Dear YKI Supporters,
We are very happy to let you know that this summer our organization was able to successfully deliver $2,500.00 USD for the play garden maintenance.
We were warmly greeted by the orphanage staff and orphanage administration. They thanked us for our dedication and ongoing support of their SWI. During our meeting with Director Wang, we learned that their largest concern was the aging group of children in their care, and also the children with more serious disabilities. They are hopeful that in the future YKI will support their efforts to give children more opportunities for vocational training to prepare teens for life after the orphanage. They are hoping that future donations from YKI will provide education classes and general tuition fees.
It was in this meeting that it was explained that our support is more needed than ever in this area. While the playground is used frequently, they are starting to move their work to focus more on older orphan support back in the city where they have more opportunities for school and training. In fact, fewer children are being placed in the foster villages and more are being fostered in apartments located on the SWI property.
They also explained that they are very interested to know how the Yunnan kids are doing post adoption. At this time, there is no organized way for them to know how the children are doing and they would greatly appreciate a way to hear about the children’s health, school performance, and overall quality of life. They would be very appreciative if we used our website to gather some messages from the families. They feel that it would deeply motivate their staff to know that their hard work has an impact on the adopted children’s future. The director emphasized that they would really like to have this connection to the families with Yunnan children.
Over the coming months YKI will be considering these requests carefully and moving to support their requests. We are continuously grateful for your ongoing support to improve the lives of children in Yunnan, China.
Best,
Iris Chin Ponte Ph.D.
Education Chair
Yunnan Kids International