Grounded on core values of respect, love, and service to the elderly, the Xin Yue Senior Citizen Service Center of Chongqing, China, promotes social work services for senior citizens and builds harmonious living environment for them.

Grandpa Su came from Guangdong Province. He has been living in Chongqing for about 10 years. When we went to visit Grandpa Su, he had a lot on his mind. He has been visiting the doctor frequently.  His blood pressure is too high. His vision is deteriorating and he will have cataract surgery for his eyes soon.


He still however, insists on reading newspapers and books every day. When we entered his home, we caught him reading with a magnifying glass on the right hand. He was sitting there like a hard-working student. He jots down notes of terms and words he does not understand. We tried to convince him to take a rest, but there were no limits to his love for knowledge. We talked about everything: poetry, history, philosophy, Buddhism, politics, spaceflight. He loved it all. 

Original article written by Ling Feng, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang

In Changzhou city, Jiangsu province, with the principles of “serve the society, dedicate love, help others and delight ourselves, Changzhou Volunteers Association actively promotes volunteerism around the city.

Love is as a light in the darkness; love is as a poem which warm people in winter; love is more like gentle breeze in summer; and love is also like the rain in spring and fruit in autumn. Volunteers Association hope to bring the love to each senior citizen. 

On July 26, TFISH volunteers came to Diaozhuang Nursing Home. They helped the elderly with some of their physical ailments with massages.  It was raining heavily, but they came to the nursing home on time. One of the volunteers have been helping Grandma Zhang with her back pain for a year. Grandma Zhang declares that she has been feeling much better since the massages. 

After the massages, our volunteers helped clean the foot and cut the nails for some of the elderly people. Grandpa Liu is 83 and his nails covered with dirt. The volunteer did not avoid his feet, but held them. He helped wash, massage and cut the feet nails. He said Grandpa Liu’s nails need to cut 3 months later and he would come again.

Original article was written by Yuan Kong, translated by Maggie Li, and edited by Yanyan Zhang

According to their motto - “Love, truth, and service to community” - Xingyang Volunteer Federation works to enhance people’s sense of social responsibility through providing them various volunteer opportunities. The office is in Xingyang, Henan province.   


Last summer, a fellow staff  member, “High mountain sky blue creek”, became seriously injured in a car accident and stayed in the intensive care unit for 5 days.

Brother Mountain joined our Volunteer Federation for nearly 5 years.  He often participated in various volunteer activities and we become quite well acquainted over time. In my mind, he is like a big brother to us … in various activities, he is our think tank, a hard working partner; When there is disagreement or argument, he is always the impartial mediator, always shows his clear, calm mind. Therefore, everyone knows we have a dear brother called brother “High mountain sky blue creek”,  or “Brother Mountain” in short.

After the incident, I went to visit Brother Mountain, that is his 4th day in the intensive care unit.  My voice was choked up when I saw him lying in bed with so many bandages, tubes, and monitoring equipment over his body. It is not easy for anyone to see such an energetic person turned into this in just a few days. I quickly adjusted my voice to keep spirits high. My tears started to come out again when brother Mountain said this in weak voice : “I was unable to do the haircut”. 


You see, a week ago, the Volunteer Federation issued a message that they are looking for volunteers to help hair cut for elderlies in the nursing home on June 12th.  Brother Mountain signed up for this event and then missed it because of his accident.  I held back my tears and said with smile : “Brother Mountain, I know you’re unable to go.  We all did it on your behalf.  Please take easy and take care”.  Even when he was at his most vulnerable, he was thinking for others. 

Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu province and provides financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, they provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle.

On January 5th, Yutong was finally released from the ICU! Her parents were waiting anxiously by the elevator, hoping to catch a glimpse of their son. 

