Education in Kaifeng

Anatole France, wrote in

The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard,
“The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.”

Like waves crashing onto the shore of our work with LWB Education students, these words came to mind when reading a report from our newest teachers in Kaifeng, Henan Province. These two teachers have been hired to live and work in the social welfare institute to strengthen children living there as well as foster children that attend local public school. The aim of our program in Kaifeng is to build a bridge between these smart, loveable children and their future.

When our Kaifeng teachers spent several days observing and training with experienced LWB teachers at our Believe In Me School in Changde, Hunan Province they were amazed at the dynamic of learning and teaching. The report that they wrote to us volunteers and to you sponsors and donors is full of the hope and challenge they take back with them to Kaifeng. I cannot summarize better than what they say in their own words.

What follows is a snippet of the report from our Kaifeng teachers. Enjoy what they have learned and will bring to their students, the incredible kids that we support.

Changde learning

Teacher Tang: We try to communicate with them not only language but also soul communication, the eyes are the window of soul…Patience is the basic stone of our work, we cannot be good teachers if you don't have it. The interest to life is more important to studying for the kids especially to some simple daily life independent abilities. We should focus on handcraft work and music classes for they can develop the kids' intelligence.

Teacher Den's: When classes begin, she comes to the key point of what the kids will learn immediately. Most of the time she used the Montessori teaching equipments to teach the kids. She used body language and focused on the explanation of the teaching aids. She used body language again and again together with teaching aids and let the kids do it themselves independently.
Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, to the sponsors and donors that have made these opportunities to teach, learn and grow toward a bright future possible.

To learn more about the LWB Education program in Kaifeng and students in need of sponsored learning opportunities please visit: http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/education_kaifeng.cfm

Tutoring Program in Kaifeng

The Kaifeng tutoring program has had a rough year, but I am happy to report that we just rolled out a much improved program. Previously, we had a tutor to work with those with special needs who were unable to attend regular schools. We found that the tutor spent a lot of time traveling to work with each student and was only able to visit once a week. This just wasn’t enough to serve the needs of these kids and it was difficult to retain a tutor willing to travel the distances.

We now have 6 students in foster care in the same area so that a tutor can provide lessons 5 days a week for the whole group. We have found a tutor who is excited about the opportunity to serve these special needs students in this new arrangement. The students also seem to be excited about learning in this group setting.

Here are some photos from the first week’s lessons.

I can see the enthusiasm and care in the tutor's face. Just look at how the children are responding and participating!

The tutor is already making plans to develop lessons that better support the special needs of these students.

Nancy Williams
Kaifeng Education Coordinator

Love Without Boundaries’ education, equipping children with the brightest future possible.

Kaifeng Foster Care

While in Kaifeng, we were able to visit all of the foster families. The first night we made home visits, and the parents were so kind to allow us to keep visiting even when it was quite dark as we arrived late from Anhui. As I walked down the dirt alleyways in the village, I thought to myself how fortunate I was to be able to see such snapshots of daily life in China. I always try to remember every detail I can so that I can share it with my own children, as I want them to have the clearest picture possible in their minds of their birthcountry.

In every home we visited, we were met by beaming foster parents who couldn't wait to show off their child. The first mom we visited became a foster parent after hearing about it from her friends who were fostering. They had cared for a little girl for the last two years, and she was recently adopted. I asked if they were going to take another foster child and was told they were not, because the pain of having to say goodbye to her was still too deep. As I was told this, I realized exactly what we are asking our foster parents to do. We are asking them to love a child completely, to care for them as their own child....and then to let them go. What an amazing sacrifice they make when a child is adopted. Like so many things in life....it is a complicated situation, but this was the trip that cemented in my mind that these wonderful parents are making such a sacrifice to their own hearts to say goodbye. They say goodbye hoping that the child they love will have the absolute best life possible. What a gift.

