Welcome to our Blessing Hands Blog

Thanks for visiting our website and learning about our charity that helps impoverished children stay in school.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Kroger plus card



Subject: $329.47 Given Through Kroger Plus Cards
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Blessing Hands
Blessing Hands
December 17, 2014
Great News!
Kroger Rewards Results
Help our students
Help our students
Kroger will be sending a check for $329.47 to Blessing Hands. (18 households) who shopped at Kroger between 09/01/2014 and 11/30/2014 (Cycle 1, Qtr 1) have contributed to our $329.47 total donation. If you are in Kentucky, you can help our kids by simply shopping at Kroger's.

This is free to you and I when we associate our Kroger Plus rewards card with Blessing Hands. Don't forget to link to our organization on the Kroger site. The more our supporters shop with Kroger, the more money our organization will earn!

Go to this Kroger Link to associate your Kroger plus card with Blessing Hands. If you don't have a Kroger Plus card you can sign up for one and save every time you shop. It cost you nothing and has given us $329.47 this quarter. It does not affect your Kroger Credit Card Rewards. 
Give Help to a Primary Chinese Child this Christmas
Yangshuo Child needing a sponsor
Yangshuo Child needing a sponsor

Primary children in the Yangshuo and Liuzhou area of China need sponsorship for school. Put a Chinese child on your Christmas list. Only 7 days until Christmas.

 Please to go this website for more information.

DONATE NOW   Sponsor a Primary Child with a partial sponsorship for a year for $84. 



There is still time to give to our Primary program this Christmas. 

Sincerely,
Betty Cutts

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Have a Blessed Thanksgiving


Blessing Hands
Blessing Hands is Thankful 
Peggy Says "Thank You"

Peiling Wu with her students
Peiling Wu (Peggy) graduated from college in 2011 and became a teacher in a rural school. She was among the first 12 girls we sent to college with a grant. She wrote me email just recently that I want to share with you. 
Dear Betty,
How are you? Sorry I haven't contacted you for a long time. Yes, it has been a long time. I currently still teach at the village elementary school. There is not a big number of students, only 187 kids. Besides teaching everyday, I also work on my vegetable garden after school. I live a busy and meaningful life now, which is given by "Blessing Hands", If it were not for your help, I would have dropped out of school. If it were not for your help, I would have worked very hard in a factory production line. I am so thankful for all you have done for me. 
Best wishes!
Peiling Wu
Just Say Boo to Drugs
Blessing Hands volunteers took part in the Just Say Boo to Drugs
Cowboy receives candy after saying Boo to Drugs.
Cowboy receives candy after saying "Boo to Drugs".
event in our community for Halloween. Over a 1,000 children came to get candy from tables set up by nonprofits and businesses in Morehead. The yearly activity keeps the kids out of the rain and dark and allows them to receive a wholesome message about avoiding drugs. 
Matthew Liu, one of our board members who was visiting from China, joined Shuyi Wang, a visiting scholar from Tianjin, in handing out candy to the kids. Having never seen a Halloween in the USA, they took lots of pictures of kids in Halloween costumes and make up. 
Savané Silver Gift
Sweeties Earrings
Silver Sweeties Earrings
We have a special way to raise money this Christmas while offering you Silver Sweeties earrings handmade by Savané Silver in Lexington, Kentucky. 
Rachel Savané has given us a special promotion for Blessing Hands supporters.  She likes to invest in her community and help others. These are solid sterling silver earrings that slip through your pierced ears. 
The cost, which includes shipping in the USA, is $60. Kentucky residents will pay $63.30.This includes Ky sales tax and shipping. International shipping would be about $13 more. 
Do your Christmas shopping online now while helping rural kids in China. 
 undefined $60 for Silver Earrings and shipping
 undefined $63.30 in Kentucky for tax and shipping 
New Primary Students
Mingding's father is hard of hearing. The mother has just disappeared. A cousin, who has lost his parents and has hearing loss, lives with the family.
Mingding's father is hard of hearing. 
Yuanyuan's family is very poor. Her brother is also in our program.d
Yuanyuan's family is very poor. Her brother, Mingding, is also in our program.








