Mi Le Buddha, a member of Association suggested that he would like to offer biological therapy service to autistic children for free. In order to help autistic children recover with daily massage, parents and teachers will be taught a physical therapy. After communication with Long Hua Xing Yu Children Center, the first phase of training courses officially commenced at noon on May 18. All the teachers and more than a dozen parents participated in training courses. They were listening to the lectures while doing the experiments. Next phrase training will be commenced in next Friday.

Today I stood here and thought of what we were 14 years ago. At that time there were unreasonable charges and mistaken arrests in each village. Villagers petitioned the government but were hurt instead…


That was why we founded a cooperative. We never forgot the history and clearly remembered those comrades who fought with us. They are: Tang Dianlin, Tang Wanwei, Liu Junyun, Tangjin Gang, Tang Dianhua, Tang Jinfu, Zhang Wenhua, Wang Xiuhua, Tan Zixia, Dang Yongju, Zhao Keling, Yang Ganli, Jia Hongying, Zhang Yong, Wang Silin, Wang Shaocheng, Wu Shibin, Ning Kesheng, Zhang Yubin, Chen Yuying, Wang Sihai,Xu Yulong, Liu Shiguang, Liu Jianchun, Yang Baochao, Liu Xiubang, Gao Shiyou, Liu Yuxi, Liu Yulian, Zhang Jinxi, Zhang Hengqin, and Zhang Xuesheng.


Many of them left from the cooperative for various reasons.


We will never forget their great effort and struggle for rights.


I remembered our best honored friend Liu Laoshi and how we shared our new career as the Senior Association and Women Art Team.


It was a great challenge to sing songs with smiles on our faces when we did not wipe tears from our faces.


Although there was no money, audio, or locations, we had passion, spirits of sacrifice, and communication at that time. That was enough for us.

Anhui Farmers' Cooperative is an organization for farmers' rights, and has undertaken several community development projects. To read more about Anhui Farmers' Cooperative, click here.

Yubiao writes the following poem about their successes in the past year: 

The hearts of kind people are boiling in the hot summer.
Our unyielding footprints are left in green farmlands…
Remember our tears falling for rights
Remember our courage fighting for votes
Remember our unity in the local police station
Remember our joy electing the top 10 good daughters-in-law
Remember our warm hearts for donation
Remember our solemnity in memorial ceremony
Remember our laughs in the farms
Remember our excellent performances in temple fairs
Remember our delight in extra meetings
Remember our endeavors and sweat

Yet we have not forgotten the building finance scandal, the shame of our jerry-built project, and the bad behavior done to the office facilities. These lessons will remain close to our hearts forever, because they are precious
treasures.
 
Many members stood in silence as they saw slides of our cooperative. They all began reminiscing, reliving the past memories. It wasn't easy for us to endure fourteen years of constant trial.

The day the monument was unveiled was one that would be well worth remembering. The monument shelters our memories and hope. It stands firm as our spirit support. It allowed us to believe that our cooperative would get better
and better...

Ms. Zhou focuses on mental and psychological counseling for women in rural areas. In this blog post, she writes about an encounter with a woman who has gone through much pain and suffering. 

Last year when I was in Sichuan Province, I met a 30-year old woman who attended one of my lectures. She would follow me wherever I went, and would bring with her everyone she knew who struggled with mental problems. She was thankful for my service but it also made me very tired.

One weekend, she brought a relative, a 40-year-old woman dressed in all black. Just from looking at her, I could tell she had a very serious mental problem. She was thin and looked miserable. However, we were able to quickly build a trusting relationship, in which she shared her painful experiences with me.

The lady had many problems, such as thoughts of suicide and aches in her chest, shoulders, stomach, and heart. She was always nervous and afraid of the wind, rain, darkness, and loneliness. She often cried over trifles and wished to divorce her husband even though he treated her well. Her husband took her to the hospital where she was examined by many doctors, but the diagnosis remained the same: she was healthy.

This semester, our school has a "red songs, dance campus" theme.

From now on, we plan to start every semester with a few “red songs” to sing, followed with two dancing rehearsals for the whole school.

