Holt president Phil Littleton shares three short sponsorship stories with Holt’s child sponsors.
This month, I want to share a few little stories with you from our family strengthening program in China. They are short, sweet and to the point. But what I love about them is the glimpse they give into a sponsored child’s life. And how you, as a sponsor, are helping a child to have a happy, healthy childhood — or as close to that as possible for a child who has already experienced a lot of hard things in life.
Seven-year-old Ju holds a certificate of achievement from her school. Ju’s sponsor helps pay her school fees.
Since the pandemic first began spreading in early 2020, it’s changed life for everyone — but especially children in orphanage care. Here’s what life looks like now for children in orphanages from China to India to Thailand.
A group of Chinese adoptees in traditional dresses on the 2010 heritage tour of China. As most of the children placed in the 1990s were healthy, infant girls, tour participants are almost all girls.
In 1993, Holt began placing children from China in loving families in the U.S. Here, our staff reflects on 20 years of international adoption and child welfare work in China — including the many Chinese adoptees who are now coming of age, graduating high school and beginning the bright futures we always hoped for them.
This story originally appeared in Holt’s fall 2013 sponsorship magazine.
Phil Littleton, Holt’s president and CEO, shares a message with child sponsors about the holistic care and services their monthly gifts make possible for children in need.
I want to tell you a story about a girl named Ju who was left at the gates of an orphanage in China.
In China, children living with HIV face intense stigma and discrimination. But through the kindness and generosity of Holt donors, they find love, care and compassion in Holt’s HIV group homes.This story originally appeared in Holt’s fall 2017 sponsorship magazine.
A little girl at the HIV group home looks out the front door to a sunny courtyard.
Most of the children here don’t know they are HIV+. It’s too risky.
Their teachers don’t know. Their neighbors definitely don’t know because if they did, they would have to move again. They’ve moved eight times in ten years, all 28 children. If their teachers knew, they would be isolated and discriminated against or even kicked out of their pricey private school — a school they attend because they don’t have to inform the principal of their disease.
Most of these children don’t even know about the disease in their blood — the disease that killed many of their parents, robbed them of their life in their villages and that was likely passed to them at birth.
They just know that they have strict rules to follow.
Absolutely no fighting. No rough housing. If they get a cut or a scratch, they have their own first aid kit. And they have Mr. Huang.
“The kids are happy now,” Mr. Huang says, his face worn and tired, his spiky, graying hair hinting at his age.
When children pass through the living room of the apartment, they stop to grab his hands or talk to him and his eyes soften as he greets them lovingly.
“They are too young,” Mr. Huang says. “They don’t understand their fate. But as they get older, they will learn. The discrimination will start. They will always have to keep their secret.”
Children living in orphanages with special needs like Ping, deserve to be healthy. In 2020, Ping urgently needed surgery. But due to COVID-19, he couldn’t travel from his orphanage to receive care in Beijing. That’s when Holt China staff, generous donors and local doctors stepped up to help — working remotely to ensure he receive the medical care he needed!
How Holt donors like you helped provide medical care and a safer, healthier home for one child and her family in China.
Thao (center) with her family after Holt donors and Holt staff in China helped them overcome their challenges.
When Holt staff in China first visited Tao’s family, their house was a mess. There were food wrappers everywhere, chipping paint, and the floor looked like it hadn’t been swept in months.
Li is recovering from home, and loves his stuffed ox!
Li and Wen never thought their hearts would be strong enough to run, play or even stay in school. But thanks to generous Holt donors, they both received the lifesaving heart surgeries they’d never dared to hope for.
When the phone rang at 10-year-old Li’s home in rural China. It was a phone call he and his aunt never thought they’d receive…
“Is it true I can receive a free surgery?!” Li asked his aunt unbelievably.
“Yes,” his aunt answered, “there are many good-hearted people helping us.”
Why we don’t give your $39 monthly sponsorship donation directly to your sponsored child’s family or caregivers, and how Holt uses your money to help your sponsored child instead.
A mom and her son in Colombia. Sponsorship helps this boy attend a daycare program where he receives nourishing meals and a critical early education.
Every month, you faithfully send your $39 to your sponsored child … Sort of.
Technically, you send your gift to Holt International, trusting that we will properly steward your money and direct it to your sponsored child. While we do on occasion give cash directly to families to meet immediate identified needs, we don’t actually give your sponsored child and his or her family $39 in cash or check each month.
Why, you ask? Wouldn’t our sponsorship program be just as effective if we simply wrote a check each month?
When prospective parents Ryan and Katie first saw Melia’s face on Holt’s waiting child photolisting, they were saddened to learn that this smiling little girl had major congenital heart defects. But instead of giving into fear, they decided to hold on to hope and joy.