Yutong underwent surgery just a few weeks ago on December 24th 2014. Unlike most of our heart surgery sponsorships, this is Yutong’s second congenital heart disease surgery. The second surgery was far more dangerous than the first and took over 8 hours. Yutong’s mother could not sleep the day before the surgery and cried the entire evening. Her eyes were so swollen that she could not open them the next morning. When they took the child to the operating room, Yutong’s mother could not control her emotions anymore and weeped on the bench outside operating room. Words of comfort seemed very meaningless at that moment, and all we could do was stay by their side and support the family emotionally.
 
The room filled with relief and joy when the surgeon came in to update us on Yutong's successful surgery. Her mother hadn't eaten for over 40 hours and announced that she felt hungry immediately after hearing the news.   

Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu province and provides financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, they provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle.

Today, Yihong tried using breathing equipment for the first time. It's not very comfortable, but it's his chance to live a normal life so he hopes it is something he can eventually get used to. 

 Yihong puts up a brave face when we came to visit. He said that he didn't feel any pain in his wound and was busy cracking jokes and spreading his contagious laughter. One of his fellow patient members bought Yihong a red jacket and hat. He told us he loved the way his new clothes felt and we took a picture of it. He'll definitely be keeping this gift as a souvenier from this period of his life. Because there was a family emergency, Yihong's father had to return home and leave Yihong under the care of a family member until tomorrow. After visiting Yihong, we got ready to return to the office. While giving our farewells to Yihong, he said to us "Sit with me a little bit longer". His warm and cordial personality is truly evident through his actions; we sat with him a little bit longer and bid our goodbyes with a hug. 

Original article written by Yunyun Jie, translated by EV Intern Katie Lan

When Light of Love was still a college organization in 2011, Transparent Fish Fund supported us by helping us provide free lunches to students with financial difficulties in an elementary at Zunyi, Guizhou. From the initial investigation of the students’ situations, calculation of the cost of providing free lunches, organization of a project implementation team, purchasing food items, and furnishing kitchen appliances to the later financial transparency and project feedbacks from students and parents, we learned a lot from TFISH and drastically improved our implementation efficiency. Seeing the smiles on the children’s faces after eating the free lunches further strengthened our confidence in continuing our philanthropic work. In 2012, we left our school and began registering our own nonprofit organization with great support from Mr. Chao and Director Nguyen. During the initial periods of the organization’s founding, when we faced many difficulties, they paid for our administration costs and helped us survive, find new, sustainable resources, and be able to grow stably. We want to thank TFISH for their support and guidance, helping us, a group of students, to further on our path of philanthropy. Now our senior community service project has received support from the local government as well as from several businesses, who would like to take part in philanthropy and service the community. 

Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu province and provides financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, they provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle.

Qiqi accepted the operation in August of 2011 with the support of Little Red Scarf. 3 years later, my colleagues and I came to Huining and visited her on July 16, 2014.

For the education of the children, the family had to move to a suburban of the city and rented a small room. They opened a small shop in the front of the room. There’s a place for a bed in the behind where Qiqi and her parents live. There are 6 family members. Her elder brother worked in a factory with poor health. Her second brother will study in a college this year and her sister works for a wedding dress shop.

The room is simple and shabby. The roof was built by asbestos tiles. There’s garbage outside of the room. Her mother found a plastic film to cover the floor in order to prevent rain water from the ceiling. Kitchen is behind the door where just for one person.

At noon, her mother began to prepare lunch for Qiqi. Qiqi changed a lot when we saw her. She still recognized me and said, “you are auntie from Little Red Scarf.”

Qiqi’s scar was healing well. She showed a little pigeon chest, but her mother said it was much better. We felt relieved to see she ate well.

The life of Qiqi’s family is like a cup of green tea—sweet comes from bitter test. We were happy to see healthy Qiqi and her parents. We hope she will be growing up healthfully and all the best in her future life. 

Original article written by Li Wang, translated by Maggie Li, and edited by Yanyan Zhang

Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu province and provides financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, they provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle.

We knew Dayong in March when he was hospitalized by pulmonary hypertension crisis. During the period, he had been encouraging other patients by writing letters. He had introduced other patients to Little Red Scarf. We have been concerning him and we visited him 4 months later.