I met  Tina Yuqing Qin while she was a visiting scholar in the USA. She and her colleagues had been helping poor students in their area. They joined their efforts with ours to help 12 more of these very poor children.  Here is their report of Yuanyuan's family situation. 
"These primary students are brother and sister.  Among all the poverty-stricken families, their house is the rattiest one our volunteers have ever seen. The kitchen is open air, and the roof ofthe house is a piece of plastic cloth. The outside of the wall is washed out by rains. Written in big read characters is "Keep away from this dilapidated house!" A hand-made bed from a piece of wood is where the little girl sleeps at night. The father is so hard of hearing that we could not communicate with him.  The mother has just disappeared. A cousin, who has lost his parents and is also very hard of hearing, is living together with the family." 
Besides these 12 students, there are 23 more new primary students in Yangshuo, who also need sponsors. You can sponsor one partially for $84 a year or fully for $295 a year. Most of them are from single parent families or the family has a
disabled member. We hope you will give a Christmas gift that will keep on giving to these students for years to come. You can also give to the primary fund and not take a particular student.
 We give thanks that three of these new students have sponsors now. Please make it all of them. We have started a Christmas giving page for these students.  
Blessing Hands Featured at the MSU International Dinner.
Xiaomin Mai Oney and Betty Cutts at the International Dinner at Morehead State University.
Xiaomin Mai Oney and Betty Cutts at the International Dinner at Morehead State University.

Xiaomin Mai Oney, one of our board members, and I had a great time at the recent International Dinner at Morehead State University. We signed up several newsletter contacts and made new friends. I got to present a 10 minute slide show about our students and their needs at the dinner. 
New Sponsors in Cleveland
New sponsors, Hannah Chen and Ray Liu, in Cleveland with Shuyi Wang, a visiting scholar at MSU
Shuyi Wang, Matthew Liu and I enjoyed a trip to Cleveland to talk about Blessing Hands to supporters there. Almost everyone at the meeting signed up to help our kids. If you want a presenter to come to your area, let us know. 
On this Thanksgiving Day, we are thankful for the 1000+ students we have helped over 9 years, our devoted volunteers, board members, and staff. Most of all, however, we thank our sponsors, donors, and friends, who make it all possible, and God whose Blessing Hand started and has guided everything. 

Sincerely,
Betty Cutts
Blessing Hands
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Saturday, October 25, 2014

Hua's Story


Someone encouraged me to write a story I told them. Since the story is really told better by Hua herself, I have included her words
.

 

I want to share with you the story of Hua. Hua is from a Yao minority family. Her mother and father are gone, but she still lives by the exhortations of her father to study and learn. When I heard about her, she was in great stress because she was unable to afford her second year of college.

When I arranged to meet with her and her family, I found that her three cousins and uncle and aunt, who were both blind, were visiting Hua and her grandmother and brother. Hua was concerned for her three cousins, two primary boys and one lower middle school girl, who also needed help with their schooling.

When I questioned the family, I found that the father once had some sight and could tell his children how to plant vegetables. Their mother was born blind. We all huddled around one heater while I heard the story of their family’s poverty and lack. They were getting some government help, but Hua thought their needs were more important than hers. She wanted us to find sponsors for the three children’s schooling.

I asked Hua to let me make a movie of her explaining her own need for a university sponsor to help her with her tuition. I had to take that movie three times, but she never did stop crying all the way through. The final take out in the sunlight turned out better, and I knew in my spirit that somehow, someway, I would find a sponsor for Hua and her cousins. I told her that God loved her, which was about all I could say in Chinese just then, and hugged her. With those words, I knew that God would do something about Hua, who was more concerned for her relatives than she was for herself.

