Jack's birthday

We celebrated Jack's birthday on 12 June. He excitedly waited for the candles to be lit on his cake and really enjoyed opening his presents - a bath towel with Cars on it, a model car to build, a large pencil case style bag and a notebook. The older boys helped him in putting his model car together, which we then glued in place with superglue to avoid the tears brought about by lost pieces!

More arrivals

Cris our first arrival is slowly settling in and getting used to the new routine. She is still very clingy, but improving every day.

Tonight we received 3 more children after 9pm, who had flown down from the North. There is 2 month old with bilateral clubfoot, a 3 year old girl with one clubfoot, and a little boy who doesn't have clubfoot but other issues with his feet, so we will get advice for treatment for him.

They settled in well, playing with toys, then having a nice bath and milk so they felt fresh and had full tummies, before crashing into bed after their long day of travel and changes.

Open!

Today we officially opened the doors for the Club Foot Unit. The staff were ready and keen to get started. Our first little girl arrived at 8am, after an all night train trip. She was upset and disorientated, but received ample amounts of love, care and attention!

We had been promised that our diapers which were on urgent order would arrive on the 22 June. To our amazement they did! We are really impressed with the quality of the diapers and more so by the price. The Chinese company gave us a special price, as they wanted to do something to help the children.

Ready to Open!

After weeks of cleaning, sorting, labelling, remodelling and lot's of sweat - it's very hot here - we are ready to open on Monday morning 22 June. Our first child will arrive early that morning, after travelling all night on the train and the others will arrive gradually over the next couple of weeks.

We have hired 10 staff as Carers and they underwent their training last Thursday and Friday, so they are ready to start their shifts on Monday morning. Their uniform is the same style of apron as the staff in the other units, but a different pattern to distinguish the units from each other.

We are really pleased with how the rooms have come together and we are grateful to all those who have donated funding or items to make this unit happen.

We really look forward to seeing the children's lives change as a result of this.

Children's Day

Today was International Children's Day, which is widely celebrated in China. The teachers had worked hard in preparation for this day. The children in the CPU who attend classes, prepared drawings for an exhibition in our main entrance. They did a great job and they were very proud of their work. Then they joined the children from the orphanage on the main courtyard, and participated as best they could in games, before being given treats to take home.

For a number of the weeks, the children have been practicing reading short stories and poems to read aloud. We all gathered in the Dayroom, for the children to perform their readings which were done very well, and concluded with a group song.

Each child received a book as a gift after the performance. Lunch and naptime came soon after, when most of the children took the opportunity to get into their books.