SHIC

The doctors have had three lectures on EKG and Gynecology. The doctors have learned a lot from this teaching, especially on EKG. We are currently dealing with not enough heating for the doctors in the hotel where they stay. We have talked to the hotel manager about this and they have decided to lengthen the time period for the heat in the evenings and to turn the heat on earlier in the mornings. The heating system is connected with a government building, where the employees work only during the day. The corrective measures have been tried for a few days and it is better.

On Monday, Cynthia returned Shen Hong Guan back to the Orphanage. It was certainly a hard decision. We also called a friend of ours to ask if she knew anyone in her circle of friends who would like to foster Hong Guan and she called some other friends and she found one. Today Cynthia and a representative from the orphanage went to inspect their home and it seems right. The prospective foster parent is a widow and she lives with her mother-in-law. In order for this to work the local country school needs to receive Hong Guang so that she can continue her studies. This would all be so very good for her. We had been feeling that she needed to be in a normal school. In the special school, it seemed that she was seeing herself in a way that was far less than what she is or for what she could do and be.

We are excited that our renovations are finished! These guys worked fast and they were really a neat bunch of guys. It really has really shaped up. All their work for free! About $3,000 USD. There were only some items they required us to purchase, such as the sinks and the shower unit, but all of the work is free, they are supplied the wood and most of the supplies that they used. And one of our precious supporters has supplied the money for the sinks and the shower. Another $1,000 USD. Now we want to have a special dinner to express our gratitude to this company and their crew of workers.

Our babies and staff seem happy to have their ‘quiet’ returned and the environment is so wonderful.

Tomorrow Li Shuang will be taken to the No. 2 Hospital to begin preparation for her surgery. She is excited. Can you imagine living for 15 years, going through all that she has and now on the threshold of a new life, being given the ability to walk, without crutches and dragging her club feet, for the first time ever.

Wang Yang has joined our staff as of December 1. He formerly worked at the Shenyang International School where his wife is presently working. He has a 10-month old daughter who is now in the care of an auntie. He brings with him English and administrative skills. He is currently working on translation of some lengthy materials. It is very tedious. We hope that he can become versed in all aspects of the SHIC work.

Wang yang and Samuel are both rising stars in our staff ranks. Both are motivated and interested in our work. It is easy to work with them. We can give them an assignment and they finish it excellently. I am sure that after sufficient training we will be able to give them a project and it will also be finished excellently.

We have a friend who is a lawyer who told me a couple of years ago that he wanted to be available to us to do work for us pro-bono. We have need of his services now. We have reached a deadlock with the Chinese negotiations. We don’t know enough about the system here to know what to do next. I talked to him last week on the cell phone. He was out of town and said that he would love to talk with us this week. I will be calling him tomorrow. We need truthful and informed counsel to sort out this convoluted system.

This week we will meet with the three contractors to give them the bid forms and lists of renovations. We need for them to be diligent about this bidding process and get these back to us as soon as possible.

Now we are down to the wire on completing the CAF proposal so that we can submit it to funding agents. There are just a few blanks that need to be filled in. We desire to finish this before Christmas.

Derrick Choo, who was with us for three months working on updating the SHIC and ACA web pages, took his leave from SHIC on December 3. We appreciate the extra month he stayed with us. We had a going away dinner for him on December 2. We are very thankful to Derrick for the hard work and patience he put in with us these past three months.

MPH