I put her video on our Youku.com channel as soon as possible and was surprised the next day when one of our sponsors contacted me to sponsor her without me even putting the video link in our newsletter. He just happened on the video and was moved. Hua soon had her scholarship for five more years of college. The sponsor even gave extra to cover her other needs and needs of her family. Her cousins also were sponsored in due season. Here is Hua’s story in her own words.

Her beloved teacher confirmed her story and added that she would come barefoot to school but would stay outside to listen since she could not afford the tuition that had to be paid back then.

Walking on a Long Journey—My Medical Dream

A dismal little room with clay walls, one small table and some tools, a small bed, this was my house when I came to this world. I was born in a poor village, and was sealed with “the poor” when I was born. When I was three years old, my mother got away from my father and me since she could not tolerate the poverty. From then on, my life became more miserable than ever before. In my father’s entire life, he has tried every way to make some money, such as growing grain, beans, working in towns nearby as a porter, but my family still could not get away from the poverty.

I was not able to go to school as my peers because my father could not afford it. I was so envious of those who were able to go to school. Many times I followed far behind them going to the school. Standing against the window of the classroom, I looked into the classroom and listened to the teacher. I so enjoying those moments.

Eventually, my father sent me to the school with a load of corn. I understand that my first class was as significant as that load of corn, even though that school could only offer lessons for the first and second grades. I started doing housework such as doing laundry and cooking before I was able to go to school. I studied diligently, was granted very good points, and won my teachers’ admiration and respect.

When I was in my first grade, my grandmother fell down from a little attic in my house and got injured seriously. It took us a lot to cure my grandmother. In my second grade, my father’s leg was broken by a falling tree when he was logging for a living. That was the most miserable period in my life. My family has entered into heavy debt since then.

When I finished my second grade, I had to go to another school which was five kilometers away from my house. For four years, I had to walk that far to go to school and ate only one meal every day. My father’s leg recovered later. When I was eleven years old, my father became an out-of-town worker in order to save money for my brother and me to go to middle school.

I graduated from elementary school with the highest honors and grades in my county and was accepted by the only key middle school in my county. On my way to the middle school, my father warned me to study hard, that was his only desire on me. Three years later, I graduated from the county key middle school and was accepted into the city key high school. Although the county key high school had offered me wonderful policies, my father insisted that I should go to the city key high school to receive the best education. He was willing to sell everything he had to afford for me to be educated. My father had little education, yet he knew the importance of knowledge. He did not want his daughter to live the same life as he did.

My father passed away when I was a junior in high school, and I lost my only support. He died owing. He worked too hard to take break, which seriously hurt his liver and consequently, his liver function failed.

Fortunately, I got an assistantship with the great help from my head teacher. I finished my study in high school and was accepted by Guangxi Medical University. I have enrolled in a seven-year program of clinical medicine.

I was happy because I realized my father’s dream; meanwhile, I was sad as I did not know how I was going to be am able to afford my study. I was very grateful that I received a college student loan and finished my first year of study. I have applied for another batch of loans for my sophomore year, but the loan I got is not enough to pay my schooling bill. My brother is an apprentice and gets little pay, so he is not able to help me. My two uncles have their families to afford, and it is hard for them to help me. I understand, it is cost to study in medical school, and maybe this major is not suitable considering my economic situation. But I believe. Since I have chosen this way, I am willing to stand on my dream, pursue and realize it.

I wish I could get any help so I could walk further.

Hua

Now let me tell you the rest of the story. She of course got her help from Blessing Hands. After she got a Blessing Hands, Hua was so grateful that she wanted to see me when I and her sponsor came to 藍奕邦 Pong Nan
again. She asked what she could do to help us with the scholarship lunch we planned to have in her city. I asked her to come early and put name tags on all the students and help them wait in the lobby until we could all go up to the banquet room together. She got busy on our qq.com internet group and talked to all the scholarship students online. She made sure they knew where to come for the meal and made a list of who was coming. This was a great help to us since I can’t speak Chinese and needed someone to talk to the students and encourage them to come.

