Tony Nolan, special guest speaker at Winter Jam 2009 and dedicated advocate for Holt International’s work, is currently in China with his wife, Tammy, to receive the newest member of their family, Joy. On this trip, the Nolans visited a Holt-supported foster family in Nanchang.
The following post from Brian Campbell recounts Tony’s experience at the home, and how a foster mother’s devotion dramatically changed the life of a child in her care.
By Brian Campbell, Holt Creative Productions Manager
“This is one of the hottest days on record in Nanchang,” Lisa Xu, a social worker on Holt’s China staff, tells me. The Nolan family takes this in stride as we board the van to visit a foster home. We hike the flights of stairs to the 6th floor. Sweating and panting, we arrived at the modest apartment occupied by the Lee family. Tony brought his whole family and with the social workers and myself, it was difficult to squeeze the 12 of us into the foster family’s small (by U.S. standards) 2-room apartment.
The Lees care for two foster children: Ling and Ruo*. When Ling, who was about 2 months old at the time, came to live with the Lees, little was known about her medical history, outside of the normal medical exam she received when she was first admitted.
As Mrs. Lee interacted and played with the children, she noticed that Ling exhibited behaviors that didn’t seem normal. Mrs. Lee researched ailments with similar symptoms, and during Ling’s next check-up with a Nanchang social worker, she pointed out that Ling showed signs of hearing difficulties.
The social worker scheduled a hearing examination that later confirmed Mrs. Lee’s suspicion. Although it is difficult to know how severe Ling’s hearing loss will be, because of the attentive care and actions taken by Mrs. Lee, and her love and concern for this child, Ling will receive the treatment and attention she needs. Mrs. Lee will also be better equipped to care for her.
Tony was quite moved as he listened to this story and held Ruo.
“What can you say?” he starts. “Here I stand in this small, humble home with two people caring for ‘the least of these.’ They provide opportunities for these two precious children to have a home, a family and a chance.” He pauses for a moment looking down at the baby in his arms and continues, “I never imagined that it would be so powerful, and to see it in action here, to look into Mrs. Lee’s eyes and to see the love she has for these babies is a powerful testimony of the mission of Holt and the sponsorship program.”
Tony gently handed the baby back to Mrs. Lee and said thank you for her service to Holt and the children. She smiled and said that she wouldn’t have it any other way. It was the right thing to do for the children. As we moved into the courtyard to get back to our bus, Mrs. Lee followed us. Just before boarding, Tony hugged Mrs. Lee. I glanced over, and saw Tony wiping moisture from his face, and smiling.
“That’s not just sweat bro,” he said to me. “That was truly a beautiful thing we just saw with the Lees. One I will not soon forget”
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Wow…that is so amazing. I can only hope that both Ruo and Ling one day get adopted into loving families. With someone like Mrs. Lee as their current caregiver, both of them have such potential for that to happen. God is good, and we should never underestimate His power.
[...] foster care programs are completely dependent on their foster family. As I witnessed the love that Mrs. Lee, one of the devoted foster mothers, showed to her foster babies, I thought about how God has a great love for children in need that [...]