Nutrition is oh so important

Approximately 6 weeks ago, Angel Covers partnered with Love Without Boundaries to provide extra nutrition to the children in the Huaibei, Anhui Social Welfare Institute in China. Each month 120 boxes of rice cereal and 168 bags of formula are being sent to this SWI to help them provide these beautiful children with even more nutrition.

Seeing the boxes of formula and rice cereal arrive is always exciting. The staff at this orphanage love the babies so much, and they work hard in exhausting conditions to provide wonderful care for the children. This week we received pictures of the beautiful babies with full bottle and pudgy fingers.

Good nutrition isn't just about full bellies. It's about healthy lives, and strong bones. It's about being able to develop physically and emotionally without the stress of a an empty tummy. It's about aunties who don't have to hear a baby cry of hunger and wish they could do something about it. This nutrition program is important for the children as well as their caregivers. If you'd like to help us make a difference in these children's lives, please go to http://www.angelcovers.org/ and click on the donation button. It only costs $15 per month to help feed one of these precious babies so any amount, large or small, makes a huge difference in their lives.

There is nothing more peaceful than a happy baby and these beautiful, happy faces are what Angel Covers is all about.

Kari Fillmore

Xuri School Visit 2007

Xuri School


The Xuri School is a poor Tibetan all boys school set along the beautiful yellow river. We were greeted by a Lama who is the head master of the school. His eyes beam with pride for his students and he has a heart that is bigger than the river itself. He takes in the poorest of students, many who are orphaned. These students do not pay tuition as none can afford it. For many of these students, being provided this schooling is a matter of survival for them. The head master has taken many loans to provide the food, shelter, clothing, and books for the students. Most of the teachers at this school are monks and do not get paid. This school does not receive any government funding. The children here receive a home, a traditional Tibetan education, with Chinese and English language classes, food, clothing, and other essentials.

These children have such beautiful smiles and welcomed us into their school. We gave each child a small token gift and the excitement in their faces was barely containable. It was such a joy to know that our visit put a smile on their faces. It was such an honor to meet these teachers and children at this school.

During our meeting, the head master asked if there was a way we can help fund a tree program. They would like to plant trees that produce a fruit that is valuable in the area for food and medicine. This tree program will provide ongoing income each year for the school. The fruit from these trees can be harvested each summer, beginning on the 3rd year. They provided the fruit for us to sample and we realized it is the Goji fruit that is beginning to circulate the markets in recent years.

I have many pictures of these students. We are hoping to find sponsors for at least six of the younger students who are orphaned and have no where else to go. I am posting a picture of these six precious boys.

Laureen Dorow
Angel Covers Education Director

Tongren Home Visits

TongRen Home Visits

I had the unique opportunity to visit the homes of some of the girls in the Mama’s Wish Program. One specific home visit had a profound effect on me. It was a home of a college student who lives with her high school sister. They do not have a mother and the father does not show up very often and has alcohol issues. The uncle checks in on the girls and helps them the best he can, but he too is poor and lives a bit of a distance away. The home is very small. It consists of one room about 10X15 with no running water or electricity. There is a raised cement block with a rug on one end of the room for sleeping. There is also a small room to the side that holds a cauldron and firewood for cooking purposes.

The two girls and their uncle were very excited to have us visit. The home was very orderly and clean. Even though they did not have money, they managed to serve us Yak milk and fresh bread. They took so much pride in what they offered; it brings tears to my eyes. To know the financial difficulty it must have been for them to provide for our visit is bittersweet.
As the uncle talked about the family situation with the father and the difficult lives these girls are faced with, you can see the love and concern for the girls in the uncle’s eyes. It moved everyone in the room to tears.
It was a cold damp day and these girls did not have a coat to keep them warm. The pipes from the well washed away last year and they no longer have water. We were able to arrange to have coats delivered to them for the next day, but I wonder how many more children were nearby that we don’t know about who desperately need coats as winter approaches.

I couldn't resist taking this photo of six children peeking through the doors watching us at one of the home visits-we caught them!

Laureen Dorow

AC-Education Director

Our First Visit at TongRen...2007

As we round the turn to enter the school there stood lines of students, teachers, and parents in two long rows to welcome us. We climb out of the car and are greeted with the placement of Heda’s around out neck. Heda's are Tibetan prayer shawls. To see the parents who some have traveled many miles, even days to meet us was a humbling experience. Most do not have transportation and so must walk or they may catch a ride for some of the way, but again, many spent most of their travels on their feet. The love for their children and the appreciation they have for the opportunity of education given to their children is seen in their eyes and faces, but difficult to express in words.

We had lunch with the girls and later on in the evening there was a party where the girls performed with singing and dancing. They had a great amount of talent and enthusiasm. We ended the evening with the exchange of gifts for the college students.

The next day we began taking photos of each of the girls and began the interviews of each of the girls. This process took two wholes days and into the evenings. I learned so much about the girls through these interviews. As sponsors, when you get the reports you will too learn more about the girls you sponsor. What I found most intriguing at the beginning was many had similar answers to the question of if they needed anything. They want composition books and English/Chinese and other translation dictionaries. The most difficult answer that a few of the girls said was to have money to able to go home on the weekends even just once a month. I asked them how much a taxi would cost for the round trip and found that the cost is between 5-7 RMB, yes less than $1! It was very difficult not to reach into my pocket at that moment and give them that wish.

