Thursday, May 13, 2010

Living Hope Orphanage

It was "Gotcha day eve" for Angie and all the families in our group and the anticipation was being felt by everyone but there was one more very important stop before leaving Beijing for our next Province...

In China if a child looses both parents, but has any identifiable living relative they are not eligible for adoption. Even if the relative is a grandparent, distant cousin, etc.. that is unable to care for the child, they are still not eligible under Chinese law. Often these children end up living on the street or worse. This particular orphanage dedicates itself solely to the children in this situation. All of these children understand what is was to have a family, but now they have lost it. It is heartbreaking.

What we saw was a testimony to what this facility is doing to change the lives of these amazing children. We have never met a group of more polite, loving, and respectful children. Their ages range from about 4 or 5 years to high school graduation age. The children danced and sang for the families in our group and prepared a delicious lunch for us. Afterwards the children gave us a tour of the facilities including their rooms.

We didn't want to leave...



















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