Heng Yang Update - May 20th

Kyla Alexander, the ICC Project Manager for the Heng Yang Spring Project writes:

Hi,

Alison and I were talking about how so much has happened over the last few weeks in the Heng Yang Project, there is so much to give thanks for. And so, I thought it important to do a little update for the National Offices, Supporters, Intercessors and Short Term Team members on the progress and significant changes. Please disseminate this information to the relevant people.

We have launched Phase One of the project. On May 8th the Heng Yang Spring Service Centre (joint management between ICC and the Welfare Centre) took over the employment and management of all the staff caring for the disabled children and infants in the centre. From May 8-12th we ran training for the old and new staff on basic hygiene, first aid, emotional care, behaviour management, etc. The total number of staff working with the children has increased from 10 to 25. There are 8 workers caring for the children each day, and 5 at night.
With so many recent admissions, and the survival of these children because of the improved care the number of the children in the project has increased to 70 infants, children and young people. Space is a significant problem that we are currently trying to solve.
A baby care unit was opened on May 14th to care for the increasing numbers of disabled infants we are receiving. At the moment this unit is staffed by some loving carers. There are currently 8 children in the unit.
2 young children with special needs are currently in foster care in the community.
We have broken the children into 6 groups according to age and sex. The groups are called Lilly, Lotus, Jasmine, Poplar and Bamboo. The carers are all assigned to care for a specific group of children and this system is so far working well.
The children are now separated into groups to eat and this is working very well. The children are learning to sit and eat without fighting and grabbing each others food. There is a significant difference already in the mealtimes.
To boost their nutrition a snack program was commenced in March. Several of the children have put on weight since this started. One significant change is in a little girl called Yang Jian Hua who is significantly heavier and healthier.
With the employment of new staff as carers we employed one of the old staff as a teacher. She has experience teaching kindergarten. This lady called Teacher Chen has commenced a class with 8 younger children who are intellectually normal but unable to attend school because of disability or trauma. The classes started on May 15th and the children are doing very well. One of the children called Yang Jian Ping began to speak in the class.
We are currently working on improving the clothing and physical appearance of the children. The children’s hair will no longer be shaved. The clothing is also being upgraded and all the children received a new pair of summer shoes this week.
Next week on May 22nd Hannah is starting craft classes with some of the teenagers. One of the groups will be learning to make cards.

Please keep praying for us as we continue to face the daily difficulties and struggles of setting up this project, but it is great to see the little progresses and changes in the children. Thank you for your support.

God Bless
Kyla