My journey to the Qianjiang orphanage began five years ago, with a plea for us to help out at an orphanage. We were able to contact the orphanage via one our volunteers with Packages of Hope, Jin Yong Ming.
I must write a bit about him because this journey would not be the same without him.
Jin YongMing became a volunteer with our organization (Packages of Hope) in 2005. He worked with me as an engineer at Shanghai Turbine company as one of the most brilliant thermodynamic design engineers I have ever met. When we first met, over a decade ago now, my relationship with him was purely business, but I was lucky to find out that there was so much more to him. He was married and had a son. He graduated at the top of his class, painted calligraphy, and had a command of Chinese poetry.
But to my great fortune, he told me of his great passion for helping others, and how he wanted to help me to help children in China . Through the years, with his exceptional intelligence, his skill in logistics, and his tireless passion to help children, he had helped hundreds of children throughout China . But YongMing had additional struggles in his life.
In 2006 he contacted the orphanage and worked to facilitate donations for the orphanage. However, in 2007, he was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. I begged him to forget about the charity work, and focus on his family. He refused.
Jin YongMing was getting more and more ill, and I told him to stop. But he didn't. As his health declined, he carefully chose a colleague whose heart and passion nearly equalled his - a young woman named Zhang Yuan. She promised to carry on the torch to help the children of QianJiang Even as Jin YongMing left this world in December 2007, at the age of 39, with his wife, son, and family at his bedside, he was issuing instructions to make sure we would continue to help the orphanage, and some very special children at the orphanage (which I will talk about later!).
Over the years we did what we could with the small donation money we had, every little bit helping and providing a bit more for the children. A copy machine, blankets, spring festival clothes and sweets, and medical checks. Then we were able to provide even more, like milk powder, and air-conditioners. We were also parts of some incredible success stories in helping out children to find their forever families.
Dealing with the orphanage was mostly difficult for us. We wrestled with lack of funding, difficult communication, miscommunication, and long wait times for things to get done. In the end, however, it all paid off. We had some amazing stories to tell, having miraculous and faith affirming happy endings.
Our mission now was to continue these stories and fight for the children still in the orphanage, who are waiting for the time when they will be in the arms of their forever families.
No comments:
Post a Comment