Child sponsorship update from Putian, China

Update for child sponsors from the SOS Children's Village Putian, China from December 2007

Dear sponsors,

You see, the Christmas 2007 is coming soon in 30 days. The children must be expecting it by counting days down on the calendar. Here we would like to wish you Merry Christmas and a successful year of 2008 in advance on behalf of all the children and staff in SOS Children’s Village Putian China.

Up to now there are 156 children in the Village, including 111 in the 15 SOS families and 45 in the Youth House. This year 5 more young kids came to our care. This July 14 children took the Senior School Entrance Examination and three children took College Entrance Examination. One of them got a high score and entered the ChangChun University of Science and Technology, which is a key university in China. The university lies in the northeast of China, which is very far from Putian. This boy is one of the first group of children came to our Village. His success has encouraged us a lot, and many chidlren have got a clear goal for their future: study for the university. The boy who studies sailing major does very well in his study and we decide to support him to further the education for his career certificate for another three years.

This summer two children have left the Village, because they are over 18 years old and could start their own lives by their own hands. The boy who finished his senior middle school helped his uncle in business in Shanghai now. The girl now serves as a sales person in Fuzhou City, the capital of Fujian Province together with her boyfriend. They rent an apartment and the Village gave her a small amount of money to help her to start their life. The new life is full of hope and sweet, we could see two deep dimples showing on the young girl’s face.

Children's lives through the year

This year it is still not easy for the No.10 family. The little boy who came to the SOS family by the end of last year still suffered a lot an adenoid hypertrophy, an allergic rhinitis and pneumonia. The doctor suggested that it need a surgical to give a thorough treatment. Otherwise the little kid couldn’t have enough sleep. The suggestion was taken. The children in the family paid a lot of concerns to their little brother, every day they went to the hospital with the SOS mother to visit him after school. The kid was not alone in the hospital.

The Village has been in operatin for over seven years now, and the first group of children have grown into young people. You see, the young men are proud to show the broad shoulders, while the young ladies are shy to show the rosy cheeks. Now they are beginning to have their own thoughts and learning to deal with things by themselves. And the Village pays a lot of attention on the individaul education. This year we had some series of psychological talks for the children. We invited the psychologist to give a sexual talk, telling the children what the differnences and the relationship are between the boys and girls; we invited the psychological doctor to give a talk “speak out your sorrow and consideration”, showing that it is very important to communicate with others; the student’s tutor from the No.2 Middle School in Putian gave a talk about “I am unique”, suggesting how to accept oneself and improve oneself. Through such kinds of activities, the children are more active to talk about their problems, and exchanging their ideas of solving the problems. They became more and more open and agreeable. It might help them to become more confident.

Activities for children

Since Beijing is going to host the 29TH Olympics in 2008, the children, as well as the other Chinese people are very excited about that. It is such a big event in China that they could see many advertisements and the related on TV, newspaper, and on on. For the young kids the symbols of the Beijing (Olympics）2008 “FUWA” are their favorite. On October 2 the students and the teachers from Putian University came to have some activities together with the children: “welcome Olympics, celebrate the National Day”, they had some funny games and a basketball game. The children formed their own groups voluntarily and took part in the games excitedly. While the others acted as the great cheering squad excitedly.

In order to encourage the children to be good, we organised a summer camp, choosing two children good at school from every SOS family, to go to the Meizhou Island. The children played on the sand, chasing the waves, looking for the beautiful shells and the accidentally-moving-sideway crabs. They had a great fun.

This autumn there were some cases of Dengue Fever in Putian. The village printed the copies on the Dengue fever and distributed to the people in the neighbourhood, so the people would know what the fever is and how to protect themselves. And the community decided to kill the mosquitos regularly. And it was a good chance to give an environmental protection lesson for the children.

At the end, we would like to thank you for your generous help and support you have given to our SOS children. We hope you can continue this kindness in the future. And we can share the developments of the children with you.

Best regards,

Shi Jinhuo
Village Director
SOS Children’s Village Putian