For Dayong, sick is normal. When he was a baby, he often hit by colds which always caused pneumonia. When he was 3, he was diagnosed ventricular septal defect. The family could not afford the operation costs, so his father had to earn money in the city. He received the operation when he was 10. His illness had developed quite serious then.

2 years after the operation were happy for Dayong. He could study and play with his contemporaries. His sister had dropped from school and found a job in order to pay the debts. The situation of the family became better and the family built a new house. But not for long, he began to feel short breathing. Climbing across a mountain to go to school seemed so difficult for him. When he was in junior high school, his mother had to take him to school on a cart on Sunday and picked up him on Friday. The family had thought to let him finish junior high school education, but he did well at school and admitted by a senior high school in the town with high grades.

Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu province and provides financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, they provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle.

When the family members thought of 2 operations that Lele had experienced, they had indescribable feelings. When Lele had been diagnosed severe congenital heart disease, her father was in hospital for an operation. Facing expensive medical bills, they family had to sell cows and goats and spent all savings. With the help of Little Red Scarf and the local government medical allowance, Lele received 2 operations. When we saw Lele 1 years later, we were surprise to find she became a lovely and healthy girl.

The family has 7 people. Lele’s grandparents live with them. Her fathered opened a vehicle repair shop which is the income source of the family. When Lele knew we would visit her, she had been waiting for us at the door.

Lele’s father came back home late every day. In order to raise money for Lele, the family sold all their livestock. The sheds became empty. Her father is suffering rheumatic arthritis. He said he would came back to raise livestock when he is elder and were not able to repair vehicles. 

Her father told us she could ride bicycle, jump or run, but she had to keep taking medicines. A heart pacemaker was installed, so the doctor suggested her not going to school for an observation period.

Her brother was asking for the little kitten and she tried to catch the cat for her brother. Lele is a well-behaved child. Since she was installed with heart peacemaker, sewing became her joy of life.

Lele had never been to school, but her grand grandfather taught her a lot of words. Lele thanked staff from Little Red Scarf. She took out thank-you letter from a box and gave it to us. Lele was eager to go to school as the other children. We comforted her she would fulfill her dream when she becomes better.

Original article written by Li Wang, translated by Maggie Li, and edited by Yanyan Zhang

Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu province and provides financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, they provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle.

On June 16, my colleague and I visited Cai Ping—a mother with congenital heart disease. She received operation a year ago. We took an hour bus and arrived at the village. We took another 20 minutes’ motorcycle to arrive at her home.

The yard was clean and neat. The old house was collapsed when she was discharged from hospital last year. Her relatives helped to build a new one. There were some mud bricks left. The house is mud and wood structure inside and coated with concrete and bricks outside. It’s a normal way to build a house in the village, which shows nice in the appearance.

When she came back from the hospital, her father sent a goat to her. She did not eat it, but raised it instead. In the beginning of the year, the goat gave birth to a lamb.

Cai Ping was healing well, and the doctor said the operation was a success. Her pulmonary hypertension had not been reduced, so she had to take medicines. She could do certain housework.

Cai Ping’s husband has problems with his back, so he cannot do manual work. The couple raised about 20 chicken. If they are growing well, they could sell 70-80RMB for one.

This is Cai Ping's second daughter who had been suffering from congenital cataract. She received eye operation when she was 6. The lens only last for 10 years. She is 16 and in grade 8. She could not see the words on the blackboard even sitting in the first row. She had to learn by hearing, but she does well at school. A lens is worth of 100000RMB in 10 years ago. For the family, they could not earn such amount of money for their whole life.

Cai Ping’s father-in-law was hospitalized due to cerebral thrombosis and diabetes sequela. Her husband had to do fieldworks and Cai Ping has not recovered from the operation, so her 2 daughters had to take care of their grandfather. When talking about the situation of the family, Cai Ping said their relatives came for help. The family thanked Little Red Scarf. We comforted Cai Ping to be confident and everything would be better. 

Original article written by Ying Guan, translated by Maggie Li, and edited by Yanyan Zhang