From a young age, students at the Yew Chung International School of Beijing are encouraged to participate in charitable endeavors as part of our Character Education programme. Through regular charitable events and activities hosted on and off campus, students discover how rewarding helping those in need can be while also developing passion and empathy for others.

Students in Year 12 have truly embraced this spirit of doing good by throwing a major charity dinner. With students handling everything from promotion to ticket sales to entertainment to even the food itself, Incandescence, as the dinner is called, is truly a student-run and student-led charity initiative.

All proceeds on the evening, including ticket and auction sales, will go to the local Beijing charity Dew Drops Little Flower and all of the remarkable lifesaving work that they do for medically at-risk orphans. Rebekah Bodden, Project Manager at Dew Drops, gave us further insight into how this charity impacts the lives of orphans and what we can do to get involved.

Please briefly introduce Dew Drops Little Flower.

Dew Drops Little Flower is a local Chinese foundation here in Beijing established in the summer of 2016 in partnership with an American charity called China Little Flower, an organization which has been providing care for orphans for over 20 years in China. Dew Drops works specifically with abandoned children that have medical conditions that require specialized care. We partner with state run orphanages to supply these kids with medical care, lifesaving surgery, and post-operative care.

To that end, in addition to partnering with doctors and surgeons for the surgeries themselves, we employ caregivers to help kids with these special needs. They are there to bond with the kids as well as provide daily care that each child needs. We are based in Beijing at the Jingdu Children’s Hospital, occupying a floor within the hospital itself so we have convenient access to doctors and nurses.

We work with state-run orphanages all over China to help with special medical cases, providing children from across the country with lifesaving surgery as well as pre-op and post-op care. Of course, our ultimate goal is for the children to get adopted, which is why our partnership with each orphanage is essential.

Please introduce a recent success story that was made possible by DDLF, e.g. a successful surgery, adoption, or other inspirational accomplishment.

A little boy named Yang came to our program last year after he was found under a seat on a train by some passengers. At just a few months old, he had a clear heart defect that the local hospital said could only be operated on when he was older. The boy was very ill, so the orphanage contacted us and the boy went to the hospital here in Beijing immediately for surgery, which our doctors performed just in time. It took him some time to recover, but thanks to our trained staff he was able to get off of oxygen, was able to sit up by himself, start walking, eating, and more.

Most wonderfully, he was adopted just two weeks ago! His mother came to visit and met him for the first time, and now he’s back home with his new family. He’s an example of a little boy who was able to get the medical care that he needed and is now with a family who can provide him with the love and stability he needs, all thanks to our efforts and partnership with local orphanages.

How will YCIS Beijing’s upcoming student fundraiser benefit Dew Drops?

As you can imagine, we need plenty of money to provide care for these kids, from stable home environments to food to caregivers, not to mention the medical surgeries themselves, which cost anywhere from around 30,000 to 80,000 RMB per child.

I’ve been extremely impressed by these Yew Chung International School of Beijing kids’ passion and dedication to this fundraising effort and their ability to take care of so many of the details independently! While what we do specifically depends on how much we are able to raise, we would like to use the money to provide medical care to one or a couple of children.

What can interested volunteers do to get involved with DDLF?

We are always looking for more volunteers to contribute in a variety of roles, including:

Groups for one-off volunteering events: Come host a child’s birthday party, or host a special weekend afternoon activity, like coloring, magic tricks, etc. Make sure it’s not too overwhelming though, as most of our kids are five or younger and can be overwhelmed easily by big groups!

One great example is a group of YCIS Bejiing students who have been coming to our home once every few months to host holiday celebrations, like Christmas and Easter, to play with kids, sing songs, read to them, or set up decorations.

Doctors, dentists, and other medical professionals are always very welcome to contribute their expertise and provide second opinions or advice.

One-on-one volunteering: We accept volunteers for one-on-one sessions with kids, but we need them to commit for a minimum of six months and to come regularly so that they can receive proper training.

Sponsorship programme: Interested parties can choose to sponsor a specific child. We’ll provide these donors with reports on their sponsored child so they can see their progress and any other updates, plus get the chance to visit their child in Beijing.

Check out our website to see our full list of ways to get involved and find out about our most pressing needs!

Interested in getting regular updates from Dew Drops? Follow them on WeChat (ID: DewDropsLittleFlower), Weibo, or Facebook.

Finally, be sure to sign up for Incandescence, our June 18 Student Charity Dinner, ASAP by visiting our Yoopay page!