"It's easier to build strong children than to repair broken men"

- Frederick Douglass

 


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TCG NewsletterNovember 2014
It has been an action packed month, again.  This time it has been centered around hospitals; Cindy's surgery and passing, Christopher's surgery and an infection that landed Jack in hospital as well.  We celebrate the beginning of the toy library at Renji Hospital and the first birthdays of Amber, Cindy and Jack.  All of our babies are growing like weeds and are on the verge of walking.  It is an exciting time as the futures of our children unfold, the hospital program is launched and One Less Orphan is making a difference by helping families stay together.
Please consider The Children's Garden in your year end giving
so we can carry on the good work.

Good-bye to Baby Cindy
After waiting five long months a liver finally arrived and Cindy had her liver transplant.  Unfortunately 30 hours after surgery Cindy's little body couldn't withstand and she passed away while in ICU.  She had turned one only three days earlier.   If we had it  all to do over again we would do it the same way, fight to get her the best medical care available, pray and wait and hope.  Her life brought people together and started conversations of how to stop children from becoming orphans.  Cindy died loved and left the world a little better place.
 
Peggy has a family!
My friend watched Peggy over the weekend while we moved last July and her entire family fell in love with her.  We were told that adoption was impossible but with some prodding and cashing in guanxi we discovered the CCCWA and the local government were not talking to each other.   Now our family can start the adoption process.  Better still, now that we know the process and criteria other Shanghai families are looking at adopting.
 
The Children's Garden at RenJi
We bought shelves and gathered toys and clothing for the pediatric ward of RenJi Hospital.  Families descended on the donations especially the winter clothes as many of the families arrived at the hospital in the Summer.  Now they have toys/books that they can check out from the library to alleviate the boredom of spending months in hospital.
 
Thank you Lisa!
An old friend from Beijing Lisa Zhang-Phillips decided this year instead of getting birthday presents asked people to donate formula for our recovery home.  Boxes of formula trickled in and we have so far received 47 canisters of infant formula.  THANK YOU LISA and we hope you have the best year ever!
 
THANK YOU TO TEAM TCG! 
You raised $1832 and 13,437 RMB!!!

 
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The Children's Garden! 
   
A note from Naomi
A typical afternoon.
"If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor"
Eleanor Roosevelt

This past month has been a roller coaster ride.  We were THRILLED when Cindy finally received a liver and then plummeted when she died.  Cindy's mother Xiao Li is back in Hubei pulling her life back together.  It's hard times for her as she fought against her family to get her daughter medical care when they wanted to abandon. 

It's hard to make sense of such things but it is what happened. Cindy meant so much to many people.  People from all over the world donated towards her surgery, fundraisers for Cindy in the hopes that maybe if we did a little bit more she would live.  Everyone thinking, what  if she was my child...

Recently I traveled to Guiyang and Nanjing to discuss with community leaders about identifying families we can help. Slowly we are structuring our One Less Orphan program into reality.

Peggy's adoption is HUGE!  It means that families who previously didn't think they could adopt now can.  This keeps children in their home country and into families much faster. 

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Contact Information
Contact: Naomi Kerwin Founder/Director
Skype: naomikerwin
Http: http://one-less-orphan.org