Behcet’s Patient Association was established in May, 2005. It provides care and help services for behcet patients, aiming to promote understanding and respect to people with behcet among the public, eliminating discrimination and protecting their equal rights on medical care, education and employment.

A photo exhibition with the theme of 'Rare Diseases' was opened in Beijing. Famous CCTV hosts and the director of the China Rare Disease Development Center were invited. 

From February 28 to March 10, the exhibition was held in the Beijing Capital Mall Crystal. The whole exhibit was open to the public. At the opening ceremony, Wang Chong, one of our patients, her mother and a photographer came to the site and conducted interviews. Wang Chong went to view her photos and touched them with her fingers while she listened to her mother's introduction.  

A doctor was moved after seeing Wang Chong’s photos. After talking with the volunteers, I bought a book—I Want a Blooming Life. I gave suggestions for the development of the Behcet’s Patient Association and arranged activities for the distribution of posters related to the Association during the exhibition period.

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

Our partner One Heart Worldwide will be holding a gala this May! They have asked us to spread the word and we are happy to support such a great cause. This event is in celebration of mother's day, to celebrate those who risk death in order to give life. 

You can purchase tickets to the event here: http://tracking.etapestry.com/t/28237551/735500568/55030938/0/

Carrie-Anne Moss
One Heart is thrilled to welcome Carrie-Anne Moss as the Master of Ceremonies for this year’s Grateful Heart Gala. Moss is a Canadian actress, most known for her role as “Trinity” in The Matrix Trilogy.  She boasts many impressive acting credits, including starring in the Oscar-nominated Chocolat and earning an Independent Spirit Award for her performance opposite Guy Pearce in Memento.Most recently, Carrie-Anne starred in Paul W.S. Anderson’s Pompeii, out earlier this year.  Married to Steven Roy, the couple has two sons and one daughter together. 

One Heart's life-saving programs were initially established in the late 1990’s in the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Over the last decade, they have been able to decrease unattended home births from 85% to 20%, mostly by ensuring the presence of a skilled attendant at delivery. Based on their experience, One Heart developed an effective, replicable, and sustainable model to reduce preventable deaths related to pregnancy and delivery among vulnerable rural populations. They work with local communities and local health providers to develop a culturally appropriate Network of Safety around mothers and infants. Through teaching good practices and distributing essential supplies, One Heart ensures that mothers survive delivery and their infants enjoy the first months of life. 

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.

(The surgery was successful. With love and supports from so many people, Hong Yan is looking forward to her future. The article is about how LRS met Hong Yan. Looking back, expectations and concerns were rewarded. Thank those who have a loving heart. Thank Hong Yan who was brave and thanks for the answer of God. )

“Little Red Scarf, we could not afford to treat the child. This is the poorest family I have ever seen. Please visit the family and help the child.” Since we receive the text, Little Red Scarf connected closely with Hong Yan.

Hong Yan is a 7-year-old girl with sever Tetralogy of Fallot. She could not even sit. She tended to squat anytime. Most of time, she had to be on the back of her parents. As other children with congenital heart disease, she had to wait because the family was not able to pay the treatment.

The first one to contact us was Hong Yan’s cousin. She sent us text and we had been concerning about the message. On February 24, we visited Hong Yan according to the address provided by Hong Yan’s cousin.

Hong Yan lives in a remote village of Gansu province. It is a drought village with poor communication. We took 4 buses and walked half an hour to get to Hong Yan’s home. It was located on a barren hill. We saw a shabby house with a gate on the verge of collapse.

On stepping into the gate, we were moved to tears by the scene in front of us. An old man of over 80 was standing in the middle of the yard, holding a child of 6 or 7 on the back. The child looked purple in the face and fingers. She is Hong Yan.

Hong Yan’s father passed away when she was 5, leaving 20000 yuan of debts. It was a great hit for the family. Her brother was 14 who had to quit from school and work as an apprentice. Her mother had to work in the construction team as a man in order to earn more. The child’s situation became more serious. When could earn enough for the surgery? Helplessly, her mother thought of finding a husband to pay for the surgery, but who would like to be the step-father of the purple child. Her mother was too concerned to fall asleep at night. She kept asking: who could save my child?

