Day 2: XuChang

Today saw more evaluations by our Physical Therapist and Occupational Therapist. Aimee and Leslie have already begun working with each child's ayi to teach them how to work with the children. For example, our Kendall has some challenges with eating and her nanny was taught how to use spoon placement to help Kendall more successfully be able to eat off a spoon. She also learned how to position the spoon so Kendall can swallow better.

We put together some of the high chairs our supporters bought to start showing the nannies how to let the kids "work" in the chairs. They will have a chance to feel their food, practice fine motor skills in picking up their food and work on posture and trunk strength as well as head and neck control.

Lunch was amazing again. We are eating in the orphanage cafeteria each day and the cook ( aka chef) is very talented. Today's favorites included an egg and tomato soup, eggplant and tomato dish and chicken and cabbage dishes! We are being well fed!

After nap time, we followed our Amelia on a walk with her ayi. They explored the blossoming trees on the orphanage grounds.

The children are already enjoying their new toys. A bunch of kids rushed to join their ayi who was drumming on our "peanut" which can be used to build core strength. They were so enjoying just having fun with it. The piggy bank with plastic coins was a big hit with kids practicing fine motor skills ( shh! They don't know their play is therapy!) And just putting things in a bucket  and taking them back out again was a good time.

 

 We will have dinner with the head of local civil affairs this week and the orphanage director has invited the media. It will be a way to bring more exposure to the children and the orphanage and perhaps garner more interest from the public in helping orphans.

Each one of the kids we have met are so precious. We are falling in love! Thanks again for your support. We are so lucky to have Aimee and Leslie with us to help these children, train the nannies and help children that will be in their care in the future.

First Hugs Board of Directors Annual Visit to China

All of us at First Hugs would like to wish all our family, friends and supporters a Happy Chinese New Year.  2016 is the year of the Monkey!  We are delighted to report that there has been a buzz of activities happening for the children.          Hurrah! We have finally booked tickets for our annual visit to China. Krista and Moya first visited XuChang Social Welfare Institute in 2010. They had no idea at that time that they would return 5 years later to start a program there. “We were deeply affected by our first visit to XuChang There was a seed planted and it was amazing to us that we ended up there years later!” says First Hugs Executive Director, Moya Smith. This visit will be extra special. Not only will it be our first visit to First Hugs at XuChang, this time we are bringing a pediatric Occupational Therapist, Leslie Brock and a pediatric Physical Therapist, Aimee Ryan. Both women are parents to children from China. Leslie’s daughter was in First Hugs at XinXiang. Follow our trip on our blog or on facebook

Wish List for XuChang Trip Moya and Krista have put together a wish list of items they hope to deliver to the children at XuChang.  We understand that times are tough for everyone, but if you can make one tiny sacrifice it would make such a huge impact! Here is the link in case you would like to contribute: Thank you in advance for helping the children of XuChang!   Click Here to View the Wish List

Why did you do that?

Recently a First Hugs sponsor sent me a great question. Why, she asked, did you change the amount to fully sponsor one child from $1000 to $2000?  When we did that, it was purely to reflect changes in our budget when we moved our program from XinXiang to XuChang.  In the interest of being fully transparent, I am going to share our costs with you.

First of all, labor is more expensive in XuChang . In XinXiang we paid each of 6 staff 1400 yuan monthly plus we paid them for holidays. We paid our room manager 2400 yuan monthly. The SWI paid their insurance. At XuChang, we pay each of 9 staff members 2500 yuan monthly. We have 20 children at XuChang, up from 15 we budgeted for at XinXiang (Although we sometimes had up to 17 children at XX.) We also hired one nanny at XuChang to cook for the children (insuring that the children get good nutritious food and plenty of it!) and cleaning. When she is finished, she spends time with the children. We also pay our manager from XinXiang 2000 yuan monthly to go to XuChang two days weekly.

Most of our donors are drawn to sponsor children. They get quarterly reports and photos. So we made sponsorship for one child $2,000. We expect it will take several sponsors to fully sponsor each child. If all children are fully sponsored, we will have raised $40,000 (20 children times $2,000 full sponsorship) of our $51,000 budget.

