Rason Children's Home officially open (Vic Volunteers)

Mr and Mrs Hong (Vic) are volunteers involved in a children's orphanage. They celebrate the opening of the Rason Children's Home:

The Rason Children's Home officially opened on 17th May and we are caring for the children with all of our hearts. We will do our very best to pass on to them the love you have poured out to us.

Over that time, the children have improved significantly in their emotional and mental wellbeing.

As the orphans moved into their new home, they also had to move in to a new school environment. Thankfully, they have not been ostracised or taunted by the local children as I feared might happen, but rather they have been welcomed and even looked up to in a positive atmosphere.

As they met their new classmates, the orphans boasted so much about 'our home' (the orphanage) - a 3-storey building including a music room with a piano, accordions, drums and guitars, as well as a computer room - that all of the students in classes with orphans went on a field trip to visit the orphanage. Though the other students wanted to play on the instruments and try the computers their teachers prevented them from touching anything, and so now they look up to the orphans even more and have been making extra effort to treat them nicely.

As a result, our children's self-esteem and self-confidence has improved considerably and they have been making strong efforts to learn and practise their musical instruments and computer skills. This has been such an encouragement that even the orphanage staff have been shedding tears out of heartfelt thanksgiving.

On the other hand, many children have been so sick that upon examination we discovered that almost all of them have TB (tuberculosis). Many of them also suffer from a range of illnesses affecting their respiratory system, digestive system and other organs. One child has had a fever that jumps up to 40.5 degrees, yet he would come out and simply stand in the corridor silently, hoping for someone to at least hold his hand and comfort him. This child's need for affection (especially physical touch from someone older) instinctively drives him to do this. Tearfully this reminds me of just how unfortunate and vulnerable orphans are.

Children who are this sick usually can't even eat properly. This week a 6 year-old boy named Kwon Kwang-Hwi became severely ill and we looked after him and fed him medicine. He showed no sign of improvement so I embraced him and asked him several times what he wanted to eat. He said that he wanted pear, so I bought some for him but he couldn't eat more than a single slice. On Friday I admitted him into hospital.

In order to alleviate this recurring wave of suffering, we have made "eliminating TB" the most urgent task at hand for the Rason Children's Home after discussing the issue with the local government representatives. We are planning that all of the children and orphanage carers and staff will go through medical examinations with individual health record cards, and they will be treated and cared for according to each diagnosis.

(for information about People in Mission, contact Kathy Periera, People in Mission Coordinator, Ph 02 8267 4230, kathyp@nat.uca.org.au)