Brick 5 - Liming Home’s Stand Tall Program
STANDING TALL
Being able to stand up with out aid is something we all take for granted, and it is every patient’s joy to see their child take their first hesitant steps. But it is a skill which has to be learned and some learn only with difficulty. For children with special needs this skill and other basic skills of walking and attending to simple matters of personal hygiene are only acquired with extra support. Left to their own devices or the care of family with no experience, they simply do not learn and are left dependent on others for all needs. In many cases, this does not have to be. With the proper therapy and backup support the children can learn to stand on their own two feet and begin to learn other skills appropriate to their level of ability.
Sadly, in China the necessary therapies are rare and expensive. The trained professionals do not exist in the numbers necessary and those that do concentrate in the centers of population. Those available in the rural areas are rare indeed. Faced with the burden of caring for such children desertion is not uncommon. The Catholic Church is playing a role in providing those services to those who cannot afford the city prices these services now demand and providing parents with an alternative to abandoning their “special child”
Since 1988, Liming Home run by Catholic Sisters has cared for more than 600 disabled children.. These deserted children are all disabled from birth or after, 30% of them suffer from brain paralysis. Since 1996, “Liming Family” has been offered rehabilitation training courses for them. As a result of that, many children’s quality of life has been improved. Some of them have acquired the basic skills to take care of themselves; others have learned to stand up and walk, even go to school. Since 2000, the courses have been offered to non-resident children with brain paralysis. A rehabilitation center was opened in 2006 to help these children to stand up again, to help them improve their home-caring situation.
In their own words
“Liming Family Rehabilitation Station is situated in the center of Hebei province to serve mainly Shijianzhuang and Xingtai Districts with a population of about 15 million. We serve mainly the orphans and the children with brain paralysis from poor families, which have an average income of 2,000 RMB (200 EURO) per year. We have set up a fund for them and hope that they can get continuous rehabilitation training at their crucial time, in order that more children with brain paralysis learn to clothe themselves, to have meals on their own, to stand up and walk and to be able go to school.
In 2008, in order to guarantee 25 of them to access the continuous rehabilitation training of three sessions with 15 days per session at 120 RMB per child per day, we need your generous support. The families and the orphanage could pay 30 RMB per day per child, the rest will depend on the generosity of benefactors. The following is the list of the 25 children:
go to this link to view the list of children
It costs €370, (₤350 or $550) for one child for one year
Support “Stand Tall” with a donation of any amount and allow a poor family have the joy of seeing their child take the step towards independent living.
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