Piggy back rides are the best!

What are some of your favorite memories growing up? Being cuddled, sung to, bed time stories, or playtime? We often think about our childhood days with fond memories with our family and friends.

Dew Drops provides specialized care to abandoned children. Most of the children in our care were abandoned because they were born with complex medical conditions and disabilities. Unfortunately, these children do not get the experience of having a loving family to play with them and care for them. This is why it is crucial for the Dew Drops nannies to engage with the children; providing a loving environment that allows the child to know they are treasured. We captured a small example of the beauty of our children and nanny relationships.

By chance our paths have crossed and we are so grateful for the joy and happiness you have provided us!

We get to eat, play, sing songs together and even get piggy back rides!

 

Piggy back rides are the best! Because of your support, the children at Dew Drops are loved and cherished and do not miss out on their childhood.Thank you for loving us!

                                                    Thank you for loving us!

      

A New Home for Bei!

Throughout the course of each child’s Dew Drops Little Flower experience, they are bound to travel with us. Many times this is to transfer a child to or from our long-term locations (Inner Mongolia and Shanxi) to Beijing. They come to Beijing to seek medical expertise and return to their home province for long-term care and/or to be adopted.

 

Here we tell the story of Bei’s travel from Beijing to our home in Inner Mongolia.  While Bei was in our Beijing home, he was treated for club feet. Earlier this month he transitioned from two large casts to braces. With his transition to braces, he was ready to move from our more medical intensive Beijing home to our long-term home in Inner Mongolia. In addition to continuing to receive medical care in his new location, we are hopeful that Bei will strengthen his eating skills by being with our older children in the mom-care unit.

The trip from Beijing to Inner Mongolia is a total of 8 hours by train. This overnight train ride is no small feat, especially for a feisty three-year-old. Bei went with two of our staff members, Mary Claire and Rebekah, and our physical therapist, April. To catch our 11:00pm train, we left the Beijing home at 9:00pm and traveled by car to the train station. For Bei, the short car ride was an adventure in and of itself; he was intrigued by the busy street and all of the unfamiliar noises and smells. Once we arrived at the station, we hurried to find our train and get settled in.  As it was already long past Bei’s bedtime, he was quite tired once we reached our bunks. As the train began to move, the swiftly passing scenery and the soft sway of the train lulled Bei right to sleep. We woke up in the morning as the train slowly pulled into our stop in Inner Mongolia. From the station, we went directly to the long-term home, arriving there around 7:15am.

Bei was excited to see some familiar caregivers at this home, but especially his “big kid” friends. When they sat Bei down for breakfast around the big table, we could already tell his eating habits would quickly improve! The older kids set a wonderful example for him and we know he will continue to thrive in these surroundings.

That morning, April taught the on-sight physical therapist how to stretch Bei’s feet and properly remove and put on his braces. They developed a strategy to make this routine as comfortable as possible for him. In his free time, Bei went straight to the bookshelves to look at the new books! He was so excited to have sing-a-long time with the older kids as well!

We are eager to watch Bei grow and learn in his new home and very happy this transition came with such ease! If you would like to invest in Bei, please consider sponsoring him. You can sign up here.

A Day in the Life: Inner Mongolia

Currently we have 7 older children, ranging from 3-9 years old, in our mom-care-model in Inner Mongolia.  Three nannies by day and two by night provide amazing, around the clock, mother-like care to these children with special needs.




Although this special care unit is housed within the orphanage, it has a single door that leads to an apartment-style living area. It is comprised of 6 different rooms: two bedrooms (a large one for the children and a small one for the nannies), a kitchen, a dining area with child-size tables and chairs, a play/therapy area, and a bathroom/laundry room.












