SIXTH CARE CENTER OPENS IN SICHUAN

The Jackson Family Foundation Christian Care Center has opened its doors to accommodate over 100 orphan children in Zigong, Sichuan. When the Jackson Family Center is filled with orphans, we will be caring for approximately eight hundred in China. The center will be the home of orphans from our foster care program in Yongshan, Yunnan and victims of the Sichuan earthquake last year. All of the orphans we have supported in the Yongshan foster care program will be permitted to relocate to the Jackson Family Center.

This facility was made possible by the generosity of the Jackson Family Foundation and the South Baton Rouge Chinese church of Christ. We want to express our sincere thanks to both for making the facility possible. Many poor orphans will be provided with not only a beautiful place to live, but also a home with loving care that will give them an opportunity for a good education and a hope for the future. A photo of the four story building is shown below.

GIFTS FOR THE ORPHANS



It is time to begin donations to our orphanage gift funds for the Christmas party. Each year, all donations for Christmas gifts are posted to a separate fund so we can divide up the money between the orphanages for a party. The children enjoy planning skits and performances to show off their talents. They enjoy good food and receive small gifts. It is one of the greatest highlights of their year.

If you sponsor a child in one of the orphanages, please consider helping us with this event. Add a little extra to your check and note “Xmas Gift Fund.”

We want all children in the orphanages to be treated equally. Some sponsors are blessed with money to give, but other sponsors are sacrificing to send in the sponsorship payment. It’s only fair that all children receive similar gifts. The Christmas party is the way we make things equal for all children.

Donations for the Christmas parties at the orphanages must be received no later than December 15th in order for the workers to plan and know the amount of money they can spend.

If you sponsor a child who lives with a relative, you can give extra funds specifically for that child. However, if there are siblings in the family, our worker will divide up the money to buy gifts for the other children in the family also.

Donations for birthday gifts will be handled the same way from this time forward.

If a child is in the orphanage, your donation will go into a “Birthday Gift Fund” and from those funds every child will receive a birthday cake and small gift on their birthday. Most orphanages host monthly birthdays for those having a birthday that month. We do not wish for one child to receive a big gift and other children receive no gift at all. Some of our kind sponsors cannot afford to send extra money.

We have taught the children that receiving gifts is a blessing and they must share with the other children; however, human nature teaches us that the joy is not the same for the children who did not receive the gift themselves. We hope you understand the change in our policy. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us (patbrown10@gmail.com; paigeagape@gmail.com) or call 678-423-4396.

Summer at the Orphanages

The warm, lovely days of summer vacation are over in China. School for the fall semester has begun. Orphanage directors encouraged the children to stay at the care centers in July and August because many summer activities were planned for them.

Some children returned home to visit grandparents or relatives, but others stayed at the orphanages all summer. Some children miss their hometown, relatives and grandparents. Relatives also miss the children. It is a good thing for them to visit during the summer months, but some do not come back. Often, they decide it’s easier to stay home and not return to the care center – no discipline or rules, just doting relatives to spoil them. At the same time, they are too immature to realize the great advantages available to have a better life and an opportunity to get a good education that will determine their future. We are blessed that many children realize the great change in their lives and look forward to meeting their friends again and returning to school.

For those that remained at the care centers, there were many interesting games or sports such as basketball and ping pong to participate in. They had free time to catch crabs and fish, play games such as chess, or do some of their summer homework. In the evenings, they had an opportunity to watch some TV shows.


The children were given chores to keep their dorm rooms clean, help cut the grass, plant some new flowers and clean up the yard. At Wesley’s House, renovation began on classrooms in the old school to provide more space for orphans to live. Ronald Brown, son of Ron and Pat Brown, completed that work in time for new children to come this fall. He had a lot of help from the children and has some funny stories about their participation in the work.

Classes were prepared for the children at Wesley’s House. Peter taught the 5th & 6th grade students and a female worker taught the lower grade children. They had classes in the morning in both Bible and English.

American sponsors visited their children at the orphanages. Carol Mitchell, pictured here with her child at Wesley's House, arrived from Hendersonville, TN, LeEllen Smith from Troy, TN, and Chad and Carlyn Jackson from Alpharetta, GA. They took a 10-day trip to China to see the facilities and meet some of the children.

On September 5, 2009, Jim and Pam Griffith from North Canton, Ohio, visited Wesley’s House, which is named in memory of Pam’s brother. They donated funds for a computer lab that was set up and ready for the children when they arrived. They also gave money for extra gifts for the children. Mr. Liu, the C.E.O. of Toyota in China, escorted the Griffiths from Nanning to Pingguo. He also donated some gifts to the children.

At John Connor Brown, Mark planned a summer Bible camp for the children and it was very well attended. The children at JCB enjoyed a visit from the John Bailey family the last week of July. They donated funds for this orphanage and named it in memory of their grandson. John Connor Brown’s mother and brother were among the family members that visited the orphanage.

We know that similar activities took place at North Canton Christian Care Center, Mama Jo’s House and Neil Taylor.

We have overcome the jetlag once again!