Because of her efforts many more students came to the meal than ever had before. We almost did not have enough room at the huge table we always use. Later she asked if she could be a co-administrator on the qq.com group. I agreed, and she soon had the group in order with people blocked who were not our students and those that were in alphabetical order so I could find them by their Romanized Chinese names. She is our cheerleader spreading news and being a blessing hand to our students in that chat group. I am expecting great things of Hua and so is her sponsor.

Betty Cutts

We ask our students to do 3 hours of volunteer service a semester. I suspect she has done more than that.


Saturday, September 20, 2014

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Arts and Eats Festival in Morehead


Arts and Eats Festival
You are invited!
 
The Arts and Eats Festival will be this Saturday the 20th in Morehead, KY from 11
Our table in 2011
Our table in 2011
am to 4 pmBlessing Hands will have a tent in front of Stuckey's Beauty Shop on Main Street. We will be selling lemonade and snacks. Half of all we make will go to two local charities, who serve people in distress.

There will an entertainment schedule, merry-go-round, bouncy inflatables, and many booths selling food and art items. Bring the whole family for some fall fun. 

We welcome volunteers for the morning and afternoon and baked goods to sell.


Call 606 207 4785 to volunteer or offer food items to sell. 

                                        Zeng Qunhui Lost Most of her                                               Scholarship Sponsors
Zeng Qunhui 's brother and father have 7 people to support.
Zeng Qunhui 's brother and father have 7 people to support.



We have a sophomore scholarship student whose sponsors have not been able to sponsor her again. She is a good student with a 85.3 Grade Point Average. She is studying pharmacy engineering at Guangxi Normal University and will graduate in 2017. 

    

This is her volunteer report for her freshman year. 

I have participated in two volunteer activities in my spare time during last year. In the winter holiday, I went to a clinic, which is near my home, to be a volunteer. I explained prevention knowledge about AIDS to the rural
Zeng volunteered at a local clinic.
Zeng volunteered at
a rural clinic.
residents. If they asked me something about AIDS, I would explain it to them. I worked as a volunteer for a week. After a week, they knew something about AIDS.

In spring semester, I went to a deaf school with members of our school community. We took some gifts for deaf students, including pencils, books, and exercise books. At the beginning, we  could not understand each other. We communicated with body language. I taught them how to fold paper cranes, and we played games together too.

I went to work as a volunteer teacher in summer vacation. My students were rural children. I  taught them to recite poetry, and I asked them to write poetry by themselves. This activity lasted for 20 days.

Please help Zeng Gunhui with a scholarship for the rest of her 3 years of college. You can see that she is a blessing hand to many people. She has $165 from one sponsor toward her $650 Scholarship. Help her make up the difference. 

undefined Give $85 to renew Qunhui's college scholarship for three more years. 

undefined Give $100 

undefined Give $200 
Feel free to contact us with any questions regarding the Arts and Eats Festival. We can be reached at 606 207 4785.
 
Sincerely,   
 
Betty Cutts
Blessing Hands
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Saturday, August 23, 2014

Letter from a Student

Blessing Hands
Blessing Hands
 Recently we got this letter and volunteer report from Li Dongyu, one of our Blessing Hands students. It so moved me that I asked him if I could use it for a newsletter. He agreed, so here it is with his own Chinese words and translation (with a few corrections in English from me). 

我在培训的地方拍的。在这里我学到了很多东西,我爱这个地方。 My training place. I learned a lot here. I love this place.
我在培训的地方拍的。在这里我学到了很多东西,我爱这个地方。 My training place. I learned a lot here. I love this place.
亲爱的的祝福之手: 
Dear Blessing hands:

你好!How are you!

