Alice Evans, Holt Managing Editor of Publications
Nanchang, China—Brilliant blues and greens flash in the soft light. All around me, swirls of laughing children are sword fighting with peacock feathers. Seated on benches the quieter children eat oranges and hold tightly to their regal, shimmering feathers—one for each child. So many colors, so many young lives.
We are on a boat in the Shang Zhua Lun National Park gliding from island to island. Monkeys on one island and peacocks another, child contortionists and crooning singers who can moonwalk like Michael Jackson, each island an enchantment for the children. They flee the haunted house but applaud the silly antics of a slapstick comedian. And food, glorious food, plate after plate of steaming hot food at a nearby restaurant.
“We bring them here to help make them whole,” says Jian Chen, director of the Holt International China Program. “These children are very well off compared to many others. But they don’t often get outings of any kind, and this trip to the mountains is special. We are grateful to the Holt families who sponsored it.
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Thirty-six children live in the Nanchang “Love of the Heart” Group Home, a model project started three years ago by Holt International and operated in partnership with the Nanchang Social Welfare Institute. Six children living in six homes with six married couples as house parents.
Children who grow up in institutions often remain institutionalized for life, says Chen. They don’t learn life skills and without anyone to take a special interest, they are not equipped to enter the larger society. But now they look upon their group home housemates as brothers and sisters. Their house parents love and guide them. More than 50 children have been adopted internationally while living at the Love of the Heart Group Home, she says.
As I stand on the deck watching the mock sword fight, I can’t help but think of Peter Pan and his troupe of lost boys. One little boy glows with the energy of the battle, his dancing eyes fierce, intense and mischievous. Who would not want to have him as their son? Only 7 years old, a boy so handsome and full of joy.
[...] was a strange sound-quiet–when Holt International CEO, Kim Brown, and I first arrived at the Nanchang Group Foster Home. Of course… it was Tuesday afternoon and school was in session. Still, we thought we’d [...]