Two of the moms in our program are caring for little boys with Down Syndrome, and both of the boys are thriving in their care. The second mom we visited had her little boy dressed up so cute. He clasped his hands together and bowed to us saying "Xie Xie ayi" when presented with new shoes. His mom was so proud that she had taught him what all the animals say, and we got to hear his impressions of a cat, a cow, a dog and we were also treated to his cute little wiggle dance.

The next morning we visited with all the remaining families. Two years ago, we had written the story of Hercules, an extra tiny little baby with cleft who survived being failure to thrive when the orphanage staff, LWB volunteers, and the Hope Healing Home all came together at Chinese New Year to get him the assistance he needed. I was so excited to be able to see Hercules again, but he was a little less than excited to see me as you can tell from his picture. :-) He was running EVERYWHERE and did not want to take the time to visit with a stranger until he realized that we might have treats. Whether he wanted to see me or not...I was overjoyed to see this baby who had beaten the odds. He will always have an extra special place in my heart.

As we greeted each family, we were able to pass out new shoes and coats to each child, and one little girl looked shyly up at us and said, "I had been dreaming of new shoes." Everywhere we looked there were fat, happy babies with their cheeks hanging over their coats and with smiles from ear to ear or energetic toddlers and children running every which way. What a wonderful day. What a fabulous reminder that foster care can change a child's life in the absolute best way possible. Thank you again to everyone who sponsors a child in this way.

"Hanging" with Grandma

LWB has been doing foster care in Henan province for almost a year and a half. In Kaifeng, the abandonment of children is not common, and we were particularly struck by one statistic the orphanage shared with us. They told us that 90% of the children living in the orphanage were abandoned at the hospital in town. 90%. We think this shows that the majority of time, birthparents are trying everything possible to keep their children and only abandon when their medical needs are too great for the family to handle. Because of this, most of children in our foster care program have medical needs, and so many are very tiny and weak when they first enter the program.

Today we opened up the newest foster care reports sent by our local facilitator, and with each new report our smiles grew bigger and bigger. The children look so healthy and beautiful, and in each report the love they are receiving is so obvious. We just had to share this wonderful photo of one little girl in the program. She has become so happy and healthy in her foster home. Our favorite line was this one, as it shows that the goal of foster care is to give these beautiful children the most normal life possible. "She likes hanging out with her grandma and aunty".

Isn't that a beautiful line? Wouldn't every child like to "hang out with Grandma"?

Thanks to everyone who helps to make foster care possible for orphaned children in China. What a priceless gift they are receiving.

Kaifeng PT camp

Last weekend a physical therapy training camp was held in Kaifeng, Henan province for children in the orphanage and in foster homes. We are so grateful to Anhui Children's Hospital for allowing two of their top therapists to travel to Kaifeng for us to evaluate children and give recommendations on their care. Each foster family was given a piece of PT equipment, such as a peanut ball or boppy, to take home, as well as being given specific exercises to work on with their children. All the kids thought the peanut balls were very cool!

This is the first of three PT training camps being held this year for LWB. We have another camp coming up in June for the children in the Changde orphanage in Hunan, and then our largest camp to date (for over 100 children) will be held in July in Yunnan province. Six PTs and OTs are making their travel reservations to China now, and we know they will have an incredible journey. We are still in need of an additional pediatric PT for the June trip. If you would like more information on our PT camps, please email Bruce Sherman at bruce.sherman@lovewithoutboundaries.com

And in wonderful fundraising news....Nick and Lester have reached Scotland! You can follow their journey at http://nickandlesterbigbikeride.blogspot.com/

Wonderful Henan

LWB currently has four volunteers in China, visiting many provinces to check on our programs and investigate new possibilities. This is part one of their travel blog:

Celebration is in the air! Today is the Lantern Festival, the last day of Chinese New Year. As I sit here, fireworks are exploding across the city. Everyone is dressed up and we have seen families doing all sorts of things together to celebrate this day. They have been flying kites, wandering past the street vendors, and going out to eat. The streets have been filled with balloons, foods, and festivities. How fun it is to be in China today! The firework shows have been spectacular, with a show right below our hotel window.