下个学期我就上大四了,时间过得真快,我又想起了第一次给你写信的时候,那时我还在上初中,到现在过去已将近八年了。那时我还不会用电脑,给你写信时我就用铅笔写好在信笺上,交给老师代发。那时我的很好奇,远隔重洋的你是否能收到我的信,事实证明你收到了,八年来都收到了我的信,八年来你们一直给予我帮助,让我的学业能不断进步,让我有更多机会去见识世界和了解世界,非常感谢你们。

 
I am a college senior next term. Time flies. I remember the first time to wrote to you, when I was in junior high school, and now it has been nearly eight years. At that time I did not use a computer, when I wrote to you. I used a pencil to write on the letterhead of the school with the teacher's encouragement. I was very curious, separated by vast oceans, whether you received my letter. In fact you did receive it. For eight years you have received my letters. For eight years you have given me help, let my academics progress, and let me have more opportunities to see and understand the world. Thank you very much.

我还有最后一年就要毕业了,到时候我想从事软件开发的工作,因为这是我的专业。我希望我编写的软件能帮助人们提高工作的效率,或者给生活带来趣味。你们是我的榜样,我想在工作后做一个祝福之手。

 I have one last year to graduate from the university. I want to work in software development because this is my profession. I hope I will write software that can help people improve the efficiency of their work or bring life fun. You are my role model, I want to do like the works of Blessing Hands. 

这是我在学校的时候拍的照片,那时是2014年4月。School photograph in April 2014.
现在我正在南宁市接受培训,我原来说过我想成为一名软件工程师,现在我越来越接近我的理想了。我在这儿学到了很多知识,我和我的同学打算为一家医院开发管理系统。能取得今天的成绩与你的帮助是分不开的,非常感谢你们的帮助,我很期待有一天也能像你一样去帮助别人。

 
Now I'm in Nanning for training. I want to be a software engineer. Now I feel more and more close to my ideal. I learned a lot here. My classmates and I are going to develop a management system for a hospital. To achieve today's achievement is inseparable from your help. Thank you very much for your help. I'm looking forward to one day being able like you to help others.

这是我们将要开发的系统,为了方便医院对病人的资料进行管理,使病人能获得更好的治疗,让医生的工作量减轻,我想我如果能作出这个系统,也是一件很有意义的事情。

We are going to develop a system to facilitate the hospital information management of the patient. The patient can get better treatment, making the doctor's work easier. I thought if I could make the system, it would be very meaningful.

  
2013年下学期到2014年上学期的义工说明
 Volunteer Activities

 
我有一个社科系的同学,叫做莫素芳,她每个学期都会去柳州市儿童福利院做义工,她给我讲了在在儿童福利院的孩子的事情时,我决定周末跟她一起去照顾福利院的孩子。

 My classmate, Mo Su-fang, goes to Liuzhou Children's Welfare Home each semester to volunteer. After she told me about the orphanage children, I decided go with her to care for the welfare of the children on the weekend.

柳州市儿童福利院的地址是航银路66号,从我们学校乘公交车过去要将近1个小时。周六我和同学给孩子们买了一些小礼物就过去了,有笔和笔记本,还有一些零食。刚到的时候,孩子们有些害怕我们,因为平时很少陌生人会来看他们。我们把礼物发给每个小孩,和他们做完游戏后,孩子们都喜欢上我们了。时间过得好快,我们都很开心,有的孩子要为我们表演唱歌和跳舞,有的要为我们朗诵诗歌,我很感谢他们的表演。中午的时候我们在一起吃饭,我和同学都细心地喂孩子饭(有些是残疾儿童),那顿饭我们吃的很开心。

The Liuzhou child welfare address is No. 66 Air Silver Road. It's one hour from our school to there by bus. My classmates and I bought some small gifts for the children on this past Saturday. There were all kinds of pens, notebooks, and some snacks. When we first arrived, the children were afraid of us, because usually strangers come to see them. We gave gifts to each child. After they finished the games, the kids began to like us. Time passed very happily. Some children sang and danced for us or recited some poetry. I was very grateful for their performances. At noon when we ate together, my classmates and I were careful to feed the children rice. Some of them are disabled children, who cannot feed themselves. The meal we ate was happy.

