The Yantai Mission could again not be carried out this year due to the pandemic. Eighteen children were hoping for a life changing surgery. In order to be ready for this we decided to support these 18 children and provide the financial means for a balanced diet and medical care. Also the children who were operated in Yantai in 2018 will continue to be supported by us in the form of medical care and by financing of their school fees.

History

For the second time, we supported the English organization ‘Glow Fund’ (www.glowfund.org) in March 2018 to finance complex orthopedic surgeries. Children from different regions of China traveled to Yantai and were operated by a highly specialized team of surgeons from Stanford Medical Center. In one week, the doctors performed 16 surgeries with great dedication, some of which took up to 13 hours. The most difficult cases were children with severe scoliosis like Resay Dede and Tsewang Samdup.

In October that year Annika, Nina and Johanna traveled to Xinhua in Hunan province to visit two of the operated children. Wu Jibao (13 years) and Yixiu Feng (11 years)

After walking with Wu Jibao through his whole village and being introduced to many residents, he and his family cooked for us. Since middle school is too far away, he now goes to boarding school during the week with the help of TASNA’s donations. His mother works 24×7 as a caretaker for the elderly in the city and is therefore not at home either. The uncle looks after the house and is there when Wu Jibao comes home on weekends. He was also the one who started the long journey to Yantai with Wu Jibao.
 

We picked up Yixiu Feng from school and accompanied her home. She lives with her grandparents and a huge swarm of bees in a house without heating. Her father died and her mother ran away. Yixiu Feng’s scoliosis is still visible but she is much better than before the operation in March. Here, too, we finance further help in the form of schoolfees and, if possible, physiotherapy.