GongYi Home of Hope

November Awards Banquet.

We don’t always get to do this, but when we can, we like to take those children with the “Highest Scholastic Achievement” for the month or the “Most Improved” for the month out for an awards dinner or supper.

They always dearly enjoy it and it creates a higher desire in each of their hearts to try just a little harder.  We don’t like having to push them so hard but to maintain “status quo” in China, we must.

A nice thing about this is the owner of the restaurant where we take the children (above photos) invites the Home of Hope children to eat at their restaurant at no charge.

In saying “they enjoy it” is an understatement to say the least!  One would have been unable to keep a grin hidden because it would have gone from ear to ear if you were their watching and listening to them go on and on about everything!

When we see our children doing great in school when society says “…they will never amount to much”, it is defiantly an “Up”!

This last Saturday, the 23rd of November, most of the children were off from school and we had an ‘impromptu’ “Sports Meet”… pretty much started and supervised by the children themselves. Our driver Wang Xi Dong has a great reputation with the children and he was right in the middle of things acting as a ref or umpire. We decided to bring you a little taste of the goings on via a short video.

To watch the video, please click on the orange text then after the video window opens (a couple of seconds) please click the “play” triangle at the bottom left…

Saturday Free Time… Children at play!

Every child at the Home of Hope participated… that is with the exception of the very small ones like Happy and Sissy and a couple others… but even they stood by and jumped up and down in excitement… starting out young I suppose.

Here are a few snap shots from the spectator’s gallery…

The children always do the “Scissors, Paper Rock” to see who goes first, second and so on.

We had a major “tug of rope” battle… it’s amazing how they really get into these games!

All the little ones watched and jumped up and down and screamed and yelled with excitement as the games progressed.

We would love to be able to only bring happy reports and glad tidings from the Home of Hope each time we write but sometimes adverse things do happen.

As the title of this post indicates, there are those challenges that come our way on occasion. Fortunately, we know we have a source of strength and help we can turn to during these times which is a great comfort.

We are sad to report that Hazel Ge Hua Zhi, one of our first children to come into the Home of Hope was seriously injured in a fall two weeks ago.

Hazel had been working in ZhengZhou for the last couple of years. She is in her mid twenties, and according to our legal agreements with the Chinese government, the children and their distant relatives, (if there are any) our responsibility for each child ends at either the age of eighteen or when they finish their education, whichever is greater.

In Hazel’s case the Home of Hope is no longer directly responsible for her… yet on the other hand, she is one of ours and we will always feel a sense of responsibility for her even though legally we are not.

Hazel would spend as much of her free time at the Home of Hope as she could, often arriving late on Friday or Saturday night after a long week of work. Of course her room and bed are always there waiting for her.

Hazel had just taken a new job in ZhengZhou and was helping the owner and his wife get things set up. The new place was in a leased building and the owner’s wife gave Hazel some things to do on the 2nd floor.

For some reason there is a hole in the floor open to the ground below and covered with some blankets.

Hazel, not being aware of this most potential hazard, walked right into the hole and fell two stories.

She was rushed to the hospital and underwent a lengthy surgery for major trauma to the back and lower spine.
The doctors say Hazel will never walk again, but of course we believe anything is possible with God.

The people Hazel worked for initially gave the hospital 2,000 RMB ($325.00) and subsequently have helped out four other times with amounts of 15,000 RMB ($2,437.00), 3,000 RMB ($487.00), 3,000 RMB ($487.00) and 2,000 ($325.00) but they steadfastly claim they have no more money to help.

We have however, been deeply involved in contacting the Chinese social websites in an attempt to raise funds for Hazel’s care. We have established a donation fund for her and we hope this will be enough until such time as the law can force the owners to take responsibility for their negligence.

There has been some response to date and in fact enough to be able to keep her in the hospital, although it has been one day at a time some days.

Through the end of November the hospital charges are over 94,000 RMB ($15,276.00) with the costs continuing to accumulate and some 77,815 RMB ($12,646.00) has come in from donations from Hazel’s friends and the general public.

We are hoping for donations from outside China which would be a great help in maintaining Hazel’s treatment on an ongoing basis as Hazel’s long term prognosis is in question at this point. Her current expenses are running between 2,000.00 to 4,000.00 RMB per day. ($325.00 – 650.00 US)

Her sister and brother are in touch with legal assistance to try to force both Hazel’s boss and the owner of the building to help but according to the lawyers nothing can be done legally for three months.

Meantime, Hazel must stay in the hospital and there is no indication of when she might be able to move into a rehab unit in ZhengZhou.

As we stated above, Hazel is grown and on her own now, but we ‘want to’ and ‘will do’ anything we can to help that our situation will allow.

If you would like to contribute to Hazel’s hospital costs it will go to a very worthy cause and will be greatly appreciated…

You can send donations on her behalf to the Home of Hope. Just be sure they are earmarked “For Hazel”.

Blessings to you and “Thank You” for all you do for the needy of rural China!