College Scholarships needed

Blessing Hands' Students Seeking College Scholarships  Dear Lucy, It is up to you. If you choose one of our student to sponsor, they will go to college. If not, many of them will have no other way to pay for their college educations. Four out of the twenty-five students, who applied for our college scholarships, have now been accepted into the colleges of their choice. We will start to feature them in our newsletters in the rank order that our committee assigned to them. We had them interview in person, so we could post their videos for you.  We will feature two per newsletter. We have the goal of giving them all $500 scholarships. If you want to give half of that, we will try to find another sponsor to share a student with you.  Click on this link to give a scholarship.  Sincerely, Betty Cutts Blessing Hands In This Issue College Scholarships Needed Amy Huang Beth Huang Give Amy and Beth a Chance to Go to college.  These two girls have dreams of going to college.  They have been accepted into the colleges of their choice and only need your help to fulfill their dreams. Amy Huang Huang Xiuping Beth You can Sponsor a  College Student Amy Huang 黄天燕 with her admission letter Amy Huang  In her own words My name is Amy, and I am from Pubei High School. There are five people in my family: my parents, younger brother and sister, and me. My parents are both farmers. They work hard but only earn little money. My brother is in senior high school, and my sister is in primary school.  Now I want to go to college to become a nurse. Then, I can help my mother because she has vertigo, and I can help more people who are ill. This is my dream, but my family is poor.  My father says, if we believe something is true, we should hold on to it.  I will hold on to my dream. I find that helping people is a happy thing, and I will hold on to it. I will study hard to realize my dream.  Huang Tianyan 黄天燕 Amy, has been accepted to Guixi Medical University,  and will take a three year nursing course.  With two younger children to support in school her parents can't afford her tuition. You can hear her own words below.  Write to this  link if you want to support her college scholarship.  You can give online at this link. Amy Huang Tianyan Beth Huang Xiuping 黄秀萍 Beth Huang In her own words My dream is to become a doctor. I hope to do more for my family and society, save more patients, and help them alleviate their pain. When I was a child, my mother suffered from a rare blood disease, but my family was very poor. My father needed to borrow a lot of money from here and there to save my mother. However, unfortunately, when I went home from school, my mother had passed away, and I didn't have time to see her last face and talk to her. We were very sad. In order to bring us up and let us go to school to study, father worked himself too hard. Two years ago, my father began to bleed and was diagnosed with liver disease.  However, he just took some medicine and continued to work hard every day. His liver disease became more and more serious. Now my father needs to go to the hospital for treatment. Father doesn't have a job and needs to take care of my grandma, because my grandma fell down and broke her leg last year. Therefore, I hope to have the opportunity of your support. Because my family is still very poor and can't afford my expensive college tuition, therefore, I write this letter to you.  Where there is a will, there is a way.  Beth Huang Xiuping 黄秀萍 Beth has a younger brother and two younger sisters.  She wants to be an engineer and has been accepted into Quangxi Engineering Institute. Her scholarship video is below.  You can give a scholarship to Beth by writing to this link or giving on line here Beth Huang Xiuping Four Buyi Minority High School Students Still Need Support A great big" thank you" goes to the sponsors who took three of the An Long students to support. We still have four needing sponsors at $80 a semester.       Click on one of the four below to change their lives.  Lin Fali Cen Xianlan Zhan Xianneng Tuo Tanying

Give a Fresh Drink of Water

Longfu Middle School students welcome the Blessing Hands group in July - Click on photo to see pictures of the the school. Liushan Primary School  - Click photo to see pictures of the school Blessing Hands' First Water Project Water Purification System Water purifier is installed in Longfu Our first water purifier project is to be used by the township hospital and middle school. It is now  permnanently installed. and used to demonstrate the purifer.   However, future projects will serve rural primary schools and the small one room kindergartens that are sometimes a two hour hike from the main primary schools.  Those units can be stationery or portable depending on the needs of the schools.  