There are many things to celebrate as we all reflect over the last two days that we have spent in Henan. What a wonderful experience that Lori, Nancy, Tracie and I have been able to share with the people in this province. We have been so warmly welcomed by orphanage and government officials. It has truly warmed my heart to see so many people who care about the beautiful children in their care.

Our visit started out yesterday with a meeting with the Zhengzhou SWI staff. When we arrived, we were brought into a room with the most beautiful toddlers.

These toddlers were seated in a bright room with balloons hanging from the ceiling and there was a feeling of such warmth. As we entered, they welcomed us with clapping and cheering. I was clapping and cheering inside as well, as I knew what a special opportunity we were offered with this invitation to visit this orphanage. We brought with us cakes and yogurt to celebrate the New Year. Each of us enjoyed our time with every one of these children. They loved the bubbles we brought. Not only did they like watching the bubbles, but they also loved blowing them. One little girl even tried to take the bottle away from Nancy to do it all by herself. One of the children that I played with was a beautiful little boy with albinism. I learned that this child has a family waiting for him in Holland. How lucky his family will be! This child is absolutely precious.

After our visit with the toddlers, we headed off to two baby rooms. Each of us loved cuddling and cooing with the babies. I held the most adorable baby and had such a hard time putting her back down. She had the most chubby cheeks and beautiful smile. Another sweet baby that was held by Tracie had an unrepaired cleft lip. This child will be our first medical child we will partner with Zhengzhou SWI to repair. I am so excited to be able to help this child.

Once we were done with visiting the children, we were taken into a conference room to discuss how we can work together. We were able to meet each of the directors and learn how hard they are working to help the children. They are doing their very best to help each of the children in their care. They have 169 children (80 babies), most with special needs. Many of the surrounding orphanages send their children to Zhengzhou SWI because they know that they will get good medical care. We talked about many of the children we saw and how LWB might be able to help. A book that described the accomplishments of the SWI was presented to each of us. I am so excited about the relationship that we have begun.

As soon as we finished a delicious lunch, with much toasting, hosted by the Zhengzhou SWI, we were off to Kaifeng. The trip took a little longer than usual because of the pouring rain. I couldn’t wait to visit with the people that I was able to meet last January. I felt like I was returning to see old friends. The vice director and orphanage doctor were waiting for us to start the foster care visits. Because it had been raining for two days, the director was so thoughtful and bought us all rubber boots. We all had fun walking in the puddles with our new bright boots.

Our first foster care visit was with one of our favorite little girls "J." J is a child who had heart disease, but her heart was repaired by the government sponsored surgery program, the Tomorrow Plan. This little five year old girl just shines with personality. Her cute little voice chatted away as she told us all about her home. Her foster mother got her all dressed up for us, doing her hair, putting on a bright red silk vest, and a beaded hat. J was so excited to open the gift we brought her, including a tutu, wand, and stickers. She immediately added to her outfit and stuck stickers on her hands and forehead. What an absolutely adorable child. What love this child receives from her foster parents! You can just see how proud they are of her and how much they adore her.

We visited a total of 14 foster families. Every child seemed to be so loved and cared for. Each of these families was so welcoming, letting us traipse our muddy boots into their house. None of these families cared at all about their floors, but only about showing us their children.

As we were visiting the last group of foster families, the van we were traveling in tried to turn around at the end of a driveway and became stuck in the mud. At this point it was pouring down rain, and it was getting dark and chilly. It seemed the whole neighborhood came out to help get our van unstuck. They needed to dig, push and pull to finally get it out. Because we had 10 suitcases in the back, they needed to unload them in order to remove the weight from the rear wheels. They carefully piled our suitcases on top of rain coats. We huddled together, under umbrellas, trying to keep our pile from toppling over. The vice director and I laughed about our two unbelievable experiences together – the last time I was in Kaifeng, we spun out of control on a highway in a blizzard, and now this time the van got stuck in mud and a torrential rain.