From 2 mud rooms of Hong Yan’s family, we could see the sky. We could not even imagine how they live in such a shabby hut. We saw there’s a plastic film covering the roof. Hong Yan’s cousin said when she visited the family last year, it was raining hard and the roof leaked heavily. She gave the family 50yuan so that they could buy a piece of plastic film to cover the roof. The family was too poor to afford a piece of tilt for their shelter, let alone the treatment costs of Hong Yan.

Knowing these, we decided to provide maximum help to Hong Yan. Hong Yan’s surgery needs a big sum of money with high risk, so American team of Little Red Scarf held a money raising activity for her. We would give kind donors in the USA feedbacks every day.

With simple packing, Hong Yan, her mother and cousin set out to the city. The only man of the family, Hong Yan’s brother carried her on the back and walked to the bus station. The staff of Little Red Scarf contacted the hospital and arranged the bed for her.

Though it’s a tough way, it’s full of hope. With people’s loves, we hope Hong Yan and other children with congenital heart disease can be cared and helped. 

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

February is the Chinese lunar new year. It is a traditional festival for Chinese people. Shalom and its volunteers were concerned about people living in the leprosy village. From February 11 to 12, volunteers visited the Shuigou Leprosy Village, sending greetings to over 30 lepers. 

February was a lucky month for the lepers. An old Japanese friend of the lepers, doctor Tong Kou visited Kunming, hoping Shalom could take him to visit some remote leprosy villages. Considering the cost, Shalom could not arrange Tong Kou to visit the Volcano village of Chuxiong prefecture. Shalom tried its best to arrange for doctor Tong Kou to visit 2 villages. He provided medical services to the patients. He also re-visited several families. Here are some pictures to describe his four day visit.  

In 4 days, doctor Tong Kou visited 3 villages and 1 family. With the assistance of Liang Ping, he prescribed treatment for 62 villagers with leprosy, while also providing medical help for them. He provided 12 lepers with shoe pads, 4 patients with 4 pairs of glasses and 52 patients with medicine. He also brought medicine for 3 lepers with asthma. Some patients are have serious problems in the Shuigou village of Xudian county, so doctor Tong Kou will visit Kunming again later this year. He is going to provide them with more professional treatment.  

These are some activities in February. On behalf of leprosy patients, Shalom thanks doctor Tong Kou and volunteers from home and abroad. Thank you for your care for the people with leprosy in Yunnan. Shalom will continue its activities to visit leprosy villages and provide more help for the patients.

Original article written by Ping Liang, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang

Compassion Nayong Public Welfare is based on Nayong, a poverty-stricken area in Guizhou Province. Taking the network as the platform, it carries out various public welfare activities to aid education.

When Chen Qingqing was a baby, she lost her hearing due to a high fever. She lives in a mute world. Her friends did not want to play with her. She was only accompanied by loneliness and feelings of inferiority. 

She wrote in her diary, “I want to be the same as other children who go to school with schoolbags and new clothes. I was refused by school, because I cannot hear. When I saw other children going and coming back from school, I couldn't help but weep.  Seeing this, my parents were in so much pain.”

When she was 8, suddenly everything changed. The sky became blue and the sun became bright. Hearing that Nayong admits children with disabilities, her parents sent her to the school without any hesitation. She came to school and saw many children who live in a mute world as well. They all can share common ground. Qingqing now thought of her life without as much insecurity. A new life began. Under the care and tutoring of her teachers, Qingqing felt love and became confident. From grade 1 on, she displayed an excellent performance. She was elected as a study leader of the class. She is a good student and performs at the top of the class.

Now she works even harder. At school, Qingqing loves her classes and cares about each of her classmates. She loves to serve her classmates. She wants to influence other students with her behavior. She is also a capable assistant to the teachers. She participates in various activities, such as classroom cleaning, blackboard poster contests, painting, etc. All the teachers were moved by her hardworking and persistence.

“No pain, no gain”. Her work was rewarded. No matter how hard the growing up process can be, we still can see the rainbow at the end. Though she is disabled, her enthusiasm for life will never be changed.

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

Xingzhi Migrant Art School is a non-profit organization that offers art lessons for the children of migrant workers who otherwise would not have this opportunity. This update was written by Director Gu, the founder of and a teacher at the Art School in Beijing.

