Update from Heng Yang

Kyla Alexander - ICC's Short Term Team COordinator and Heng Yang Development Officer:

Dear Friends,

I just wanted to touch base with you all and let you know how things are going as I am currently leading a team in Heng Yang again. The team has 23 people in it, mostly young Australians, plus some lovely english and american people who are being very tolerant of the australian humour. The team are a great bunch and are working together well.

This time with the children has been a lot more grief filled than the last team. A lot more of the problems here have become apparent. There is no proper heating for the children. They are using coal burners without chimneys and so the rooms have been filling with Carbon Monoxide, despite having the doors and windows open. Some of the children have been very drowsy and lethargic from the fumes, and some have had seizures from it. I have asked the orphanage leaders to install chimneys, please pray that they do this.

I also discovered a few days ago that there were three new babies in the disabled children's area, instead of with the infants where they would receive proper care.

One of the babies had a severe liver disease (probably hepatitis), one of them was a year old with Cerebral Palsy and the other one was a tiny new baby girl with Down's Syndrome. I advocated for the children to move them to the infants block where they could receive proper care, but it was too late for the baby with CP, he passed away the night before last.

The Down's baby, however, was moved to the disabled baby room, where I believe Wu AiYi will take good care of her. PTL that this child was moved there. Please pray that they will value the life of this child. The third baby with liver disease is still in the disabled children's area, they are concerned this child will spread infection to the healthy infants if he is moved. Please pray for this baby that he will receive the love and care that he needs. Where he is living there is only 2 carers to 44 children, all who have special needs.

The orphanage leaders have been extremely open and have been discussing "future things". They really want a future with ICC and this is so exciting. I have been dreaming lots!!!! Please pray for patience for me to wait for the time I can move here permanently and work out these dreams.

The children have been making great progress with the team around. One particular child called Ping Ping sang a song yesterday and I nearly fell over with joy to hear it. She has suffered such severe neglect that she cannot smile or make eye contact, she has been totally unresponsive since I have known her, but she is starting to respond. Vidette from the last STT in November put so much into this little girl, and the current team is also working with her constantly to heal the hurt in her heart, and she is making incredible progress.

Thanks again guys for your love, support and prayers.

Kyla

Heng Yang - Part of ICC's future

For the last months short term teams have been travelling to a welfare center in Heng Yang to work with the children and assess how ICC can best help the abandoned and orphaned children there.

Just recently Kyla Alexander - the coordinator for developing our work in Heng Yang forwarded on this letter she had received from the Director of the Heng Yang Welfare Center (orphanage).

Please be in prayer for Director Song, his staff and for God to make clear the work that ICC should establish in this place.

Here is what Director Song wrote:

Dear Ms Kyla,

I hope you are well!

I am very happy to receive your fax and your Christmas card. My colleagues and I are very much appreciated all you and your team did for our children. Your sincere loving heart and hard - working have won the trust and love of our children. We are moved to see that our children were so reluctant to part with you. Your great loving heart deeply warms the hearts of our children.

Please give my warm regards and best wishes to Mr. Gotts and the other directors of ICC's board. I wish to thank you, Mr. Gotts and other directors of board for your support of our welfare cause. We will continuously welcome your team to visit and work in our welfare center, and will organize our staff to work with you to meet the needs of children.

My colleagues and I will come to Changsha to visit your project by the scheduled time, and we value this learning opportunity.

Wish you success in work and a happy life.

Director Song
Heng Yang Welfare Center

Allison (Left) and Kyla Alexander (Right) with a young man from the Heng Yang Welfare Center.

A New Team in a New City

2005 is here and is going to be an exciting year for us at ICC. At a recent International Board Meeting ICC's leadership felt God leading us into new vision for the coming five years.

Between 2005 and 2010 we believe that God is leading us to establish ten new teams in cities across China. More than ever we know that God's heart is broken by the situation that China's abandoned and orphaned children face each and every day. We also know that He has called ICC to go as His hands and feet and make a difference whereever children are suffering in China.

Historically ICC's work has been located in Changsha, Hunan. Whilst we have had opportunities to minister in other parts of China, up until recently we have not sensed God was leading to plant new long term teams in those places. That is until now.

Over the last months Kyla Alexander - an ICC staff member based in Changsha - has been building relationship with an orphanage in the city of Heng Yang, Hunan. Heng Yang is about three hours south of Changsha and is quite a large city.

The social welfare leaders have welcomed ICC to build a relationship with the Heng Yang Children's Welfare Center. This relationship has developed to the point that many of ICC's short term teams now travel to this orphanage and spend time there ministering to the children.

Just recently the leadership of this orphanage travelled to Changsha to further understand the work ICC has done. They were excited about our group homes, foster care, residential care, training, medical, education and therapy work and are wanting to see similar works established for their children.

We are excited about the opportunity and the possibility to expand the number of children benefiting from ICC's care. We believe that God will provide the people we need to plant a team into Heng Yang by the end of 2005. This will be the first step on the road to walking out the vision the Lord has given.

Will you stand with us as we embark on this vision to see more children know of the Father's love? Will you pray for us - that God will provide the wisdom and understanding of what our work should look like in this particular city? And will you ask God to release all that is needed - prayer, people and finance to enable this to become a reality.

If we at ICC know that you are on your knees praying for us then we will move forward with confidence that this 'new team in a new city' will soon be joined by other new teams in new cities.

Step by step, city by city we will change this nation!