Blind Orphans Come Out of the Darkness
6/27/2005
From: China.org.cn (China)
Two-year-old Chun Yu is a beautiful girl who lives at Bethel Foster Home in Langfang, north China's Hebei Province. The toddler looks a little nervous as she feels a volunteer's pet dog, a Miniature Pinscher. And rightly so. She's never touched one before.
Chun Yu, like all the other children living at Bethel, is blind.
"Chun Yu was born blind, which was why her parents abandoned her in a hospital. She was then sent to a state orphanage. But, the orphanage was not equipped to deal with a blind orphan, so she was finally sent to us," said a caregiver or nanny who takes care of Chun Yu.
Chun Yu is one of the 27 children living in the Bethel Foster Home. Most of them are under the age of ten. The youngest recently turned one, and the oldest is 19.
There is a sad story behind each and every one of the children. But one stands out in particular.
When Xin Ju was a year and a half, she weighed no more than a six-month-old baby. The doctor at the state orphanage where she was previously was concerned. But he didn't know how to treat a blind baby. A member of staff at the orphanage decided to ask Guillaume and Delphine Gauvain for help.
In the care of the Gauvains, Xin Ju made a remarkable recovery. After only a month at Bethel, Xin Ju caught up on six months of development. She is now happy and healthy.
(China.org.cn by staff reporter Wu Nanlan, June 27, 2005)