Foster home volunteers show they care
December 31, 2011, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
LIU Junya is a one-year-old suffering from a heart birth defect that caused his parents to abandon him at birth. But what could be a sad story is really one of hope and love.
Liu lives at the Lupin Foster Home on Zhongchun Road, where sick and handicapped children abandoned by parents are given a new lease on life. The shelter home was set up last March by five volunteer mothers and one father, who devote their spare time to its administration. Funding comes from charitable foundations, bazaar sales and personal donations.
Days before Liu's first birthday, he received a greeting card from Du Wei, one of the surrogate mothers. It read: "Happy birthday, Yaya. Be courageous and tenacious to live out the rest of your life. This is a day filled with love because you have numerous parents who care about you and love you."
The home provides free medical care for the children and after-care for those who require surgery. Many of the babies' problems are incurable. The children often end up in Lupin and similar foster homes because they are sent to Shanghai for operations by welfare organizations from around the country.
Lupin relies on a large number of volunteers to ferry the children to hospitals and donate toys, diapers, milk powder and clothing.
The 200-square-meter home has already cared for 12 babies, suffering from maladies such as cerebral palsy and birth defects. The home employs six ayis (domestic helpers) to cook, clean and provide round-the-clock care.
The name of the home comes from a Chinese song.
"I am pleased that so many Chinese people are beginning to feel that handicapped children are gifts from God, which is a widely accepted view in the West," Du said.
Du once worked as a volunteer at Baby's Home in the Tianlaiyuan residential community on Dushi Road, a similar shelter home for abandoned sick children. In her work, she said, she's met many people filled with loving hearts who want to help.
The founders of these shelter homes met via baby care websites, where postings from mothers in financial straits who couldn't care for ill children captured their attention and their hearts.
Du works at a Japanese company. She has a three-year-old of her own.
The commitment to the shelter homes is a 24-7 kind of commitment. Du remembers the night a baby at the home went into convulsions and she had to drive the child to hospital.
"I was so weak from fear that I could hardly press my foot down on the gas pedal," she recalls.
Another mother, Zhang Jingyan, said she feels great empathy for the children because babies need loving and these children have been cut asunder from normal parental love.
The home pays about 35,000 yuan (US$5,384) a month in rent, utility bills and medical costs. The founders of the home raised 45,000 yuan initially to open the shelter home.
One of the biggest challenges is finding volunteers willing to ferry babies to and from hospitals, Du said.
"We run on a voluntary basis, and everybody has outside jobs and family commitments," she said. Du encourages local residents living near the home to come for a short spell, give the babies warm hugs or play with them out in the sunshine.
"Babies need contact with the outside world, especially those just starting to speak," she said. It's hard work. Helping these children find permanent homes is the ultimate aim of the shelter home.
Liu lives at the Lupin Foster Home on Zhongchun Road, where sick and handicapped children abandoned by parents are given a new lease on life. The shelter home was set up last March by five volunteer mothers and one father, who devote their spare time to its administration. Funding comes from charitable foundations, bazaar sales and personal donations.
Days before Liu's first birthday, he received a greeting card from Du Wei, one of the surrogate mothers. It read: "Happy birthday, Yaya. Be courageous and tenacious to live out the rest of your life. This is a day filled with love because you have numerous parents who care about you and love you."
The home provides free medical care for the children and after-care for those who require surgery. Many of the babies' problems are incurable. The children often end up in Lupin and similar foster homes because they are sent to Shanghai for operations by welfare organizations from around the country.
Lupin relies on a large number of volunteers to ferry the children to hospitals and donate toys, diapers, milk powder and clothing.
The 200-square-meter home has already cared for 12 babies, suffering from maladies such as cerebral palsy and birth defects. The home employs six ayis (domestic helpers) to cook, clean and provide round-the-clock care.
The name of the home comes from a Chinese song.
"I am pleased that so many Chinese people are beginning to feel that handicapped children are gifts from God, which is a widely accepted view in the West," Du said.
Du once worked as a volunteer at Baby's Home in the Tianlaiyuan residential community on Dushi Road, a similar shelter home for abandoned sick children. In her work, she said, she's met many people filled with loving hearts who want to help.
The founders of these shelter homes met via baby care websites, where postings from mothers in financial straits who couldn't care for ill children captured their attention and their hearts.
Du works at a Japanese company. She has a three-year-old of her own.
The commitment to the shelter homes is a 24-7 kind of commitment. Du remembers the night a baby at the home went into convulsions and she had to drive the child to hospital.
"I was so weak from fear that I could hardly press my foot down on the gas pedal," she recalls.
Another mother, Zhang Jingyan, said she feels great empathy for the children because babies need loving and these children have been cut asunder from normal parental love.
The home pays about 35,000 yuan (US$5,384) a month in rent, utility bills and medical costs. The founders of the home raised 45,000 yuan initially to open the shelter home.
One of the biggest challenges is finding volunteers willing to ferry babies to and from hospitals, Du said.
"We run on a voluntary basis, and everybody has outside jobs and family commitments," she said. Du encourages local residents living near the home to come for a short spell, give the babies warm hugs or play with them out in the sunshine.
"Babies need contact with the outside world, especially those just starting to speak," she said. It's hard work. Helping these children find permanent homes is the ultimate aim of the shelter home.
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