I had a meeting with Anna Liu at Operation Blessings in Beijing. The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) is very active in China. Anna has arranged for us to have 20 first aid kits to give to our Yao health assistants in Du'an. Anna is also going to recommend us to a medical manufacturing company in China for the possible donation of medicine for Du'an County. That will help many hospitals, if the request is granted. She called and talked to Mandy Ma from Du'an while we were talking, so they got the arrangements made quickly for delivery.
to help with matching funds for an ambulance for Longfu Hospital. That is the most urgent need that the hospital has asked for. It will cost maybe $6,000 when matched by local funds. Now the hospital has no way to pick up seriously injured people who need to come two hours walking down the mountains and two hours from the trail head to get into the hospital in Longfu. An ambulance would save many lives. It could also take doctors and health professionals to the trail heads to hike up into the Yao villages.
Anna was delightful. I felt like I had known her a long time. I can tell she loves her job and wants to help many people. She said they had some undedicated funds that possibly be applied for the ambulance. We will see what develops.
Jessica tried eating the fried scorpion.
新的体验
New Experiences
Jessica Wright 和 Laura White 很享受这里的风景和美食，我和那些对对苗寨医疗建设项目感兴趣的人见了个面。我们计划下个夏天在都安县开展这个计划。Laura现在在我们祝福之手实习，她帮助助学金采访项目、相片处理以及独步到高山深处的苗寨了解情况。 Jessica Wright and Laura White have really enjoyed the sight seeing and shopping, while I have been meeting with people who are interested in the Yao health assistant project we have planned in Du'an County next summer. Laura is our Blessing Hands Intern and is helping with scholarship interviews, the photo workshop, and hiking into the Longfu villages high in the mountains.
送给瑶族儿童的衣物和书籍 Clothes and Books for the Yao Children
Laura and Jessica with Pastor Li
星期天我们去了南宁中山教堂。他们已经为我们收集了一些带给都安瑶寨孩子们的衣服、书籍。我们非常的感谢他们做的一切。Mandy 同时也为我们准备了一些带到龙福的书。 We all went to Zhong Shan Church in Nanning Sunday. They had collected children's clothes and books for us to give to the Yao children in Du'an. We enjoyed worshipping with them very much. Mandy Ma has arranged for the books to go with us to Longfu.
海报宣传人员肖景凯帮助我们联系中山路教堂。David Jin 是这个教堂里的另外一个宣传人员。
Pastor Xiao Jingkai.
Pastor Xiao Jing Kai helped us contact the Zhong Shan Road Church. Pastor David Jin is another of the several pastors at the church.
Getting books ready for Du'an County
孤儿院 Hope Foster Home
我们的第一站是北京的孤儿院，它是有Robin 和Joyce Hill 管理的。他们从15年前就开始帮助那些有身体缺陷的中国孤儿们，并已经在中国开了几个孤儿院，我们也这些孩子们一起玩耍，而我们去了北京附近的一家孤儿院，我们和他们那里的孩子一起玩耍，我们很钦佩他们的勇气和献身精神。或许将要有一天广西也会有一所有祝福之手建立的孤儿院。
Jessica Wright at Hope Foster Home
The first place we went in Beijing was Hope Foster Home run by Robin and Joyce Hill. They started helping Chinese orphans with medical defects 15 years ago. They have several homes in China, but we went to the one near Beijing. We played with the babies and admired their dedication an resources. Perhaps one day Blessing Hands will have a foster home in Guangxi.
This Cleft Lip Child Will Get an Operation.
在北京的飞机上我们结识了一个新的朋友，他叫罗建希。他刚刚从麻省理工学院毕业。他和我们一起去了孤儿院，他和我们一样也很喜欢那里的孩子。我们从美国给这里的孩子带来了一些衣物。无论您什么时间到中国来旅游或是您想捐献一些衣物给他们的话，请和他们联系。 We made a new friend, Jianxi Luo, on the plane over to Beijing. He is a recent graduate from MIT. He went with us to the Hope Foster Home and enjoyed the children as much as we did. We carried a suitcase of baby clothes to the home from the US. Anytime you are traveling to China and you want to help them by delivering suitcase of clothes, you can contact them at this link.
