April was a special month for the children of Heifer China project participants. Some of them had the opportunity to visit Hong Kong, where they met with a number of students and donors. This year, Mao Huanhuan (Wang Qinghua’s son) had his dream tour in Hong Kong. The seven-day trip gave children who are from the remote villages a great opportunity to see the outside world. Huanhuan and two other children visited six Hong Kong schools, where they had classes and played games with children as well as introduced their families and talked about how Heifer has changed their lives. Huanhuan showed them a homemade toy top, which is a toy Hong Kong children also enjoy.
Huanhuan and the other children attended two gatherings of donors. They talked about the changes brought about by Heifer, answered all questions from donors and talked about the future. Huanhuan even cried, “These uncles and aunts are so nice to care about me and my family. I was always afraid that my family cannot support me to go to college, but they are encouraging me to believe in myself then my dream will come true.”
At last, they took part in the finals of “Primary Student Good Book Presentation Competition,” an event supported by the Hong Kong department of education, HSBC and Heifer Hong Kong. Mao Huanhuan also made a presentation on behalf of the Chengde recipients, giving the “Thanks” certificate to the representatives of HSBC to show gratitude for their funding.
“It’s amazing to see the creativity and expressiveness of Hong Kong's students. In only 3 minutes, they could recommend and introduce a book to everyone with different presentation styles. Some of them spoke in Mandarin, others in Cantonese, some even in English," Huanhuan says. "I should learn from them to improve myself to acquire better public speaking skills. Thanks to Heifer and all the kind-hearted people for giving me this chance.”
“As Mao Huanhuan’s parent, I felt grateful that he could get the opportunity to visit Hong Kong and meet donors and students there," Wang Qinghua said. "Thanks to Professor Song (Heifer China's Beijing Regional Manager) and other leaders [for making this] recommendation. When I heard the news, I was too delighted to say any words. I’ve never imagined Huanhuan could go to Hong Kong.”
On May 3rd and 4th, the CEO and other managing directors of Elanco, the chairman of Eli Lily Foundation, and the CFO and other leaders of Heifer International came to Weichang County to visit Heifer China's Yangebai and Deanzhuang project sites. They also paid a visit to Wang Qinghua’s house and asked more questions about the project.
Editor’s note: This post is part of a series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. Our team in China has chosen one family in each region where we work and is sharing quarterly updates as these families work to better their lives with Heifer’s help. You can read other posts about Wang Qinghua and her family here.
