enjoy!
SLIDE SHOW #1
Just click on the little black arrow at the bottom of the screen above and the film will start. You need to have Flash Player installed on your system to be able to play the video. If you don’t have Flash Player on your system you can download it -click here- for free.
Besides the crafts and teaching sessions we had each day, there were also games and competitions on site as well as numerous trips to outside activities such as mountain climbing, a trip to the XuZhou obstacle course type play area and of course swimming at the lake across from the XuZhou Home of Hope.
SLIDE SHOW #2
One of the things the children really enjoyed were the “meals on the grounds”. With the exception of breakfast… and many even ate outside for breakfast… we had our meals outside. It was very hot during this time and the children would gather under the trees in the yard at the XuZhou Home of Hope and eat their meals.
One especially memorable meal was the “Hot Dog” cookout we had for our last supper. It was really awesome and after everyone was full of hot dogs and chips and other good things, each Home of Hope facility afforded entertainment for the others. It was really amazing to watch the children entertain.
SLIDE SHOW #3
BABIES’ SURGERIES
We had three babies that needed surgery. Rachel needed her third surgery to continue the repair on the inside of her mouth and Enoch and Morris both needed their first surgery for cleft lip / cleft palate conditions. The hospital said they could accommodate all three of the children at the same time as long as we could bring enough care givers to take care of them. We headed to Beijing with one Nursery Nanny along with several of our older college girls who still had a couple of weeks before they had to report back to school. All three surgeries went fine!
Above, left to right are Rachel, Enoch and Morris. Below is a group of snapshots we took while they were in the hospital in Beijing. All three children are back in GongYi now and are doing really good. It is interesting in that before her last trip to Beijing, Rachel was somewhat distant to people other than those she was with all day such as her peers and the Nursery Nannies. However, since she came back from her last surgery, she is very outgoing and likes to talk to everyone!
The large building in the cover picture of the babies’ surgery slide show is the Beijing train station where we got off the train with the three babies, nursery nanny and the older girls. Quite a large place! Of course in China they like to build everything huge.
MID AUTUMN’S DAY FESTIVAL
The Mid Autumn’s Day Festival never falls on the same day year after year as it is always the day of the full moon sometime during the transition from September to October. The festival is an ancient celebration of the Full Moon representing Autumn and so it is always celebrated with fruits and “Moon Cakes”. A Moon Cake is a round cake like substance filled with various things – anywhere from cooked egg to mashed sweet beans to a substance somewhat like pecan pie filling and just about anything else imaginable. One year in Beijing I saw Moon Cakes filled with ice cream.
During the Moon Cake festival days, everyone is giving everyone Moon Cakes. People we hardly ever see show up at our gate, bringing the children Moon Cakes. They even bring them to the foreigner as well.
In staying with Chinese traditions, we always have a Mid Autumn’s Day Festival party at the Home of Hope. This year was no exception. At the party we have some story telling, songs and of course Moon Cakes and fruit is handed out to the children. It is always something the children look forward to!
The following are a few snapshots we took at random during this years Mid Autumn’s day party.
We hope you have enjoyed our “catch up” posting of the Home of Hope activity highlights over the last couple of months.
We receive letters from our friends and supporters on occasion asking why we don’t post our needs on our website updates. We don’t like to do that but on rare occasions and when the need is great we do.
At this time we are in dire need of a new van to replace our old one.
This year when we took our van in for inspection, even though it is on it’s fourth engine and has been well maintained as far as the running gear, braking system and such are concerned, we were told they would not approve it any longer. It’s just too worn out – believably so since it is on the go just about fourteen hours a day, taking children to and from school, children to and from the hospital and doctor, doing the Home of Hope buying and such.
A new van will cost about $19,500.00 US. Any amount contributed to this need will be greatly appreciated. If you can and do decide to help, please earmark your offering / donation to “New Van”. How to donate.
Thank You and many blessings!
Posted: September 30th, 2010 under Uncategorized.