Dear Sponsors,

As many of you know I have recently been in China for a couple months (in Hangzhou in Zhejiang province) where my husband and I were doing some volunteer work at a hospital.  We just returned mid December and have been quite busy getting caught up at home and work and preparing for Christmas.  But things are settling down now and I can get caught up with our Amity projects.  For those of you still waiting for names and/or photos I'll include more info at the end of my message.

While I was in Hangzhou I was able to take a train to Jiangxi province where I met up with the Amity staff and went with them on their visits to the orphanages.  We went to Nanchang, Jiujiang and Wanzai where we'd gone in June and then also were able to visit the Gao'an, Shanggao and Guixi orphanages.  I felt very fortunate to be able to make these visits and it's wonderful to see all the benefits our sponsorship money is providing.

In particular, the foster care program really impacts the lives of those children.  Even with the improvements in the care provided at the orphanage it still can't compare to a good foster home.  The foster families are loving and so proud of their foster children.  They love to show them off for us, holding them proudly for photos and trying to show how they can stand, walk, etc.  Both in June and in November, I saw foster moms who had brought their foster child in that morning to be adopted.  Most were crying and they were very sad even though they were happy for the child.  One family showed us the framed photo they had in the living room of their previous foster child.  

And the individualized attention that the child receives is important as well as the exposure to everyday life.  It's great to see them outside playing with the older neighborhood children and even doing things like chasing a chicken in the yard! We were able to visit most of the foster homes.  We didn't see all of the Nanchang homes that we'd seen in June unless their child had been adopted and they had a new foster child.  And we ran out of time to see one new foster home in Nanchang that was farther away than most.  But we saw all the other new homes and/or new children at Nanchang, Jiujiang and Guixi.  

We'd just started sponsoring foster care at Guixi so they were very excited about our visit.  They welcomed us with a formal speech in the conference room, had formal meals including frequent toasts, and even had a cameraman from the local TV station accompany us on our visits that day.

And the Hugging Grannies are doing a fabulous job as well.  Four additional Grannies have been added at Nanchang since I was there in June.  Two are working with the physically challenged toddlers and two with the physically challenged infants. These severely ill infants were not getting much attention and now the Grannies are there, holding them frequently and nursing them back to better health, even bringing more nutritious food from home for them.  And the two Grannies in the toddler room have really improved the situation for these "handicapped" toddlers (for some of them being Hepatitis B positive was their only handicap).  

Instead of being lined up against the wall sitting in their potty chair all day long they are up marching around the room and doing morning exercises.  Actually these Grannies first had to teach many of the children to walk, even though some are two or three years of age, they just hadn't had a chance to try before.  And they're teaching the children songs and new vocabulary words.  They presented an eight page teaching plan that they had written up.  

Jiujiang has also asked for more Grannies and we said that if sponsors could be found for this we'd like at least two Grannies to work with their physically challenged kids.

The Grannies make such a difference to a large number of children.  The overworked orphanage staff frequently don't have time to hold the children or give individualized attention.  The Grannies can do this and also try to teach the staff some improved childcare principles and encourage the staff to consider the development of the child, not just their immediate physical needs such as food and diapering.

After visiting Nanchang we went to Jiujiang.  We visited the foster homes there, most of which were new since our visit in June as the Amity staff had not been satisfied with the homes we saw at that visit.  They were pleased with the current homes.  In addition we visited the children at the orphanage, including the next ten that will be going to foster homes with our increased sponsorship.  We met with the Grannies and also with the three young men we're sponsoring in vocational training.  One had finished his training and has been hired by the orphanage to work as a security guard.  He was there with his uniform on.

Then we went to Wanzai and stayed overnight.  Amity has another sponsor that is sponsoring quite a bit of foster care at Wanzai but there are a few more children that could be sponsored if there is a family with a specific interest in Wanzai.  We bought some clothes, tapes and a tape recorder for the six year old blind girl that we've been helping.  We're hoping that she'll be ready next year to attend the Nanchang School for the Blind and we'll sponsor the cost of her schooling.  While at Wanzai I did see the air conditioner/heater we purchased for them as well as the refrigerator which is being used to store medications.

On the way back from Wanzai we made brief stops at Gao'an and Shanggao.  We met two schoolchildren at Gao'an and Dr. Hong (Amity staff) examined several children with medical needs.  At Shanggao the schoolchildren were unfortunately at school and we didn't get to see them.  But we did get to see the orphanage and the younger children there.  A Shanggao family has since sent a donation that is being used to purchase winter coats and blankets and the orphanage director has requested a heater/air conditioner unit to be used in the playroom of the new building they will soon be moving into.

Our last visit was to the orphanage at Guixi where, as I mentioned above, we were very warmly received.  It was wonderful to see the new foster homes but hard to then go back and see the infants and toddlers still at the orphanage.  They are in small, crowded rooms (the orphanage director is trying to get permission from Beijing to build a new building for the children) and it sounds like the caretakers are quite overworked.  All were older women and one told the Amity staff that she worked 24 hours a day, six days a week.  

Maybe someday we'll be able to provide some Hugging Grannies here as well. We are going to be able to equip an indoor playroom for them which should make quite an impact.  And we're hoping to be able to provide some outdoor playgroup equipment and meet some medical needs.  We did see the schoolchildren we're sponsoring at Guixi.  One sixteen year old girl in middle school was learning English and I was able to talk with her a bit.  She wants to be a primary school teacher and would go to a teacher's high school once she finishes middle school.

Photos of schoolchildren from a couple of the orphanages arrived just before I left in October and I was able to get those out to the sponsors.  More arrived in late October and mid November while I was gone and some last week so I haven't had a chance to work on those until just recently.  I put some in the mail last week and will get the rest in the mail over the next few days.  Unfortunately the Shangrao and Xinyu orphanages didn't include photos of all the schoolchildren and Amity has asked for the missing photos to be sent.  I'm not sure when we will receive these.  Not all the children sent letters but for those that did many are quite touching.  A few of the children sent drawings.  One younger schoolchild drew a picture of a woman and a girl and titled it "I miss mom."  Another drew a house and wrote, "I want a home".

Later this month I'll get this summary of my November visit up at the website  along with some photos and this will serve as my "newsletter" to all of you.  I'd also like to write up a summary of all the projects and items that we've sponsored for the year of 1999 and get that out to you. Childhood Friends is still providing some support in Jiangxi province  through Amity and Amity themselves have funded some projects in Jiangxi when they've become aware of other needs during their visits to check up on our projects.

It's been an incredible year and through your generosity we've been able to help more than I had ever imagined would be  possible. 

Thank you to all of your for your caring and support!

Sincerely,   

Peggy Gurrad 
peggy@gurrad.com

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