We happily sing and dance together during our break time.

Let us take a look at teachers and students practicing!

The annual Children’s Day is coming very soon!

This is our 2nd primary school’s fun games!

The fun games total 11 projects and combined intelligence enjoyment.

Here, we can take a look at the children’s joyful training.

In January, there were 23 children who were healed and discharged from the hospital. We gave each of them a follow-up call, and they all answered except for the four of them who had their phones off. This is the information that we received about them.



Patient #303 Bingyan | Discharged: March 1, 2012 | Follow-Up: March 27, 2012

Bingyan has become totally different since she had her operation. Her constitution has become much better than before and she eats lots of food. Her family is very happy and really appreciates it.



Patient #305 Zewei | Discharged: January 17, 2012 | Follow-Up: April 16, 2012

He got very well after the operation. He has grown taller and fatter than before. To our amazement, he can walk.



Patient #308 Chengpeng | Discharged: January 20, 2012 | Follow-Up: May, 2012

Chengpeng eats much more food than before and his constitution is much better. Now, he is in the 1st grade in Elementary School.



Patient #309 Xiaona | Discharged: January 16, 2012 | Follow-Up: April 27, 2012

Xiaona became much better after the operation. She rested for a short time and went to school soon after the operation. However, her shoulders only hurt if she has a cold. She continues to study very hard and is the top of the class.



Patient #310 Xiaomei | Discharged: January 19, 2012 | Follow-Up: April, 2012

Her father said she got well after the operation and studied very hard. Now she is a student of the 5th grade. She is a very obedient girl.



Patient #311 Huanxia | Discharged: January 18, 2012 | Follow-Up: None

Huanxia’s home is in the mountain so the cellular reception is bad. We just heard his father tell us that Huanxia is well and they would bring her for a hospital review during vacation.



Patient #312 Shuangxi | Discharged: January 18, 2012 | Follow-Up: April, 2012

Shuangxi is staying at home now. He usually writes and watches TV at home. He has grown taller and he will be in the 3rd grade next semester.

This blog was written by a wonderful Helping Orphans Worldwide, HOW/Free Hugs Vietnam volunteer interpreter. An Khang is a university student who volunteered his time to interpret for the VIP (Volunteer Immersion Program) June 2012. HOW asks all of our volunteers to share their experience so more people can see the joy of volunteering.  Please enjoy An Khang's blog...

 I LEARNED A LOT OF THINGS FROM HOW AND THE CHILDREN I MET (HOW/FHV Volunteer 2012) Hi, my name’s An Khang. I’m from Vietnam. This summer, I volunteered as an interpreter for Helping Orphans Worldwide (HOW). I have tons of happy memories and useful experiences.
When I sent my CV to apply to be an interpreter and then had the interview with HOW staff, I just wanted to have a more exciting life than I had been having: studying all the time and being surrounded by homework, assignments and deadlines. And thanks to HOW, especially the children I met, I can bring inspiration back and ease my mind a lot. I feel like I’m much more happy now and helpful as well.

HOW is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization based in the USA, whose staff consists of all volunteers. Its mission is to provide hope and care to neglected, abandoned, and orphaned children in deprived areas of the world with a specific focus on VietNam.

This blog is written by one of Helping Orphans Worldwide, HOW VIP (Volunteer Immersion Program) volunteers, Fiona Corr. Fiona has worked very hard for a year to raise funds and awareness for HOW as well as you will read was the reason HOW was given a grant from the company she works for to buy 5 computers, "Tell Me More" English program's, a printer, and supplies for the year. It is HOW's intention to supply scholarships for 2013 for the children to continue not only their HOW English program but to keep them all in school with uniforms and books for the year. This program is called the Lotus Shelter Program. There are 26 girls living here, HOW has been involved with the Lotus Shelter since 2008 and have seen amazing changes happen! Our volunteers visit them each year as well as our HOW/Free Hugs Vietnam volunteers tutoring weekly for English lessons through the year. We do yoga with the girls, take them on swimming trips and many other self-esteem building fun activities. Fiona's blog will warm your heart!