There is no doubt we are facing an extra challenge this coming year to raise more money than ever. Our budget has gone from $30,000 to $50,000. We are dedicated to changing things at XuChang for the children. We are hopeful many people will join us in seeing a bright future for these children.

We are planning our annual trip to China in March. We are very excited to visit our program at XuChang for the first time. Krista Dolan and Moya Smith from the First Hugs board will be traveling. As always, we pay all of our own travel expenses. No money from First Hugs goes towards any travel expenses. This trip, an occupational therapist and a physical therapist will be traveling with us. Both have children adopted from China and both are passionate about helping orphans. They will pay their own expenses as well. Every cent raised for First Hugs goes to the children; to pay the nannies’ salaries. 

Headed to the Orphanage

Monday, June 29, 2105

We headed to the orphanage first thing in the morning, eager to see “our” babies. We were greeted at the door by QiRui, our room manager, holding Jonas by one hand and Adam by the other. We had found out just two days before we left that Adam has a family. We were so excited and QiRui was just delighted with the news!

We headed into the playroom where we were greeted immediately by Kevin with big smiles. Before we got settled in, the orphanage director asked QiRui to take us on a tour of the building to see the older kids. As much as we wanted to spend time with our kids, we headed off.

We saw the rehab rooms and met some of our kids there. One little baby, David,is  already 11 months old but is only the size of a newborn. There was also another little girl, we call her Jade, in the next room for therapy. We saw the room where the kids get hydrotherapy, a room for physiotherapy and a speech therapy room.

We then visited some of the older kids in their classrooms. One class of children were doing math and a younger class was doing puzzles and coloring. They were all very sweet. Some of those kids are on the shared list and are available for adoption.

We were then able to return to our room and check out our kids. We dove right in and started playing with the children and catching up with QiRui on the condition of some of our kids. One little boy, several months old, seemed to be having a hard time breathing. His chest was rattling and you could see his chest struggling to get air. Cathy happens to be a former EMT, among other things (in the real world, she is an accountant ) so she got a stethoscope and listened. She could hear upper lung sounds but no sounds in his lower lungs. We asked that he be taken to the hospital. He had been getting treatment at the orphanage but we were worried he might have pneumonia. He was taken to the hospital that afternoon.

Another little boy in our program, who we named Jack, has had a great struggle with hydrocephalus. He has been in and out of  the hospital, has had several shunts but he still is in pain. We are seeking to get him transferred to Shanghai for further treatment. All children deserve the absolute best care and for complicated and challenging cases, that can mean going outside the city or even the province.

Back at First Hugs, we reveled in the children who were well cared for. Kevin, who this time last year refused any solid food at almost three years of age, now feeds himself solid food! He is  talking and communicating well and has grown so much in the last year. Kevin often wants a toy another child has. He fully expects, as one of the older kids, to be able to grab it from most kids. However he has learned the art of negotiation and brings a toy, offering it in exchange for the toy he wants. He will be a shrewd businessman some day! Kevin is on the shared list.

Our little Malachi has also grown so much. He was just four months old when we were here last spring.. Now at 19 months old, he is walking and playing well. He is a very quiet and shy boy. It was so sweet when he finally wanted to play cooperatively. He enjoys building blocks, playing in the ball pit and stacking toys. Malachi has been matched with a family.

Adam is 26 months old and as I mentioned earlier, we just found out he has been matched with a family. He is a dynamic guy. He likes to play pretend and loved the stacking toy as well. He is constantly on the move and has a smile for everyone. He loves to go from walks and explore rocks. He also likes the slide.

We have some very tiny new babies in our program. One is called Liam. He has a club foot and hand and arm differences. There is no given diagnosis except limb differences. Liam is four months old and loves to snuggle.

About 20 minutes before we arrived this morning, a young baby in our room was adopted domestically. He is almost 11 months old. We were so excited for him but sad to have missed the occasion. It would have been so cool to see. He had been described in reports as “ with white skin and loving to smile, LiTong has been described as the spokesperson of our orphanage. Everyone likes him.” We wish him and his new family well.