Recent program updates from Holt-supported family strengthening and orphan care programs around the world!
China
After a 12-day journey that wound through China’s cities and countryside, the 24 participants of Holt’s 2024 China Heritage Tour — all Chinese adoptees and their families — concluded their trip in late June. This year’s tour was led by Jian Chen, Holt’s vice president of China regional programs, and tour organizer Lotus Travel. It was our first heritage tour to the region since 2018.
Participants on this year’s trip had the opportunity to visit some of China’s most famous sites, including the Great Wall and Summer Palace in Beijing, and travel to the ancient Chinese capital of Xian and the southern city of Guilin, known for its dramatic landscapes. They also spent the night in a farming village with local hosts, where they learned to make traditional Chinese dumplings. In addition, each family traveled for two nights to their child’s birth city, and one adoptee was able to meet her birth parents, which was quite an emotional experience!
Holt’s China Heritage Tour is open to families of children adopted from any province and through any agency. This year’s tour offered adoptees and their families a time to bond and support one another — and at the end of the trip, Holt presented each adoptee with a traditional Chinese outfit, called a qipao.
Since 1992, Holt has united more than 7,000 children from China with adoptive families in the U.S. While Holt’s China adoption program is currently closed, we encourage families to explore our two other adoption programs in the region — in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
India
Bangalore is a bustling city in southern India, with a population of more than 14 million people, many of them migrants in search of work. Holt’s partner organization, Vathsalya Charitable Trust (VCT), works with such families, operating a daycare center for children of migrant workers. VCT provides much-needed resources and respite for parents who often live in harsh conditions and work long hours for little pay.
This past June, VCT held a Father’s Day celebration to honor the fathers of children enrolled in their daycare programs. Fathers had the chance to relax with their children and share their fatherhood experiences with one another.
Thailand
According to recent estimates, some 120,000 children in Thailand are living in institutions, in places ranging from orphanages to government-run boarding schools. “The number of children living in institutional care in Thailand is truly disturbing,” says Kyungsun Kim, the UNICEF representative for Thailand. “Living in residential or institutional care, separated from family, can leave a lasting negative impact on children’s physical, cognitive and emotional development. That’s because in these institutions, particularly crowded ones, children often aren’t able to form stable attachments, develop social skills, or get the physical and emotional support they would in a family environment.”
Some 120,000 children in Thailand are living in institutions, in places ranging from orphanages to government-run boarding schools.
Concerned with the number of children abandoned to institutions, the Thailand Department of Children and Youth (DCY) created a child abandonment prevention program and recently met with five child welfare organizations, including our local partner, Holt Sahathai Foundation (HSF), to discuss solutions. The DCY revealed that if vulnerable families were to receive an average stipend of 13,000 Thai baht per person per year, or the equivalent of $357, children would be able to remain at home and out of institutional care. (This amount is lower than the cost of care per child in an institution.) The data will be presented to policymakers in Thailand for further consideration.
Holt helped to establish our local partner HSF more than 40 years ago when we began serving vulnerable children and families in Thailand. Today, with the support of Holt sponsors and donors, HSF provides a broad range of services to help struggling families remain together and has provided a model of foster care that has remained the standard throughout Thailand.
Uganda
Bussi Island is located only 25 miles southwest of the capital city of Kampala, on the northwestern edge of Lake Victoria. But partly due to its geographic isolation, this once vibrant fishing community has experienced severe challenges. The island’s 30,000 inhabitants lack proper sanitation and clean water, have no electricity and suffer from overcrowded schools. (The government schools have a 100:1 student-to-teacher ratio.)
Residents of Bussi Island also lack access to good medical care, as there are no government hospitals on the island and only three clinics with limited medical resources. In addition, health care is too expensive for most people to afford.
Recently, Holt Uganda worked with community health workers and government health officers on Bussi Island to provide more than 8,500 children with nutritional assessments, vitamin A supplements and deworming medication. Other local organizations supplied residents with food and clothing, HIV testing, dental and optical checkups, psychosocial support and career guidance for students.
Cambodia, China, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, the Philippines, Uganda, Vietnam & Thailand
More than 3,000 children and families in nine countries around the world participated in International Children’s Day celebrations on June 1 with support from Holt sponsors and donors, country offices and local partners. International Children’s Day is celebrated in more than 145 countries each year as a time to advocate for and champion the rights of children.
During this year’s celebrations, children at Holt-supported events played games, sang songs and took photos. With support from their sponsors, the children received gifts and enjoyed traditional foods like Khmer noodles in Cambodia and spicy snacks in India. The occasion provided a good opportunity for children to learn about their fundamental rights to protection and care — and for their caregivers to advocate for the rights and wellness of all children.
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