Sydney couple visit Doves Wings
Doves Wings children’s home has sadly closed due to a change in direction for the government. They closed foster homes around the country which impacted not only Doves Wings but many other homes and children as well. But the story that unfolds below is an amazing one which we believe still needs sharing.
WOW! It's been nearly two years since we began our
walk with Heart for Kids.
We were looking for an Australian organisation that we could sponsor a child and have a long-term partnership with. A google search connected us to the Heart for Kids website and after reading through the vision and values, we were very interested. We subsequently organised a get together with David to find out more about Heart for Kids and if we could get involved. We loved hearing about Heart for Kids and became a proud sponsor of Duo Guo Hao.
After a whole host of emails, we ended up organising a trip to visit Doves Wings and the Heart for Kids operations in Xian, China.
What did we do?
We didn’t have a strict itinerary but we just wanted to help and so our time was split between helping the team in the office and helping out at Doves Wings.
In Australia we work desk jobs and while we weren’t exactly
sure how we could help, it turns out that a lot of what we take for granted in our daily jobs was really valuable knowledge to the team in Xian. So we spent about a week training them in how to use word and excel – and more importantly, how they could help themselves solve problems in the future.
At Doves Wings, we would help with caring for the kids –
from playing games and singing songs to feeding and changing nappies. We even got to cook a meal for them to
introduce them to western food – not sure if Spaghetti Bolognese is a new favourite, but hopefully, it will be helpful one day.
"I know it might sound like a cliché but our 2 weeks in Xian was truly a life-changing one."
What was our experience like
Even from the start – when you step out of the airport, the language and cultural differences are undeniable. Then meeting and getting to know these beautiful children at Doves Wings was absolutely incredible – our hearts just melted for these kids. Understanding and uncovering each of their personalities and being able to show Christ’s love one kid at a time was truly an experience we won’t forget.
An example was meeting one of the kids, Alex. Understandably it may take some time for these kids to warm up to new strangers, and Alex was no different. By the end of our two weeks though, he really softened towards us and we saw a real change in him. We were absolutely thrilled when we read in the June newsletter about Alex’s adoption – it is pretty special to have met Alex and be a part of his journey and to read how he is now with his Forever Family. What an absolute privilege!
Incredible experiences!
Another amazing experience was sharing a FaceTime and speaking to our sponsor child (with the help of the team’s translation). Duo Guo Hao was doing a work experience placement during his school holidays to gain experience and earn money in order to pay for his own school fees. While it was a shame that we couldn’t meet him face to face, hearing about his story was very touching and we were really impressed by his outlook on life while things are so challenging for him.
His story is not unusual and it highlighted to us how important the work the team are doing.
The whole experience really opened our eyes to life in China
and we walked away really impressed by the work Heart for Kids is doing there. The local team of John, Joseph and Wendy (and all the ayi’s) are AMAZING people doing such good work. They are so selfless and have such generous and massive hearts for the kids and the work they do. We were and are still challenged and humbled by their attitudes.
This experience also showed us not to underestimate the impact that we can make – sharing our skills, playing with kids, cleaning, we all can do something and we are glad that we did.
We had a great experience and we really hope we can go back in the future.
We were so happy to have Debbie and Chris helping in Doves Wings. If you’d like to talk about coming on a team or helping in some other way, like Gabriella in the above photo, please send us a message.
What’s Next:
Where is Heart for Kids serving
What is sponsoring about
Sponsor a child