时间过得好快,我们下午4点就要回去了,孩子们对我们非常不舍。由于福利院不允许拍照,我们没有留照片。

Time was soon gone, since we had to go back at 4:00 pm. We were very loathe to leave. Because the institution did not allow pictures, we have no pictures.
__________________________________________________________________

最近一次做义工是在这个暑假,我离开学校到南宁市去进行培训。我的同事和我一起为一个留守儿童募捐的活动布置会场。

 A recent volunteering activity I participated in this summer vacation concerned left-behind children. My classmates and I together planned a left-behind children's fundraising activity.

这是我们布置的会场,为留守儿童进行募捐。This is our arrangement of the venue, to raise money for the children left behind.
这是我的同学,他叫周天明,我们正在把气球挂到墙上。This is my classmate. He is called Zhou Tianmin. We were preparing balloons to hang on the wall.
这是我的同学,他叫周天明,我们正在把气球挂到墙上。This is my classmate. He is called Zhou Tianmin. We were preparing balloons to hang on the wall.
这些是留守儿童代表,他们都获得了帮助,许多孩子的父母都是外出打工,一年才能见一次面。这是他们在彩排一个节目,诗歌朗诵。

These are representatives of the left-behind children who get help. Many children's parents are migrant workers, who see their kids once a year. This is their rehearsal program for poetry readings.

 
我们邀请了一些企业家和教育机构的代表,他们将在下午为孩子们进行募捐。
We invited representatives of some of the entrepreneurs and educational institutions. There will be fundraising for the kids in the afternoon.
 我和同学弄了一个上午才好,虽然没有直接帮助孩子们,可是我还是觉得我做的事情是挺有意义的。

My classmates and I got to prepare in the morning. Although we did not directly help the children, but I think we did something really meaningful.
Great Nonprofits Award

What a wonderful letter Li Dongyu has written. I am attaching a photo of him when he first came into our program in 2006. This year is our 9th year serving students in China. 
Li  Dongyu at Puyi Middle School in 2006
Li Dongyu at Puyi Middle School in 2006

We get lovely letters like this when students are thanking sponsors. What a joy it is to see them grow up and want to become Blessing Hands. 

Each year Great Nonprofits Top-Rated List of Nonprofits comes out in October. To be listed for 1914, we need 10 positive reviews on our page on their website. Most of our students in China can't give a review on a computer, but you can.  Please take the time to tell people what you think of Blessing Hands - good or bad. 

Help us get a @GreatNonprofits 2014 Top-Rated Award by writing a review of your experience with us! All reviews will be visible to potential donors and volunteers. It's easy and only takes 3 minutes! 


I will tell you a secret. These reviews encourage our hardworking volunteers to keep it up. Take time to say thank you like Li Dongyu did. Thanks is all the pay we get.  
I thank all you who have helped our Blessing Hands students. We have all of our college  scholarship students funded now thanks to you.
 

Blessings and thanks, 

Betty Cutts
Blessing Hands

Friday, August 08, 2014

Exciting China trip

Exciting China Trip
 Website in English     Pinterest pages     Newsletters     Blog     
 
Dental Clinic at Chong Ye Primary School 崇业小学
Students Receive Dental Check-ups, Books, and Toys at Chong Ye School 

You can see more pictures by clicking on the photos. 
Kids line up for dental clinic
Kids line up for the dental clinic
Doctor demonstrates proper brushing.
Doctor and volunteers
demonstrate proper brushing.
  