They all spend most of their time studying and all want to go to college when they finish. Most said they want to be a teacher or a doctor and want to come back to Tongren or their home village to help others they way Mama’s Wish is helping them. Almost all the students say that their most favorite activities are singing and dancing, and many said badminton and reading.

When I asked the students to tell me about a favorite memory, some said when they found out that they can go back to school, many said it was the day they graduated from middle school and the teachers took the students to a field for a party to celebrate their completion of middle school. What I found most touching is that some of the girls said that on the weekends that they get to go back to home, their favorite memory is brushing their moms hair and washing their dad’s feet.
Despite the extreme poverty and challenging lives, these girls have hope and a sparkle in their eye. They study very hard because they know that if they succeed in school, it will provide the opportunity to alleviate the poverty for them, their family, and even the village they are from. They are all thankful to their sponsors who have given them the gift they thought was denied…the gift of hop, the gift of education!

Laureen Dorow

Education Director

Kids Helping Kids

Angel Covers has amazing supporters all over the world, but the ones who make me smile the most are the kids. They have the biggest hearts and complete joy with doing things for others. They have such pride in what they are doing and have the purest intentions.

This summer, children around the US raised money for kids around the world by selling lemonade and so many other ways. Two kids held lemonade stands and raised money for a guard at Humble Hearts, and for a little boy in China to have heart surgery. We received the saddest news this week when we learned that the little boy in China died before receiving surgery. We aren't clear as to what caused is death....was he sicker than the doctors thought? Did he have another undiagnosed illness? What I do know, is that the children who tried to save him, did so with as much love in their hearts as any of us have. They didn't know him, and didn't want anything back. They just wanted to help another child. And the funds they raised will be used to help another baby with a heart condition as soon as possible.

Although the news this week was so sad about this precious baby, we also received a beautiful donation from another little girl, Mia. Mia asked her friends to make donations to Angel Covers for bouncy seats rather than receive birthday presents. She raised $88, enough to purchase 11 bouncers for babies throughout China! Her selflessness will allow so many babies to see their world and be out of their cribs. The babies receiving these bouncers will grown and and be a part of the world like they never have before.

We should all be like Mia and so many other children supporting children less fortunate. We should always give of ourselves without expecting anything in return. I've always know that we can learn so much from kids all over the world. These children are living proof of that.

Kari Fillmore

Success

This past weekend I was asked to come speak at a church in Kansas as well as an open house. I was also fortunate enough to have the opportunity to be interviewed by a T.V. station and radio station. All weekend I met wonderful people who care deeply about the children we work with. At each talk I gave, children were sponsored, products were purchased, and people expressed great interest in getting more involved with Angel Covers.

While speaking at a church, I was asked if I consider Angel Covers to be successful or when we'll know that this organization is successful. My first instinct was to say, "Of course Angel Covers is successful. We have volunteers around the world who work hard and give their own financial resources to travel around the world. We care for thousands of children on a regular basis and they are healthier and have a better education because of it."

But, I also started thinking about success for the children we have the privilege to work with means to them. Sometimes success for these kids isn't measurable. Instead, it's in their attitudes about life and the hope for the future. Angel Covers is successful because it has given children around the world the confidence to dream of a different life, to hope for the future, to believe in themselves…you can see it in their eyes when you meet them. The kids I have meet, seem to believe that that I’m the one who has given them this sense of relief and joy in their lives. They don’t understand yet that this isn’t from me or any of our volunteers, but from themselves. Maybe the conduit is the programs we set up, or the food we provided, but they used those things and allowed themselves to believe they are capable of achieving more than they ever thought before.

AC will be successful when these girls graduate from high school or college. When the kids in Kenya graduate from high school or a trade school, and are able to support themselves and have a better life than they grew up with. When they don’t feel like they have to abandon their children as the only way to care for them, when they can work all day on a regular basis and afford to put food on the table each and every day, when they don’t contract AIDS or other diseases because they have the knowledge to prevent it….that’s also when AC will be successful. These kids look at us as if we are their hero’s, but what they don’t yet understand is that they are ours. If we can ever convey that message to them and have them truly understand it….well, I can’t think of a greater success than that. And when our first group of high school girls graduates, or the first group of Humble Hearts kids graduate, I’m going to be there tell them they are my hero’s. Because that’s what this is all about.

Kari Fillmore

What an amazing 5 years!

This weekend I'll be traveling to Kansas for a couple of speeches, as well as TV and radio interviews. Throughout week as I've been preparing, I've been looking through 5 years worth of photos and trying to select just a few to take with me. Never did I realize just how difficult that would be. We have thousands of photos from dozens of countries...photos of the most beautiful children whose lives we have been privileged to touch. Babies who didn't know what a full belly felt like, but now have cute chubby rolls of skin. Children who had no toys, now have hula hoops and smiles on their faces. Children who couldn't hear, now have hearing aids and a speech therapist.

My goal this weekend is simply to spread the word; about our work, about our amazing sponsors, but most importantly about these children. I completely believe that every child has the potential to reach for the stars and grab them. Children around the world will be the ones to cure the various forms of cancer, find a vaccine for AIDS, or be the next leaders in peace. These children are being taught math, science, history, and other school subjects. But, more importantly they are being taught to believe in themselves. They are being taught that there is a world past poverty and despair. They are now believing they have a future past wondering where their next meal will come from.

Sometimes it's easy to feel like their are to many needs...to many children who need help. But I was reminded this week of the huge impact we are making for the kids we serve. And although we aren't helping every needy child, we are doing everything we can to care for as many as possible because they each deserve to hope.

Kari Fillmore