Firecracker! May 09

Sunday, 3 May 2009 by Katherine 5 Comments

A New Work?!

A couple of weeks ago, a team from LIGHT traveled to out of town to visit a home with about 25 or so children living there. A local couple (followers) has “adopted” each of these kids and are the main parents, with the help of several nannies. Some of the children were abandoned as orphans as children, while others come from difficult home situations.Their ages range from toddlers to mid-adolescence, with most of the children about 8-15 years old.

Our team went primarily as a medical outreach to give these children a regular checkup, address current problems, and identify any serious or chronic  issues. The afternoon went great as the residents saw the kids and took turns “checking out” with me or the other attending physician. I had a lot of fun teaching – some of the new residents are learning how to examine an infant for the first time.

Medically, the kids are basically stable (except for the one with extrapulmonary TB) and we have established a schedule for routine health supervision. However, it became clear to us is that extra attention needs to be paid to their mental and emotional development as they transition to adolescence, and from adolescence to adulthood. The family structure just doesn’t provide enough support for these teens and pre-teens. Fortunately, we have just the man for the job! A local colleague in LIGHT has a heart for reaching out to adolescents and is excited to take on this project. It is great to be able to plug people with their giftings and interests to meet specific needs.

This will be a new kind of project both for our group and I’m very keen to see how it will unfold. Fortunately, there are more and more solid materials being developed in Chinese for this purpose. Please be upthinking with us in these initial preparation stages.

Global Health Promise

Global Health Promise is still very much on on the job as we continue to pursue projects! We are still writing grants and seeking funding for a shelter  project in Nepal and a maternal child health study in Yunnan, China. The economy has really hit the non-profit world. Unfortunately, food security (rather, lack of it) is also a problem for vulnerable women and children in these hard times causing them to seek alternative sources of revenue.

Since landing in Shenyang I’ve been upthinking, networking, and seeking out who is doing work either with these women, or working with other similarly marginalized groups. As far as I know, no one else has such an outreach. I’m seeking a team of people to join me in this work – peope who feel truly called to enter this kind of darkness. I have some interest, but no committed team members YET.

This city has a different atmosphere regarding the area of prostitution – it is more hidden and more controlled – I’m told the network is quite tight. But I know that it is not unbreakable. Every day, I know that there are women and girls (and possibly boys), crying out for someone who cares. There is, of course our Father and his Son who care, but we are the ones to be the physical carers. Please join me on your knees to help start the movement against this terror in this city. I need team members, I need to know where in this city to start, and then I need to have a breakthrough to reach the women and children.