Three Mai sisters made this whole day possible and handled the details. Xiaoyuan Mai, a doctor at the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Hospital in Nanning, encouraged her co-workers to bring their expertise and arranged the Chong Ye Primary School Dental Clinic.  

Xiaomin Mai, one of our board members, helped raise money at a USA yard sale for toothbrushes and paste for all the students.  Xiaoling Mai, vice-principal of Ming Yi Primary School in Nanning, arranged a book donation drive at her school which gave over 1000 books to the rural Yao minority school. BlessingHands gave four metal bookcases, so each classroom could protect the books. We also took them a water purifier. 

The Chong Ye kids were very excited to see all the books, visitors, gifts and candy. Volunteers were glad to help the kids, eat lunch at the school, and see the countryside homes and culture. 

The road to the school was narrow, under construction, and bumpy. One car carrying books had a flat tire, but at least it was not in a muddy place.  
Kids got to chose a gift after their checkup.
Kids got to choose a gift
 after their check-up.
  

Principal Lan accepted the donated books from Minyi Primary School.
Principal Lan Kegang 蓝克刚 (far left) accepted the books donated by Min Yi School.
Blessing Hands gave the school a water purifier so kids will be able to have safe drinking water.
Kids will soon be able to have
safe drinking water.
   
Blessing Hands gave the school a water purifier.
Blessing Hands gave
the school a water purifier.






























Chong Ye Primary School  
崇业小学  
will soon have a Blessing Hands water purifier installed. The water presently comes from a cistern since wells can't be dug in the limestone karst. The kids drink from one faucet with no thought of boiling water. 
Xiaomin Mai translated during the local TV interview.
Xiaomin Mai translated during the TV interview.
 
 

 
This 5 year old boy is mute like his mother.
This five-year-old boy 
is mute like his mother.
Yao Families

Some of our group hiked up to visit two of the Yao families that Blessing Hands is sponsoring. The traditional Yao house is at least two stories with the bottom being the barn for the animals. The rafters hold storage and sometimes drying crops. Corn planted by hand is the main cash crop. 

With a sponsor's help, this boy will be sent to a doctor in Nanning to see why he is mute. Most of his family of five is handicapped in some way, but his older sister is a good student in middle school. She walks miles to school everyday. 
The houses are open to the weather, so they sleep with mosquito nets.
The houses are open to the weather, so they sleep with mosquito nets.
   
  
Older Yao homes often have concrete additions with flat roofs to gather rainwater. Migrant works send money home to build the more modern homes.
Older Yao homes often have concrete additions with flat roofs to gather rainwater. Migrant workers send money home to build the more modern homes. The homes are high in karst mountains where water is precious. 
The hospitality of the families was shown by their gifts of corn, soybeans, and three live chickens to their Blessing Hands guests. The driver took the chicken to the market to be dressed, and we ate them the next day for lunch. It was a little hard for our group to eat chickens they knew, but they were delicious. 
Steps to the main floor were made out of logs.
Steps to the main floor were made out of logs.
Eric, son of Shanli Zhao, especially was interested in the chickens. We ate them the next day for lunch.
Eric, son of volunteer Shanli Zhao, with  the gift chickens. 
  
Sharing the path with a herd of goats
Sharing the path with a herd of goats
New Opportunities - New Students 

In summer, we went all the way from Zhuhai to Kunming helping students and engaging volunteers. We have begun a new children's programs in Zhuhai City, among the Miao minority peopleand at Shenfu Primary School in Quanzhou County near Guilin.  Yangshuo County is also selecting thirty-five new students for sponsorship.
Huizhong Wang  with his  father Lao Wang help us among the Miao. 

These are opportunities for you to sponsor a child for a longer time period since you can follow them as they grow up.  Beginning in the fall semester, these new programs will start small and increase as the students grow. Contact us if you want to sponsor a child. Each program has different costs. 