With the support of TFish in 2013, the Xingzhi Migrant Art School opened courses for children of migrant families. This is the first time we cooperated with TFish Foundation and it’s also the first time we worked with people from outside of the school.

Our course aims to help the children of migrant families. The students’ number increased to 88 this semester. 65 students are in the junior class whose ages are from 6 to 12, 23 students are in senior class whose age are from 13 to 18. The lessons we offer to them are English and graphic design. The Senior class has about 364 hours for English and junior class has about 156 hours. 728 hours were set aside for the  senior class in graphic design and 156 hours for the junior class.

English is not easy for the students, because they have almost no preexisting knowledge. They had to study the language from scratch. The other problem is their ages are varied a lot and their study capabilities are quite different. At the beginning, the teacher had to take care of the students who were slow, so the course developed slowly. Gu Xiaocheng, the founder of the school, discussed with the English teacher how to solve the problem. After discussion, their found a way to take care of the students who made slow progress. The quick learners help the younger students or relatively slow learners after class. Thanks to this plan, each student's English level improved 1 year later. They can now do a self introduction and perform basic communication.

The mutual-help study method was also implemented in painting. The capable students teach other students how to choose materials and help them learn new drawing techniques and relevant software. 

People with leprosy are sent to isolated villages where they are abandoned and forgotten by society. The Shalom Leprosy Compassion Ministry has a special place in its heart for these people and organizes groups of volunteers to travel to villages plagued with leprosy in order to provide medical, living, and psychological assistance. The Shalom Leprosy Compassion Ministry is located in Kunming, Yunnan.

Dear TFish Foundation, 

I live with my grandfather in Yangquangou village. 2 years ago, my mother left us and I did not know why. My father is in poor health, so my grandfather had to take care of me. There are grandfather, father, younger sister and me in the family. My younger sister has been living with us since 2013. She is 7 and she went to school with me this year.

I am 11 and in Grade 4. I stay at school from Monday to Friday and go back to see my grandfather on weekends. I want to thank granny Liang Ping and her friends very much. They care about me and they told me some stories about the village. They also brought me some clothes, toys and books. They encouraged me to study hard and read more books.

I am grateful that TFish gives me 100 yuan each month. Granny Liang Ping brought the money to my grandfather in person. I also want to thank Mr. and Mrs. Zhao as well as other people. I will study hard and deliver an excellent school performance. I welcome you to visit Yangquangou as our guest.

Thank TFish and Mr. and Mrs. Zhao again!

Original article written by Baocai Zhao, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang

Xinhua News, Lanzhou, March 26 (Reporters: Wenjing Zhang, Gang Guo) In a ward in Lanzhou University First Hospital Cardiac Surgery Department, 8-year-old girl He Hongyan sits on her hospital bed, with a ruddy complexion, admiring the photo taken of her by America’s Little Red Scarf employees. Only a few days ago, her face tinted purple and she could barely move. 

He Hongyan is from a rural area near Weiyuan County, Dingxi City in Gansu Province. The day after she was born, she was diagnosed with the worst type of congenital heart disease. He Hongyan’s mother tells us, “Ever since she was little, she severely lacked oxygen, her whole body tinted purple, her fingers were bent, and she could not walk; she could only squat or curl into a ball.”

He Hongyan’s cousin Ma Yanxia says, “The family does not have any money to pay for the surgery, so we could only keep her alive with medication. Her condition worsened during the past few years.” Hongyan’s father died of an illness last year and her 80-year-old grandmother lies in bed, paralyzed, taken care of by Hongyan’s mother, who relies on her 25 Yuan salary from working in the vegetable sheds to keep the entire family afloat. 

Over the past few years, the Chinese government has introduced many support policies aimed to help the Chinese people get better medical care. One example is the policy to develop coordinated health care in the countryside. In 2012, Gansu Province Civil Affairs Office also put into effect a severe illness succor project, with congenital heart disease being one of the targeted illnesses. The support patients receive average around 20 thousand Yuan. 
Little Red Scarf’s Lanzhou office leader Yuan Yujie says, “The policies are great. We can reimburse some medical costs, although we must first pay 10 thousand Yuan when patients first move in to the hospital. Surgery for congenital heart disease costs around 30 thousand Yuan, with more complicated surgeries costing around 60 to 80 thousand Yuan.”