Bringing Hope To Children

Hanka Scharf[1], Jilin University in Changchun, China

In opening the door on the third floor in an old shabby apartment block in Siping, a city located in the North of China, a world of serenity and harmony becomes visible. An oasis of hope in which two hundred square meters of an apartment provide abandoned Chinese babies with a home that is filled with love and care and welcomes each baby the same as every child is welcomed in mom and dad’s home. 

You enter the apartment and clean and nicely dressed toddlers and babies are looking at you. Your eyes are wondering and looking for the very common little dirty corners in places that are used by the public, but all what your search reveals, is spotless cleanness and order. Each room has its function. It is designed and equipped as best as possible. 

After visiting many places such as kindergartens and orphanages, where I always felt happy to leave the place as fast as possible rather than staying and enjoying my time with the kids, the feeling of surprise embraces me. I love this place the instant my food steps over the doorstep, my eyes had finished wondering and I am greeted by the head nanny Huang, nanny Feng, nanny Ma, nanny Li and nanny Wang. Here, I want to stay and help my friend Hannah (Ms. Huang) to improve the standards of carrying for the babies because I am a teacher and may be of help. 

Thus that was some visits ago, I still have this impression, when I step into the rooms of the center for abandoned babies. Thechoice of the name Bringing Hope To Children suits the place so well because it gives hope that is still difficult to observe in the urban areas in China. Here in this small town, hope is built for an awaking in China to face social problems with an active social engagement of locals without depending on the leadership of the West. The positive attitude, commitment and professional work of the seven elder nannies without any further supportive training from the West shows a promising ability of the Chinese to overcome conventional cultural barriers. The center further stands as a symbol for an awareness of Chinese to provide appropriate help for other community members that is different from that help offered in the past and close to Western customs and standards. It also embodies hope for a new ethical approach that carries high moral values and a unique commitment from the locals to do as best as possible while solving a social problem. In my search for an awareness of Chinese people to feel the need for changing progressively that very unpleasant Chinese attitude of being indifferent to members of the society, all my personal hopes were met here in this little lovely place and taught me to start rethinking. Contrary to the general beliefs of the West, this project created by Chinese and carried out by Chinese (only financially supported by foreigners) compared to other common approaches shows that social service can be practiced with heart, involvement and professionalism in China and is therefore very promising.

In the past, my observation exposed three steps in the personal and professional development of the staff. At the beginning, my friend Hannah, who had studied and lived abroad, confronted the staff with a management of the orphanage and ideas for the education of the babies that was too modern and unusual for the unprofessional conservative ladies of this small town, who wanted to become nannies for homeless babies. At that time, the center was a busy wasp nest, there were always some babies crying and some sleeping, and nannies were continuously engaged in baby-sitting, cleaning, cooking and administrative duties. With time, more babies came and the ladies were pushed to the edge of exhaustion. This situation opened the eyes of the nannies and forced them to rethink their present values, their traditional beliefs about education and care of the children and their traditional management of an orphanage, which was then the beginning of the second period. The staff consulted my friend again and opened up for new ideas. The result presented a big surprise for everybody, in less then a month the orphanage became a place of peace and concord. Babies were sleeping together and nobody woke anybody else up with its crying. Babies enjoyed their wake-time and those who still needed a nap found an atmosphere that provided enough tranquility to do so. The second period also called for a new room design with a big open playground. It now enables each baby to have its own space to move freely on the ground being left alone from the nannies to explore the world (this nice practice of the nannies is very uncommon and considered to be a bad habit in Chinese child education). In its freedom to be alone, the child is still able to reach friends to communicate and to interact with them in the play area. The very reassuring reason for a good job is that the babies are never unwatched because there are always one or more nannies sitting with them just as a mom would do. Today at the third step, the nannies are open for a dialogue and exchange to improve their educational work with the babies and toddler. They are looking for help and that's my part in this beautiful effort to bring hope to abandoned children and to China.

Through the day, nannies continue to interact with the children just the same as one would do at home. House work is done around the babies not the other way round. One of the nannies, who care for the babies, is also the one that cooks for them. Therefore only rich nutritious homemade food is served to the small babies beside milk. At the dining time, the staff feeds the babies individually and each feeding time takes as long as each baby needs to finish its meal. For me, it is so beautiful to sit amongst the nannies and to feed the baby that has been with me before dinner or lunch time. I know the child and it knows me. Here in these rooms, feeding time creates a singular moment in time. The love between adults and children is so strongly present in the room that this intimate moment pays back for the times that are full of worries about ill babies inside these rooms and all the worries and struggles, we are confronted with in the world outside these rooms and all the sadness the staff and I feel, when our thoughts drift away from our little paradise here – happily smiling, fat little babies and toddler – to all the little babies that are forgotten or not embraced with the equal love we are ready to give and to receive here in Bringing Hope To Children and to China.

It is still a long way for Chinese to walk before more oasis like this can be found in China, where old traditional thinking has been overruled by humanity and an awareness of a social responsibility from Chinese being active members of a modern society.    

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