Hello! My name is Ruth, an orphan girl. Would you like to sponsor a child from China? Please read here. 

China's Orphan Status

There are about 573,000 orphaned children under the age of 18 in China, representing about 0.0443% of the total Chinese population.  More than 30% of orphans receive no regular support from the government and over 50% of all orphans need help.

Fewer than 69,000 orphans are living in Chinese orphanages. Approximately 293,000 orphans, about half of  China’s orphans, receive a basic government subsidy. However, more than 200,000 orphans, a number close to 1/3 of the total orphans, do not receive regular governmental financial aid.  In many places in China, governmental financial aid is only a token amount.  The financial aid an orphan receives is less than one quarter of the cost of raising a child.  In some cases, the aid is less than 10% of what a child needs to live.  Overall, almost 300,000 orphans, about 55%, need additional help. 

                                          -quote from a Chinese report titled

“The Current Status of Chinese Orphans and the Challenge We Face”

Published  September 29^th, 2005

Once upon a time 

The story began in a large city in southern China in 1990. 

It was a hot summer afternoon.

I, Yang AiLing, a college student, sat  by  myself at a roadside coffee house with a cup of my favorite tea.

As I enjoyed my tea and the beauty around me, a little beggar with a dirty face tugged at my clothes and said, “Hi, Ayi!" As we talked, I learned that she was born in a poor village nearby.  An old grandmother rescued her after she was discarded in a bathroom because she was a female.  Seven years later the old lady, her only caregiver, died. So she escaped.

Begging was the only way this poor orphan could survive!

I wept.  She had no shelter, no food, and no parents to care.  My raw compassion helped me to load her onto the back of my bicycle and head to my parents.

After I gave her a bath and put my clothes on her, I said to my dad, who just then walked in: “Dad, can we keep this girl as a maid?  She is a relative of one of my friends who has just come from a village.”

“No! She is not yet an adult! We cannot hire her!”

Though it felt like a glass of cold water had been thrown in my face, it did not quench the fire of my compassion.  I took her and headed to my grandparents.  I reasoned that this good Christian couple, whom I loved and respected dearly, would definitely accept her.

How wrong I was!  Three days later I found her on the street again with ten yuan my grandma had given her.  She had been told to leave!

My burning compassion led me nowhere! Rather it sharpened my sorrow! I looked at her and wept……she looked at me and wept, too.

What a hopeless society! Giving her all my left-over pocket money, lots of clothes and food did not diminish my pain one bit! 

Even though my family and I were capable, we were unwilling to sponsor a Chinese child such as this.  What is wrong with us!?

I hated myself, a weak woman...

I hated a world that could be so cold and selfish.....

Though many years have passed since then, I still see “her” every day, in the avenues and streets of the cities and villages of China.

What can I do to change their unfortunate fate and future?! What can I do to cure my forever pain?!

Is AiLing Hua Foundation an answer after seventeen years later?