I was asked to advocate for a very special young lady who is desperately trying to create a better life for herself. Her name is Mia and she is one of the thousands of children who "age out" of the Chinese orphanages and find themselves completely on their own - at - 14 - years - old!
Mia had a wonderful sponsor family who brought her here to go college and pursue a degree in Social Work. She wants to go back to China to help those, like herself, who age out and struggle.
She has now lost her funding and needs help so that she can help.
Please visit her blog to read more about this incredible young lady and forward this on to whomever might help.
This is just a little bit of what she has written about her life:
I was born in a small city, LuoYang, in China, and my entire childhood was spent at the orphanage. Due to the one child-policy, most people tend to want boys. My biological parents abandoned me after I was born with a physical defect called scoliosis, so I do not know what they looked like and I do not have any information about my family history. Living in an orphanage, life was different from a family life. The nannies usually told me what I was supposed to do while I was young. I had to remember what I should do or what I should not do. There are many different ages of children living together, and I remember there were many girls of different ages who shared a room with me. In a family life, parents usually give a lot of attention to their children and remind them what they need to do. Having lived at the orphanage, I observed what life is like being an orphan. I learned to be self-motivated. When we have parents, we know parents would remind us what we need to do or they would tell us to study. However, it was very important to be self-motivated at the orphanage because I knew the orphanage could provide opportunities for me to go to school. I knew that I must study hard if I want to have a good future. This experience gave me strength to figure out what I should pursue in my future.
Thanks everyone!
Oh Annie, this just breaks my heart. I hope she finds a family soon! To think she's gone this long not knowing the love of a family and growing up in an orphanage....so sad!
ReplyDeleteHave a great week!
Tammy
Mia is an adult (mid 20's now). She needs financial support to finish college so she can return to China with a degree and work to help the other orphans left behind. She's an amazing young woman who has succeeded despite so many barriers. It's sad that she may have to return to China for lack of money to finish her college degree. If everyone who parents an adopted Chinese child would chip in a few dollars she would have no problems, even at the higher priced college she's been at for 3 years. (She's now trying to raise funds for a much more affordable community college.) Please help financially if you can give anything. Cathy
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