This mom-care-model functions as one large family and provides the children with not only the love and nurturing that is crucial to their overall health, but also the stability, structure and consistency to help them thrive and optimize their potential. Monday through Friday, the children have busy schedules that look something like this:
















With the exception of Zhong who is in specialized seating, the children all sit independently in their chairs at the table for meal time. While waiting for their food, you might hear singing, laughing or even typical sibling banter. This communal eating has a very family feel and has been therapeutic for the younger ones who haven’t always enjoyed mealtime; you’ll see them desiring to feed themselves or possibly even trying new foods.

 The children go to school on-site with other children from the orphanage.  Classes typically include 6-8 students and two teachers. Their nannies drop them off and pick them up from school, just like a parent might.



 

The children are thriving in this environment and tremendous gains are evident. This mom-care-model has got to be the next best option when fostering or adoption aren't immediate realities. Several of these children, do however, have adoption files and others will in the future.  We hope and pray that each child in our mom-care-model will come to know the love of a forever family.

The Railway of Life

In today’s China, high-speed rails and bullet trains are becoming ever ubiquitous. The old “green carriage” trains, on the other hand, are slowly fading from the collective consciousness. However, to everyone here at Dew Drops the “green carriage” trains are heaven sent, for they have provided lifelines to our precious children. On September 12, a little angel with so much desire to live boarded a “green carriage” train and began her journey to life-changing medical care in Beijing. After safely arriving in Beijing, doctors confirmed that little Ying’s heart condition was in a bad state. She needing emergency surgery. On September 15, doctors successfully operated on little Ying. Our little angel now has received her second chance at life thanks to the “green carriage” trains.

The much needed lifeline that was afforded to little Ying was not a one-off event. Over the years, these trains have provided passageways to second chances for many abandoned children.  They did so by making sure that the children arrived at their hospitals in Beijing on time, so that they could receive their life-saving surgeries. The captains and crew members not only provided our nannies with sleeping bunks, but also lent a hand whenever help was needed. Even though the crew members were very busy with their work, they always found the time to assist with looking after the children, so that our nannies could take a rest or go to the bathroom. 

This little guy, Cheng, is familiar with travelling back and forth from Inner Mongolia to Beijing. He took his first trip in February when he needed a life-saving surgery for anal atresia and took his second trip for a follow-up surgery not long ago. The crew members were moved to tears when they found out about his condition.

  

 

 Here are more children that have travelled from Inner Mongolia to Beijing.

We don’t know if these broken-winged angels will still remember the “green carriage” trains in the future or if they will remember the lifelines that these trains provided. Even if our angels do not remember, the smiles on their faces after receiving a second chance at life are enough to warm the hearts of the crew members. Thank you for giving them a second chance at life!

Expanding to Inner Mongolia

This year, we launched two new baby homes outside of Beijing that provide long-term, specialized care to abandoned children. Beijing is still the center of everything, and through our Beijing home we are able to provide world class medical care and surgeries to our children. After the children have surgeries and are stable to travel, they move to our Inner Mongolia or Shanxi homes for long-term care. These programs are hosted inside of official state-run orphanages and represent a big step forward as the local authorities affirm our model of care.

Today, we take a closer look at our Inner Mongolia baby home. Mrs. Qin, or Qin Jie (sister Qin) as we call her, is the project manager at our Inner Mongolia home. She joined our team earlier this year after retiring from her previous job at the same orphanage. She actually worked there for more than fifteen years. It is pretty impressive to choose to continue to work with orphan children even after you are supposed to retire. Her passion and dedication for these precious children is priceless.

We currently have 21 children in our home in Inner Mongolia ranging from a three-month-old baby girl to an eight-year-old girl. The kids have a variety of medical needs including cerebral palsy, heart defects, anal atresia, and spina bifida. Meet some of our new arrivals:

Would you like to invest in one of our children living in the Inner Mongolia Dew Drops home? Please consider sponsoring a child today. Your monthly donation will help cover basic living expenses and provide a future to the precious children at Dew Drops. You can sign up to become a monthly sponsor on our website here:  https://www.dewdropslittleflower.org/get-involved/sponsor-a-child/