Our Students

Spring Semester is Starting in China
Liang Minmin Says Thanks February 2009
Dasi High School Student Says Thanks Dear Sister Betty, Thanks for your help very much, at the same time, I will thanks all who help me people. If don't have their help, we can't study in school. You get their money in together, then give Blessing hands students, so we can have a chance study in school, please say ''thank you'' to them for me. Have a happy Chinese new year on this vocation, and thanks for your bless. Do you like Chinese food? to be honest, I can't eat turkey never, because I live in a poor family. But I like my family, because I know they try their power to support I study. This day is the first day of this term. I turn to school with a happy mood. I WILL Try my best to study hard to turn back for your help. Thank you, Liang Minmin Dasi Middle School Dasi is a rural town near Qinzhou, China. The ten Blessing Hands students there are pictured above. It is not a prosperous school but their spirits are high, and Jenny Huang, their Blessing Hands volunteer teacher, takes good care of our students. $80 a semester makes sure they can stay in school. Please help these students. None of the Dasi students have sponsors. You can see pictures of the Dasi students at this web address. Please choose one to support so they can continue in school. Send us a check at 106 Timber Lane, and e-mail us with your choice of students. You can also give online through Google Checkout on our website. The link is here. Google Checkout continues to charge us no fee since we are part of their Google Grants program.
Volunteer Reports We ask our college students to do three hours of volunteer service a semester. We want them to be blessing hands to others as they have been blessed. They are sending in their fall reports now along with their grades. I want to feature a few of them here. Gao Sheng is first. There is a mute primary school several kilometers from my university. I am in the weekly Saturday to the school with my classmates, where we play with the students. When they do encounter the problem of learning, we help them solve. Although they can only use gestures to express their feelings. Whenever they see us, they are very happy. So are we. Do good deeds, we are very happy! Calvin Gao (Gao Sheng 高省) Volunteer Work On the 17th Dec.2008 I with my classmates went to the Jinguan Special School. They were prepare to participate in the competition. And we helped them making the works. They were so smart. They made a green dress of paper. They made a clock of soybeans and mung beans. That also had some landscapes. We helped them binding frame and did what we can help. And we always communicated by writing on the paper, because most of them are deaf-dumb or blind. But we played happy. Zhu Guilan Under our institute's organization, we had social practice; the goal was to help elementary and middle school students' study. I chose the blind and deaf-mute school, because that the even more difficulty will be, so was the challenge. I remembered the first time, we were very anxious facing the blind students, because we did not know how we should communicate with them. When we arrived at there, we knew that the blind person was also same as us, wanting for obtain knowledge. They used the hand difficultly to touch their special book, then they can read an English word, we corrected their pronunciation if they were wrong. Although their speed were very slow, but the spirit they had were affected and worth us studying and respecting. Zeng Jie The following article caught my attention online. I certainly agree and hope that you do too. We are investing in girls and see great rewards. Invest in Girls Posted on February 3, 2009 World Economic Forum Panel Discussion Focuses on Investing in Adolescent Girls During a plenary session at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting this past weekend in Davos, Switzerland, leaders of foundations, corporations, nongovernmental organizations, and government agencies discussed how investing in the education of girls could help rejuvenate many of the world's economies, the Associated Press reports. Moderated by CARE USA president and CEO Helene Gayle, the discussion included Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation co-chair Melinda French Gates, World Bank managing director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Indonesian minister of trade Mari Pangestu, Nike CEO Mark G. Parker, UNICEF executive director Ann M. Veneman, and Grameen Bank managing director Muhammad Yunus. Despite efforts by the NoVo, Nike and United Nations foundations, only about half a cent of every international development dollar currently goes toward girls. To help address this dearth of funding, the panelists identified how to increase investment in programs that help girls and discussed the importance of reaching women in early adolescence - before they're faced with issues that can derail a healthy and prosperous life, including early marriage, early pregnancy, and HIV/AIDS. By providing girls with education and economic-based opportunities, said Parker, there is "a direct connection to shaping the post-crisis world" because girls will help transform their families, their villages, and ultimately their countries. "This isn't necessarily a question of adding more funds. It's a question of directing some of the funds that are already out there to...give us a higher return and give us higher impact." Okonjo-Iweala urged support for a $20 million public-private partnership to educate and train girls in post-conflict countries, noting that 70 percent of the 130 million children out of school today are girls. "If investing in women is smart economics, then investing in girls...is even smarter economics," Okonjo-Iweala said. "If you invest in girls, if you educate girls, if you get girls into jobs, you solve many problems." Lederer, Edith. "World Economic Forum: Invest in Girls to Combat Poverty." Associated Press 2/01/09.		In This Issue Students volunteer Invest in Girls Sponsor one of our middle school students.for $35 a semester. Quick Links Blessing Hands Website Donate Photos More About Us Blog
Thanks - Auction Volunteers Our Lexington silent auction had some great volunteers that worked tirelessly to make the auction a success. There were over 25 of them, so I can't mention them all. I especially want to thank the folks who came from the Lexington Chinese Christian Church and Southland Christian Church's Connection Group. Then there were all the folks who came from Morehead, especially Mike Rayburn, who offered his truck and time, and Carolyn Franzini, who was our head cashier. I also thank the ladies who came from my prayer group. What support our kids had! Eric Zhang, our board member who is also a board member of the KY Chinese American Association, gave his ladder, enthusiasm, and time. We also thank Mickey Xun, the president of KYCAA, and her board of excellent directors, who made this opportunity possible. Thanks also is due to Good Shepherd Printing and Jeff and Tammy Fannin, who went beyond the call of duty to get our excellent catalog printed, while doing it at cost. Finally the professional artists and students of Yangshuo, China, who sent their paintings and drawings, made the auction very special. We will be featuring their paintings again in an art show in Morehead, probably in April. Look for the announcement. Contact Information From Blessing Hands. Betty Cutts 106 Timber Lane Morehead, KY 40351 606 784 4785