It seems impossible that so much time has passed, but it’s been almost 25 years since I first set foot in a Chinese orphanage and knew in my heart that I couldn’t just walk away.
I couldn’t forget about room after room of tiny babies stuffed two, three, or four to a crib. Dozens of toddlers languishing in rows of potty chairs. Preschoolers vacant-eyed in front of scratchy tv screens. I felt just plain overwhelmed and sick with sadness.
At the end of that first visit I went back to my hotel room and wept. I felt so helpless. But then, something changed. In my mind’s eye, a picture began to form. A warm place where hurt children could feel secure and cared for. Arms to hold them close. A trusted face they could rely on to be there. Someone patient and responsive to listen, watch, teach. A place for healing and growth.
So, I reached out to anyone I thought could help, and eventually, working together with good-hearted new friends in China, we brought simple but powerful everyday magic to the lives of forgotten children. Together we created Half the Sky.
Over time, “impossible” became “unstoppable” as the care of orphaned children in China was forever changed. There were so many stories of lives transformed, like the one about little FeiFei …
When she entered our program in 2001, at the age of 2, FeiFei couldn’t walk or even sit without help. Our young teachers were afraid that FeiFei would not survive, let alone thrive. But with lots of patient attention and loving cuddles, FeiFei made progress – sitting up, then walking, then, at last, reaching out for hugs.
A few years later, we received a letter from FeiFei’s adoptive parents in the Netherlands:
She can now jump, run and dance without falling over her own feet. She can stand on one leg, ride her bike, and already starts to play a little tennis. The shy little girl likes to rule the world now. Wish you could see her, you wouldn’t believe our daughter was once the tiny FeiFei, who, happily, was given a chance by the people of Half the Sky.
And so, we began to wonder if our special kind of everyday magic could somehow reach and protect other hurt children.
Absolutely! While continuing to serve institutionalized children, we expanded our mission to include children in under-served communities impacted by migration, and changed our name to OneSky for all children.
Our progress in China inspired other countries and now, we are being asked by the governments of both Vietnam and Mongolia to bring OneSky training to caregivers nationwide, just as we were asked to do in China 15 years ago.
When we met 8-month-old Bao in Vietnam, he was shy and withdrawn, already suffering the effects of spending long crib-bound days at a childcare center. His single mother was working long shifts in a Da Nang factory to support the two of them, as well as her partially-paralyzed 85-year-old father, and couldn’t afford the safe and nurturing care she so desperately wanted for her young son. The kind of care he needed in order to thrive.
Fortunately, a co-worker told Bao’s mother about the OneSky Early Learning Center. Within a few weeks of receiving simple, nurturing care under the attentive eyes of OneSky-trained caregivers, Bao’s activity level increased and his personality began to emerge. Today, Bao is nearing graduation from the ELC, as a happy, bright, and confident 5-year-old, ready to start public school.
As you can imagine, there are thousands of children like Bao. Now, we have the opportunity to reach underserved populations like his in ways I simply never imagined in the early days of Half the Sky …
- We can improve the lives of hundreds of thousands more children we may never even meet by helping governments re-imagine their childcare system …
- While training both professional and family caregivers to help individual children thrive.
I am so grateful that you have always been there when we needed you most. Even though I’ve retired, my heart tells me that now’s the moment I must reach out to you on behalf of our CEO, Morgan Lance, and her team. We need your help now as much, if not more than, we ever have.
It’s been a rough three years for non-profits like ours. Yet, right now it’s crucial that our local partners can see that we will survive the downturn … that OneSky will never walk away from the children.
This holiday season, please consider what you can do for the many precious little children who do not know that they matter in this world.
With gratitude,
Jenny Bowen
Founder, OneSky for all children