Girls Get a Fresh Drink  Storage Tank for Pure Water - Click photo to see More Pictures Project Goal：To supply 2,630 primary Chinese children with affordable water purification systems in eight village schools and 34 satellite one room schools. Water Purifier Project Description:  The Yao in this area cannot dig wells in the mountain rock that covers 96% of Longfu Township, so rain is caught on flat roofs and piped to concrete water tanks. These cistern tanks are ideal for the electrolysis water purifiers we will provide to eight village schools. These units only need table salt and car batteries to create chlorine which kills harmful bacteria in the water.  Cistern at Liushan Primary School The purifier can treat up to 55 gallons per minute, depending upon water quality and the size of the unit. These electrolysis units are portable, simple to use, and long lasting. The unit can be carried easily since it weighs only 23 lbs(10.45 kgs). They can be taken to remote one room satellite schools or the home primary schools. Without them the schools will continue to boil water or suffer from water borne illnesses. These units were developed for use in third world countries. One purifier can serve an entire village. Treating a single case of a waterborne disease may cost more than providing safe water for a school for an entire year. You can provide a fresh drink of water to the Yao schools. Follow this link to give a complete system for $1,751 or give a tank for $438.  In This Issue Clean Water Volunteering Sponsor Report Thank You Letters Dasi Teacher Give here for Clean Water  Longfu Township  Middle School and Hospital now have clean water. Mandy Ma recently sent me these pictures of the new water purification system Blessing Hands provided for Longfu Middle School. There had been hepatitis A in the school last May, so the students were excited about getting clean water for the first time. They could hardly believe that the water did not need to be boiled as usual. The hospital next door  shares the same stainless steel holding tank  so two  sites are helped with the same unit.  All this was done for only $,1751.    You can sponsor a purification system for a primary school in Longfu by giving at this link.   Volunteering with Older People Volunteer Reports We ask our University Students to do three hours of volunteer service each semester. Our mission is to help people help themselves and others. Dear Betty, I am Huang Jiayan, Thank you very much for your help, and I am very happy to write to you. ... Yesterday, our school organized some students to go to a home for the elderly and see old people.  I applied to go with them. This has much meaning for me, If I have the chance, I will go again. Thank you,         Luo Piaoling and Friend Best wishes Huang Jiayan (黄家艳)    Dear Blessing Hands,   I am so glad to write to you, and I'd like to share something with you. Now I am a volunteer in Guangxi Business School.  Three weeks ago we went to the Fukan Ghulaoyuan where the elderly live. It was a Sunday morning. I did some cleaning, washed clothes, and talked to them. They seemed to be so excited when they sang songs with us. Moreover, they also shared their expertise with me, as if they wanted give me what they have. Surely, I benefited much. On the 26th of October, I also enjoyed myself very much. As a member of volunteers, I joined in the activity of "giving the warming to the poor". We collected old clothes, which the retired and students donated. In order to accomplish that, I contacted students and gave out leaflets. At last, we received many clothes. The next day, we sent them to where they were needed most.    Last week, our school held the school athletic meet. During that time, we volunteered to collect the waste plastic bottles and the waste paper. Luo Piaoling (罗飘灵) See a  great PowerPoint of Luo Piaoling's volunteer work at this link.      Russ Mead A Sponsor Visits His Student  Some of our sponsors get to visit with their students while they are in China. Russ Mead was on a business trip when he met another one of the four college scholarship students he supports. He has been a faithful sponsor for them for several years and has met everyone of them now. Charmaine (Zhang Chunyan 张春燕 ) is  studying preschool education at Shaanxi Normal University in Xi'an China. Tonight I am in Xi'an, China.  I met with Charmaine,  and we talked for about 3 hours.  I am sure she was ready to go crazy and of course very nervous to start with.  I asked at least 500 questions.  She was very intelligent, and her English is not too bad.  I told her to remember to go talk to you and not be shy.  I think she is doing well and enjoys school.  I am so lucky with my  four sponsored students.                                                                                                                            Tomorrow, Beijing.      