HK-based Christian group helps disabled children on mainland

Walking unsteadily, Ning Ning is just like any cute toddler happy with human contact. Besides his light complexion and big round eyes, what also catches your eye is the tiny scar on his chest. It came from the two operations he has had for the complex heart problems he had as a baby. He will have a third when he turns four in a few months' time. Hopes are high he will then be healthy and well. "He is all right now. He eats a lot," says his Ah Yi (auntie), a cheerful caregiver at an orphanage in Hengyang , Hunan province. Housed in a government welfare centre, the orphanage is run by International China Concern, a Hong Kong-based Christian development organisation that has recruited volunteers, health care and education professionals to care for abandoned children with special needs in China. ICC was started in 1993 by David Gotts, then a 20-year-old backpacker from Britain, who was moved by the plight of abandoned children. Most of its projects are in Hunan, but since 2010 it has launched similar projects in neighbouring Henan province in partnership with the provincial government. Ning Ning started out in government care but was transferred to the ICC orphanage because of his heart condition. "His development has been slow and he is not walking properly because he has been so sick. But he is stronger now that he has had the surgeries. We have hope he will get adopted, probably overseas," says Kyla Alexander, ICC's China operations director, a former nurse from Australia. She set up the Hengyang project in 2006 after spending two years learning Putonghua at Changsha University in the provincial capital. Alexander says most of the children's problems can be fixed with surgery. Holding up a baby girl, she says: "We think she may not have any illness or disability but she is very malnourished. The government referred her to us because we have caregivers who have more time to feed her." Another unwanted girl has a cleft palate, which can be fixed with surgery. "She needs patient care and attention. The cleft in her palate makes feeding very difficult, " says Alexander. The government pays for such surgery, but in such a vast country not all parents are aware of this and, horrified by the deformity, abandon the child. Sometimes pressure comes from the grandparents. "China has 800 million peasants who are uneducated and may have backward values and concepts," says Li Huan, a teacher who now works for ICC as a trainer of helpers and teachers. Tao Tao, who it is believed is about 11, is a healthy-looking boy with some learning difficulties. It was probably caused by a brain injury he might have suffered before he was found in a bucket in a river in 2006 after a devastating flood in Hunan. The bucket was tied to a tyre, a sign perhaps of his parents efforts to save him, says Alexander. "When he was found, he could not move nor walk, did not talk, could not hold his head up, he just lay there," she says. "But he looked at us and we just gave him care and therapy." In Hengyang, the ICC project is seen as a model for the management and provision of specialist therapy, special needs education and a loving home environment. The 135 children there are cared for in groups with a maximum of eight. On the lower floors are a small kindergarten and a workshop, where children make crafts and jewellery. Those with Down's syndrome or cerebral palsy are taught to feed themselves. It's not easy being disabled in China. They are denied resources and attention owing to ignorance and prejudice. The Paralympics in Beijing in 2008 helped raise awareness of their plight and what they can offer society. "Many think the disabled are a burden on the society," says Li Huan, who looks after a group home for children who are more independent. "Even educated people question the meaning of helping disabled children. They would rather help poor children who they think will have a better future." Li says she was moved when volunteering with ICC in 2006 and she saw how the foreigners "poured their love" on to the otherwise desolate children. "I struggled initially when deciding what to do after graduation," she recalls. "But I chose this job because it is very meaningful." She studied for a postgraduate diploma in special education in Sydney, which convinced her she has made the right choice. "I saw in the West the respect for the disabled and their rights," Li says. She has taught fellow carers and teachers to have patience and treat all children gently. "It is not right to tell a child off," Li says. "Each child is unique and we should respect their differences. Our team is on the right track now." In Hengyang, children with spina bifida or more severe disabilities have specially designed seats or wheelchairs and are taken on outings to enrich their quality of life. At this year's summer camp, 22 more-able children were paired up with buddies, among them ICC workers and short-term volunteers from overseas. The children gradually bonded with their buddies, despite language and cultural differences. Australian David Muller, who joined ICC recently with his wife, Ruth, felt "called by God" to look after the children. Now learning Putonghua, they have committed to spending two years teaching the children in Hengyang - without pay. At lunch and dinner during the camp, he carefully fed his buddy, Qi Qi, wheelchair-bound and with cerebral palsy. "Every day he got closer to me," says Muller. "Sometimes he fed me snacks with his little arm. I know when he wants to go to the toilet." Roars of laughter could be heard during the afternoon swimming sessions, when the disabled children and their buddies enjoyed the water under the scorching sun. "He enjoys it when he is swimming," says Calvin Choi, referring to his buddy, wheel-chair bound Chengxiu. A Year 12 student from the KGV School in Hong Kong, Calvin signed up for the camp with two other schoolmates. ICC's presence has helped increased awareness of the value of caring for the disabled. Not long ago, the government in Changsha opened a specialist centre for children with cerebral palsy. ICC is also running community outreach projects to provide counselling and support services to families with disabled children in a bid to reduce abandonment. In Changsha, it is also running a vocational training centre, group homes, a new home for the seriously disabled and a three-storey orphanage and therapy centre. Alexander has no plans to leave yet. "The needs have always been great in China," she says. "We are working with the government in order to develop their services for the disabled and set up model programmes. We have our own problems and we aren't perfect. But we are certainly raising the standard of care through modelling. That is a big part of what we do."

HK-based Christian group helps disabled children on mainland

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}With the disabled generally shunned on the mainland, ICC is one group that has stepped in to help, showing what a little tenderness can do

With the disabled generally shunned on the mainland, ICC is one group that has stepped in to help, showing what a little tenderness can do