Happy New Year 2008

Happy New Year 2008!!

My wish for 2008 is that we can Bring Joy to Jingmen: the joy of a family for each child living now in the Jingmen orphanage.Each child deserves to live in a loving family and especially these beautiful children.



Marjanne Laeven

More about Jingmen

Panorama photo of Jingmen City and Jingmen Lake.

Located in the middle of Hubei Province, the boundary area between Jianghan Plain and the western Hubei mountainous area, Jingmen is a city under direct jurisdiction of Hubei Province. It covers an area of 14,200 square kms, with a population of 3 million. Jingmen is an important transportation pivot in central Hubei, through which Jiaoliu Railway, 207 National Highway, 318 High- way and Jingxiang Expressway. The Han River passes through five cities and counties under its jurisdiction.

Jingmen is a key production base for commodity grain, cotton and high-quality hybrid rape. It has established a good relationship with over 10 countries and areas in the world. Some foreign-invested ventures develop fast such as Sino-Malaysia venture, Jinlongquan Beer Group, and Sino-Malaysia venture, Diamond Mechanical (Hubei) Co. Ltd.. The major scenic spots and cultural relics include Xian Tomb of Ming Dan, which is listed as the world cultural heritage, Dahongshan Scenic Spot, Kongshan Cave of Jingshan County and Huangxian Cave of Zhongxiang County.

Facts and photos about Jingmen City and Hubei.

Jingmen

(Please click on Jingmen to see the photos)
Thanks to the Hai Hui Middle School website for the Jingmen photos and information.

Jingmen City, located in Central Hubei, is a thriving, modern Chinese city.

The population of the city is approx 100,000.

Jingmen’s surrounding area is hilly due to its location near to the Chiang Jiang river a short 2 hour train journey away. Here you will find the famous “Three Gorges”.

China’s 4th largest City, Wuhan is the capital of Hubei. It offers many attractions of the large city.

Other major places of interest in Hubei include “Wudan Shan” a mountain synonomous with martial arts.

If you enjoy an outdoor life, we are sure you will enjoy the many lakes,rivers, mountains and caves in Hubei!

A perfect Christmas gift for a little more than 1 US dollar a day

Merry Christmas for you!

Here is a recent photo of my girls, of whom the eldest is from Jingmen SWI.
She lived for nearly 3 year in the Jingmen orphanage and did not have the opportunity to live with a foster family.
That's why it is such a great chance to help the Jingmen children NOW! For a little more than 1 US dollar a day a child will have a perfect Christmas gift: a gift to live with a foster family.
Our family sponsors Jin Leonard and we wish him and his foster family a very Merry Christmas too!!

Marjanne Laeven

Jin Karla found a sponsor!

Great news to tell: Jin Karla found a sponsor.

Jin Karla is a little girl who has a special need and is almost 1 1/2 year old now.
Since the beginning of October 2007 she lives with her foster family in Jingmen.
Foster mom is a Jingmen caregiver who works at the Jingmen orphanage. The foster family consists of 5 persons, including a foster sister.
This is their second foster child.
Jin Karla is very popular in their family and since her stay with the family she has obtained 2 kilogrammes in weight. Love and good take shows in growing, how wonderful!!
Jin Karla is no more afraid of strangers since she came into the family.

Welcome Jin Karla's sponsor and we thank you for your support for Jin Karla to make it possible for her to live with her new family.

Marjanne Laeven

Letter from a Hubei orphanage

Wuxue Social Welfare Institute

Here is a letter from a Hubei orphanage where Grace & Hope sponsors children
in foster care. The translated is shown below.

I will publish it here because it truly gives an impression of the spirit and importance of the foster works for the children.

Dear Donors,

We thank you for all your help. With your help, our children live better and happier. Christmas and New Year are coming and all the staff wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Children who are abandoned never obtain love from parents. As social welfare workers, it is our responsibility to save them. We not only take care of their daily living, medical recovery and studying; but also we educate them to be confident and independent people. We also encourage our children to have grateful attitudes and to appreciate the love they get from society.

Taking care of children, especially disabled children, is hard and more funds are needed. Your help is very great and important for us. The love creates hope and confidence for children. We believe that our children will have happy and better lives with your assistance.

Let’s work together and offer more hope and love to our children.

