Half the Sky...when one couple decided to do something

One day an elephant saw a hummingbird lying on its back with its tiny feet up in the air.

"What are you doing?" asked the elephant.

The hummingbird replied, "I heard that the sky might fall today, and so I am ready to help hold it up, should it fall.”

The elephant laughed cruelly. “Do you really think,” he said, "that those tiny feet could help hold up the sky?”

The hummingbird kept his feet up in the air, intent on his purpose, as he replied, "Not alone. But each must do what he can. And this is what I can do.”
–  A Chinese Folktale

Our daughter, Ai Lan, is one lucky girl.  She is in a Half the Sky project in China.  That means she is in an institution where she is not just provided with the basics of food and shelter, but also is nurtured in order that she should develop on track with her age, and even more importantly, learn how to love and bond with others.  This is HUGE!  Until the last 10-15 years, most orphans in our world were never held, never nurtured, and never taught how to bond, so that when they are adopted, the new families have many developmental and emotional obstacles to overcome.  Unfortunately, many still face that bleak reality.  But when an adopting family from the US went to China in 1997 and found this to be the case for their own adopted daughter, and actually did something about it.  Jenny and Richard Bowen started a organization called Half the Sky, based off the Chinese adage that says "Women hold up half the sky," that trains orphanage workers in China how to properly care for and nurture orphans in order that they reduce the amount of developmental delays and attachment disorders that the child will face later in life.  The model worked.  It worked so well that it has multiplied many times over!

Follow this link to the website for Half the Sky.  Believe me...it is worth a look!

www.halfthesky.org/

You can also check out this link to a Vimeo video that shows these orphans and nannies in action.  So cute!

http://vimeo.com/37625589

I hope this answers your many questions about what kind of care situation Ai Lan is in.  The answer is...the best we could hope for!  We have video of her getting cheered on by her nannies while she is mastering her walking.  She is bright-eyed and laughing her head off.  It warms an adoptive mama's heart, let me tell you.  When I get to her institution, I want to hug every woman that helped nurture Ai Lan while I could not.  I think I will!

If one couple can start a movement that has trained 21,825 workers and has transformed 94,253 and counting orphans' lives, what can I do?  We may not all be called by God to such a huge task, but each of us, like the humming bird, and do SOMETHING.  Just do something.