After we were on way again, the driver brought us to the hotel so that we could clean-up quickly. We also rushed to put gifts together for all of the school children. These beautiful children touched our hearts last year when we visited. We wanted each of these children to have a special Chinese New Year gift and asked them if they could have anything, what would they want? In our bags were four MP3 players, a badminton set, roller blades and safety gear, a baby doll, a pen set and biographies, and backpacks. The kids were so excited to get these special gifts and I will never forget the look on their faces as they looked into their bags. I asked how the children would get music on their MP3 players and learned that the tutor we hired to help them had already downloaded the software on his computer so that we could help them load music. We shared dinner together and we all enjoyed watching each of the children eat. These children were so caring towards one and other, as they dished food on each others plates. I also had to laugh as two of the children left to use the bathroom and returned with the boy trying to shut the door on the girl, running away and giggling. They truly are a family.

At dinner, we heard that we had a very special breakfast with the leader of the civil affairs. He had heard the story of us visiting the families in the rain and getting stuck in the mud. He said that he wanted to meet us all to show his appreciation. This gentleman was so warm and generous, offering his help to us in whatever way we might need him. You could tell how friendly and genuine this man was. During the meal, I decided to tell him how happy I was to meet him. Every one laughed when they told me that I had told him instead that I wished him a promotion! He told me that he was in the highest position that there was, and then laughed. This meal was quite memorable to us all, because not only did we enjoy a wonderful Chinese breakfast, but also such graciousness.

After we said our goodbyes, we were off to the Kaifeng SWI. The orphanage was excited to show us all of the changes they have made. With the help of the wonderful Shanghai LWB club, there was a beautiful new playground and bright murals on the walls of the baby rooms. The baby room was our first visit and once again we were all cooing over the babies. One baby had so much fun “talking” to us, making all sorts of noises. After the baby room, we went to their playroom and passed out Kix cereal and made balloon hats for everyone. Two of the school girls were in the playroom too and soon became quite proficient at pumping up the balloons. In no time, they needed us only to tie the balloons and they were making balloon creations too. I loved their giggles and their pile of their balloon animals they had when we were done. They just laughed and laughed when we popped a balloon, because all of the kids would go say something that sounded like bang. One of the girls tried to twist and hold her ears at the same time. What fun we had!

For lunch, we went to a local restaurant and tried some delicious dishes. We had a window seat and were able to watch all of the holiday festivities. As soon as we were done with lunch, but before we left Kaifeng, we went to a local embroidery store. Kaifeng is famous for their beautiful embroidery. We bought a gorgeous piece for our heart art auction that will be held in May. The vice director and our facilitator did the bargaining, telling the woman about our organization. She too was happy to help us by giving us a good price.

As our plane left Henan, I reflected on all of the beautiful children, our friends old and new, and the partnerships that have been created and are beginning. I just love how we are all working together as a team of people to help these beautiful children.

Karen Maunu

Medical Director

The Prize Inside the Cereal: Qing!

This is Qing, a darling little girl who lives at an orphanage that we help support in Henan Province. She came to the orphanage with a very large spinal tumor, and a very small everything-else!


After having surgery, Qing was placed into foster care, but she was slow to gain weight and strength. Concerned about Qing's progress, our foster care monitor asked if we couldn't send a little extra rice cereal in addition to the formula Qing was already receiving.


As it turns out, Qing LOVES cereal! In just three months, she has already plumped up so much...she would be hard to recognize if it weren't for that sweet little smile and sparkling eyes!



With the continued love of her foster mama and a little luck, that beautiful face may be gracing somebody's family portrait some day. Wouldn't that be something?




Jan Champoux
Nutrition Director