Sponsor New Students


undefined  Give $42 a semester for a primary student at Shenfu Primary School  or Fumin Primary School.

undefined Give $57 a semester for a Miao student.

undefined Give $65 a semester for a Zhuhai student.
Hokey Pokey Song
 Kids Singing
深福小学 Shenfu Primary School 

Sponsorships 

Shao and Jing, her husband, are our volunteers for Shenfu Primary School in Jing's hometown. We have enrolled 11 new students there, who need sponsors. You can see the story of our visit on our Pinterest pages. 

Zhenlong can be sponsored for $84 (510 yuan) a year
真龙 Zhenlong can be sponsored for $84 (510 yuan) a year





  
This school is in the Guilin Prefecture of Guangxi Province.  The teacher and kids walked an hour and a half to meet us at a larger school. Because the kids are from the same village, Jing and Shao think they can follow them as they grow into higher grades. Most of the kids have the same family name. This is an opportunity to sponsor a student from first grade on up.  When sponsorship starts this early, students raise their dreams and have more open doors available to them. You can see more photos of students and pick one out to sponsor on our 

Jiajia needs a sponsor.
家家Jiajia needs a sponsor.
  
Tao needs a sponsor.
涛Tao needs a sponsor.
Qiming can be sponsored individually for $42 a semester or $84 a year.
启明Qiming and other students can be sponsored for $42 a semester or $84 a year.
Wheelchair Dedication
Wheelchair Dedication
Dedication of 109 Wheelchairs

Our volunteers got to see some of the people who they helped to receive wheelchairs. I enjoyed talking personally to each one of them. We partnered with the Wheelchair Foundation to provide the chairs made in China for $90 each. The chairs even had our logo on the back. 

There were two different kinds of red chairs. One was a tricycle that could be used outside for travel and the other was for general use. I especially noticed one clever man, who had altered his old tricycle to have a windshield and covered top. When the dedication ceremony was cut short by rain, he scrambled to get his new wheelchair hooked up to his old one.                 

  Click on photos to see the whole story. 
Tricycle type wheelchair
Tricycle type wheelchair
This man used wooden blocks to protect his hands.
This man used wooden blocks 
to protect his hands.
  
With his new chair in tow, this fellow took off  in the rain.
With his new tricycle chair in 
tow, he took off.
 
 








  Members of Lexington Chinese Christian Church gave fifty of these wheelchairs.  The Handicapped Bureau of Du'an County helped plan the ceremony and arranged for the delivery of the chairs. 

Our many Blessing Hands volunteers made the day unforgettable.  马榕蔓 Mandy Ma, our volunteer administrator in Du'an, used her skills to coordinate everything.
Our wheelchairs at the Du'an  Handicapped School
Our wheelchairs in the disabled classroom
Du'an Handicapped School

We also toured Du'an County
Handicapped School, which is the biggest in Hechi Prefecture. The three year old school teaches 100 blind, deaf, disabled, and mentally challenged students until they graduate from ninth grade. 

We suggested to the principal that they should have computers to teach the students vocational skills. 
If you know of a donor, foundation, or international company willing to fund such a computer project,  
please contact us
.
  
They need to have new com
puters in every appropriate classroom as well as a lab to teach computer skills.

Students' dorm  at the school
Students' dorm at the school
 
These disabled kids could learn computer vocational skills.
These disabled kids could learn computer vocational skills.
We gave small gifts and candy to the students.
We gave small gifts and
candy to the students.
The students were learning Braille,
The students were learning Braille.
Xu Zongjie plans to study Engineering
Xu Zongjie (Mike) plans
 to study Engineering
College Scholarships

We have new students seeking college scholarships. Some already have sponsors from high school, but need extra from a second sponsor.徐 宗杰 Xu Zongjie has been accepted by Qinzhou University School of Electronic Information Engineering. His tuition is 4590 yuan a year. We hope sponsors will work together to give him a 4000 Yuan ($650) scholarship. Please help him. 

You can see other students needing sponsors on our Pinterest pages.
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