Helping Children in China: The Peony Project
'...to improve the life of a child.'
Read
the
Seattle Times feature story about WACAP's Peony Project.
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Song Tao Liu, 12, who has cerebral palsy, is fed lunch at the
Sino-American WACAP Children's Center of Luoyang in China, which is
funded, in part, by $2.9 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation.
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At the opening ceremonies of the new center on June 1, 2002,
Children's Day in China, the children are given the stage, where they
happily show off their skills for visiting officials.
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Everyone at the center takes a nap after lunch, from these
preschoolers to therapists who curl up on the beds in their treatment
room. Some, like the boy on the far right, have to be coaxed to close
their eyes.
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At the children's center grand opening in Luoyang, China, Janice
Neilson, executive director of WACAP gets a chance to spend time with
the children.
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In preparing for a home visit by staffers, the Liu family, from
left, father Zhoug An Lin; sister Ya Xing; mother Mai Gao; and Song
Tao, have set out bananas, peaches and melons in the living room that
doubles as a bedroom. Outside, the boy's grandmother sits while
neighbors stand in the door, listening to how the boy has progressed.
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A boy exercises his freedom to travel down a hall at the children's
center. The lights are off most days to keep things cool and calm --
and to save money.
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Photos courtesy of Steve Ringman/The Seattle Times
LINK
TO SEATTLE TIMES - FEATURE ON WACAP IN CHINA - JUNE 27, 1999
LINK
TO SEATTLE TIMES - FEATURE ON WACAP ADOPTION IN CHINA - JUNE 28, 1999