Russ Qinzhou Students' Thank You Letters  Dear Blessing Hands, I am honored that I can write to you. I am Ling Xiangchun who received your help this year. I am in Grade one No.1 Middle School. Now I give my thanks to you. Thank you for your help that let me continue my study. I was born in a poor family in a village in Qinzhou, Guangxi, China. My mother is often ill so only my father supports our large family by finding odd jobs and doing the farm work. When he felt it too difficult to support the family, he would ask me to drop out of school. I know my father is right, but I can't. I still know knowledge is more important. If I want to change the situation of my family, I must learn more knowledge and so that I can help my father. I am eager to go on studying. Now you make my dream come true. I will study hard and great achievement. Thank you again. Best wishes. Yours Wu Qinyan Ling Xiangchun (fall 2010 no picture yet)  Dear Blessing Hands, I am Wu Qinyan (Lisa); I am from class 11, senior two, Qinzhou No. 1 Middle School. Do you remember me? At the evening party on July 7th, we had a very good time.  We at last got to see you.  We were very happy. All night we all felt as if we were members of one family. You were very nice and easygoing. Qian Qian (Laura White) and Sha Li (Jessica Wright) were very friendly. I am looking forward to your next visit to China. Finally, let me say "Thank you" to you. I am sincerely grateful for all your help. Were it not for your help, I could not go on to school. My family and I thank you very much.  I wish you the best.  Sincerely,  Lisa (吴溱艳) (fall 2010) Chen Yinghua  Fall 2009 Thanks for your help! My name is Chen Yinghua; I'm a grade three student from Qinzhou No. 1 Middle School. Today our Blessing Hands students got together and got the money. I can't use words to express my thanks. I know that without your help, I can't stay in class and have a chance to study. It's important for me, so I will study hard. I want to go to the college. If I do that, I will have a good job, and I could help others like what you do. I will try my best to do that. Have a good wish for you! Yours, Della ( 陈映华) ( January 2010) Dear Blessing Hands, I am one of the students who benefits from your help. This is the first time I write to you, and I Huang Lixin just want to show all my respect and thanks to you, just for your kindness. I am a poor boy born in the countryside. It is a great honor for me to be subsidized by you. With your help, my parents do not need to be as tired as usual. With your help, I don't need to worry about my books, pens and other things. I don't need to worry about those at least. Thank you for your help again. I am 18 now; I have to think of myself. I am just a student, so I can't go out to work to make money. The only thing I can do is to try my best to study well. Now, you and my parents and other people are looking at me. I know all of you want me to get good results, and I am looking forward to that, too. So I will try my best in order not to make you disappointed. This are all I want to say, "THANK YOU". And best wishes to you.                  Sincerely Huang Lixin (黄立新）  It is 3:00 in the morning now, I don't know what is keeping me awake. But I really can't fall asleep. It is a little cold here. The last month I was busy in looking for a job. And I have done it. I have gotten a position in Chongqing, the largest city of China. I will work for the Changan Group Corporation, the                  Maxim second largest automobile corporation in China, after my graduation from Harbin Institute of Technology in July 2011. I am majoring in the internal combustion engine. I love my major, and I will work hard in this field.    It is very nice to have your help the last four years.  Without your help I can't finish my study in college, and I can't find the job. Thanks a lot. Yours, Maxim ( 梁基纯)       Teacher at Dasi High School Comments  I have learned to use the Chinese chat qq. Now I can talk to teachers and students online.  Recently I was chatting with Jenny (黄珍艳 Huang Zhengyan), who teaches at Dasi High school, so I asked her to write something for the newsletter.    我注意到我那些祝福手的学生他们变得更自信，学习也比以往更努力了。他们都很珍惜这个难得的机会。许多中学生都不善于与人交流。参加祝福手也是一个团体活动。他们变得更加自信，也更乐于助人。 I noticed my students of Blessing Hands became more confident.  They study harder than ever, because they treasure the previous chances. You know, many students in China are not good at communicating with others, especially the students in the town or in the countryside. Joining in Blessing Hands is also a group activity. They become confident and enjoy helping others. 事实上，祝福手也让我改变了很多。首先，我的英语提高了。我想每个祝福手的成员都受益匪浅。同时，我也交了好多新朋友尤其是ANAN 和BETTY 我从她们那里学会了很多很多。现在，我也享受助人的快乐。我终于明白了这句话的真谛：给予永远比拿愉快。 In fact, Blessing Hands has changed me a lot. First, my English has improved. Every one with Blessing Hands can benefit from it, I think. Then, I have met many new friends- especially you and Anna. I can learn much from you beyond what you can imagine.  Now, I enjoy helping others.  I know the true meaning of "It is better to give than to receive". 黄珍艳  Huang  Zhenyan