Laura White with a New Friend
奖学金 College Scholarships
我很期待和那些获得我们奖学金的在中国南宁的学生们见面。我们一起享用了丰盛的晚餐，我们唱自己喜欢的歌曲，也讲述自己最喜欢的故事。七个和我们见面的学生中有五个有幸见到了奖学金的提供者。这些捐助者是我在Morehead中结识的。在此我也要感谢来自关系大学为我们翻译新闻稿的学生们。 I was looking forward to seeing some of our scholarship students in Nanning, China. We had a wonderful dinner with everyone singing favorite songs and telling stories. Seven students were able to come and five of the visiting scholars who had known me in Morehead. I also got to thank the translators from Guangxi University who have helped translate our newsletter.
Bamboo Feng, Betty Cutts, Sunday Liu, and Shaocai Chen
在阳朔和钦州的时，我们也将面试来应聘我们奖学金工作的申请者。我们将给他们拍视频，并将视频带给资助商们评审。 We will interview new applicants for college scholarships while we are in Qinzhou and Yangshuo. We make
flip videos to show present and possible sponsors the students.
拜访李少梅-研究瑶族的专家 Visit with Yao Professor, Li Shaomei
I was fortunate to meet with Yao professor, Li Shaomei in Beijing through the arrangements of Scott Davison, a visiting teacher from Morehead State University. She is a researcher in Yao culture at Minzu University. Her father-in-law created the Yao alphabet and her father discovered the source of a disease that was water borne among the Yao. She has written a book about Yao culture, which she knows very well, since she is Yao herself. I wanted to know medical and cultural things concerning the Yao that might be important for our indigenous health assistant classes next summer in Du'an County. 我发现一些非常有帮助的事，比如当瑶族的妇女生孩子的时候，男人是不允许在身边的，就算是她的丈夫也不行。这件事情让我想到了，我们应该让接生婆们来学习关于医疗护理方面的知识。我的另一个发现是：根据瑶族文化一个人必须死在他们自己的家里，才是合理的。这就是为什么当他们患了重病也不愿意去医院医治的原因。他们觉得孩子的出生应该是在家里出生的，并且通常是妈妈独自在家生孩子。男人和女人都是平等的，男孩和女孩子一样受到祝福。
I did indeed find out useful things such as men are not allowed to attend Yao births, even fathers. That makes me think we need to have at least one day when midwives come to learn about childbirth medical care. I also found that a person needs to die in their own home to satisfy their culture, which is a reason why people do not want to go to the hospital if they are very ill. Babies also need to be born at home and the mother often does it herself with no help. Women and men are equal and girl children are considered just as much of a blessing as the boys. 我很惊讶地发现瑶族地区的人口超过了一百万，这相当与美国加里福利亚的人口数。在秋季瑶寨将要一个很大的节庆，李博士说我应该参加这个活动，到时候她会想给我引荐瑶寨的领导。这个活动去年的主席是一个基督教徒，而明年将会是一个道教教徒。当地信仰的教是道教和萨满教的混合。但是现今在美国的瑶族人都开始信仰基督教。这里用瑶文字写的瑶族圣经。李教授教我用瑶语打招呼。瑶族有三个大的分支，但他们的祖先是来自广东的。 I was also surprised to find that there are over a million Yao right in the USA mostly in California. They have a large holiday in the fall that Dr. Li says I should attend to meet Yao leaders that she can introduce me to. The president of their association this past year was a Christian and next year it will be Taoist. They have a mixture of Tao and Shamanism in their native culture, but some Yao in the US have become Christians. There is a Yao Bible using the Yao alphabet. She taught me to say Hello in Yao. There are three main branches of Yao, but they came originally form Gongdong.
I am so glad to renew old friendships and see our Blessing Hands students each place we go. I even met a group of teachers from another charity that are doing much the same as we are doing. In English they would be called the Love Caring and Supporting of Students Association. I am glad to meet Chinese who are helping students also. They have been using our forms to record information on their students.
I was impressed by their dedication. They have been doing this for 15 years or more. I offered to send them a flip camera to help record their visits to children's homes. They are in need of more donors for their poor college students' tuitions. It you would like to know more about their students and their needs write to this address in China. Link
We also meet fellow Americans working with the Chinese to develop a new oil refinery in Qinzhou. They are interested in the local people and their needs also. One of them rides a bicycle out into the countryside on Sunday and gets to meet rural needy families. They asked about volunteer opportunities with Blessing Hands.