Best wishes,

Wu Xue Social Welfare Institution

2007-12-17

Christmas meeting: photo of sponsor family to Jingmen foster child

Xiao Xiao a Chinese leader of Grace and Hope for Children came with a wonderful idea to bring sponsors and foster children together for Christmas
Normally the sponsors receive a quarterly report including photos of their foster child but for Christmas the foster families will see the faces of the sponsors!!
Thus they get to know which family supports the living costs of their foster child and helps them to be a family.
Participating sponsor families will mail a family photo to Grace and Hope.
All photos will be printed and delivered to the rigth foster families.

Hopefully Christmas season will give many joyful 'meetings' between sponsor and foster families.

Yesterday I sent our family photo and I am feeling happy knowing our introduction is on its way to our foster boy Jin Leonard and his foster family.

Marjanne Laeven

Jin Karla, Jin Celia and Jin Felipe in need of sponsors

Photo of the Jingmen orphanage

In the Jingmen orphanage are now many children waiting for sponsors so they can move into the Grace and Hope Foster Programme.
On our list are now Jin Karla, Jin Celia and Jin Felipe.
The Hubei provincial protocol asks not to publish their photos in order to protect the privacy of these children.
Once a Jingmen child has found a sponsor, of course the sponsor will receive all available photos coming with the quarterly followup reports.
From my personal experience I can truly tell these photos will touch your heart and it gives so much joy to see the child connecting to the new familymembers. You give by sponsoring but gain so much more to know your money at least reaches 1 more orphan to give it a better life day by day.

With the Christmas season coming I hope more families will consider the option to sponsor a Jingmen child.
Now Jin Karla, Jin Celia or Jin Felipe are waiting to move from the orphanage to a home with a father and a mother for themselves.
Sponsorship will cost $35 a month. Only some percents will go to the administrative costs for Grace and Hope.

Please feel free to forward this information to your family, relatives, and friends.

Together we can truly Bring Joy To Jingmen!

Thank you for your help.

Marjanne Laeven

More than 1000 children in Grace and Hope Foster Programmes

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Inspiring news we got today: more than 1000 children have been helped in foster care by volunteers,sponsors and staff of Grace and Hope for Children.The exact number is 1,020 children which truly is impressive.
The Jingmen Foster Programme by Grace and Hope was started on June 1 2007.
From that date the first sponsored children could start to live with their foster families.
Their beds were not anymore in the orphanage sleeping room but at the home of the families.
Above is a photo of the sleeping room in the Jingmen orphanage; the pink beds will be easily recognized by Jingmen parents.

Marjanne Laeven

Gate of the Jingmen orphanage

Here is a photo of the gate of the Jingmen orphanage.

At the moment the orphanage is planning to have 26 children, of whom 9 are older than 7 years, to enroll into the Grace and Hope Foster Programme.
This means that if a sponsor has been found for a particular child, Grace and Hope will take care to find a good family match. In daily life this means the child will live with the foster family. For all children the foster family will be the first real family and give them the opportunity to live and be loved and supported by a family. Traditionally grandparents are living with the family also.
Grace and Hope takes care for the selecting and training of the foster families and visits the families quarterly.
Every 3 month a Grace and Hope social worker visits the family to investigate how daily life is going for the foster child and takes photos of the family.
The report will be mailed to the child's sponsor to tell about the progress.

At the moment the children Jin Ruth, Jin Laura, Jin Sarah, Jin Virginia, Jin Leonard and Jin Patty have found sponsors!!!!!

The girls Jin Sharon and Jin Michelle have been adopted to Sweden in July 2007.

Now are waiting for sponsors: Jin Karla, Jin Celia and Jin Felipe.
(See the Grace and Hope website too under 'waiting for sponsors'.

My Christmas wish is to have sponsors for them soon!!

Marjanne Laeven

BringingJoyToJingmen

BringingJoyToJingmen is a blog to bring news and topics about the Foster Care Program for the Jingmen orphanage by Grace and Hope for Children.
Jingmen is a city in the Hubei province of China.
BringingJoyToJingmen was created by Patty Smith and Marjanne Laeven, both mothers of children adopted from Jingmen and Grace and Hope volunteers.
Our main focus and shared passion is to inform the public and find sponsors for the Jingmen children to enroll them into the Foster Care Program.
As each child deserves to live in a loving family, our dream is to have a (foster) family for each child now living in the Jingmen orphanage
This blog is a tool to help realizing this dream.

Patty Smith and Marjanne Laeven