It has been a very busy week and the tiredness that sets in on a return trip is indescribable. We came home to a huge stack of mail and many things to handle. After a month,the house was dirty and we brought home three suitcases full of dirty clothes. When I could hardly stay awake, I would go walking or do laundry. Finally, I am sleeping most of the night, although I still get only six hours of sleep. It is better than waking after three hours and staying awake the rest of the night. My body kept saying, "It's afternoon in China, you don't need to sleep now!" We will continue our work here until our next trip in November. We must find another location for an orphanage on that trip and begin our research to locate hospitals for the two medical missions that we will have next year. Ron plans an open-heart medical mission in March and another cleft palate/cleft lip medical mission next August or September. I will post anything else that is really news of interest in the meantime. Thanks to everyone for your prayers on our behalf while we are traveling. It is comforting to know that so many people care and are supporting our work. May God bless everyone in your daily lives.

No deal set for orphanage in Hu Zhou

We doubt that anything works out for an orphanage in Hu Zhou although the buildings were in excellent condition. The problem was that they primarily wanted us to take over running the facility to care for the 90 or more old people that live there. There are five or six buildings, most of them vacant. We could house at least 150 orphans and also care for the elderly, but when we got down to facts, they claim there are only about 50 orphans in the area. They were not really interested in us caring for the orphans; only wanted someone to take over the care for the elderly. They said we would not need to be concerned about their medical care; only their food. We would save a lot of money using these pre-existing buildings that only need a little paint and cleaning, but we also want to care for orphaned children. We were very disappointed that it does not seem favorable at this time. Things may change, and they may “find” orphans in the weeks ahead. We left saying to ourselves, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” It is an old saying that still has a lot of meaning, especially if you work in China.

While we were in Hu Zhou, the government worker in charge of the older people took us to some gardens. Some pictures of us at this beautiful place are included in this section. The younger, slimmer man is John. He speaks good English and has just completed his university education in Wuhan. He will go to our orphanages to train to see if he wants to run an orphanage for us. He’s a very nice young Christian man. The other man is Luke, our director at Neil Taylor Christian Care Center in Rongshui.

The streams (canals) flowing all through this area are beautiful with overhanging weeping willows. I was particularly interested in the lotus that was growing in large quantities in shallow lakes. The lotus root is one of my favorite vegetables.

We left Hu Zhou and traveled to Beijing. We were there for a few days to finalize some things with workers and business associates. Last night we left at 9:40 on a night train to Shanghai. Today, we are resting and preparing for our long journey home. We will go to the airport tomorrow afternoon and stand by hoping to get on tomorrow afternoon’s flight. We fly on donated buddy passes so we have to fly on days where seats are available. We know we can get on Sunday’s flight because there are plenty of seats left on that flight. We have completed our work for this trip and are ready to return home.

Medical mission completed in Chengde

It was a rather sad day on Friday when we packed up and left Chengde. We said goodbye to hospital workers who were so good to help us. We hugged and thanked the many university translators who did an excellent job. They were hugging doctors and nurses and crying just like their best friends were leaving.

This was perhaps the most compatible medical team we have ever had. They all enjoyed each other and some were making plans to meet and take trips together. Everyone worked together extremely well and a lot was accomplished.

There were no major illnesses with the team members, although most had some minor problem before we left. We all suffered somewhat from the pollution with allergies and there were a few stomach problems. The hospital provided a special dining room and buffet for us and the food was very good.

We also felt that our rooms were “bugged.” Each time we go to any city and stay in the same hotel, we are given the same room. Some of the medical team saw someone following them when they went to other places after leaving the hospital. We think they were watching to be sure we did not try to convert any of the patients or cause any kind of problem. No one worried about it but noticed the closeness with which our team was watched.

A total of 78 cleft lip and cleft palates were completed. One open heart surgery was also completed but they have four more heart patients. We will pay the hospital to complete those surgeries under a new agreement with them to do heart surgeries for Agape Foundation on a continual basis.


Some of the team left to go back home; others took side trips to Beijing or other cities. Travel is not easy in China, no matter how or where you go. One thing noticed by everyone is the crowds. With so many people in China, every airport, train station and subway is packed with people. It does not matter what time of the day or night, you will see the crowds. I’m going to include a picture I made yesterday at the train station. I wanted to take a picture at the subway but would have gotten run over just stopping to take a picture. The crowds are literally that bad – sometimes you can’t stop but have to go with the flow.

We waited in the crowded train station almost two hours last night but dealing with three heavy bags has been very difficult. Ron says we are not bringing this many again but half of the stuff in the third bag are his things along with the surgical tools from the medical mission. I could not have survived with fewer clothes for a month. The humidity is so bad, it takes three days for something to dry in the hotel room. We've washed everything we brought about three times and now I'm taking all dirty clothes back home. Anyway, we got a red cap service to take our bags to the train. We were told by two different people who work at the train station that they did not have red cap service but when we saw guys in red caps taking peoples' bags, we knew better. Typical of China. We were cheated however. He charged us 90 rmb for 3 bags. A young Chinese guy behind us told me he wished he had handled it for us before Ron paid him because the guy charged us three times what it should have been. We settled into the upper berths (I climbed up like pro!) and then a large Chinese girl stuck her head in and chewed us out. She demanded to see our tickets and proceeded to tell us (in Chinese) that were in the wrong room. It was the red cap guy who had our tickets in his hand and put our bags in that room. We got down, took our bags and moved to the correct room with the help of the worker on the train. We had two young guys (30's) in the lower beds. Neither of them helped me get my bag to the upper berth. So much for respect for older people. There's a generation in China now that is losing that tradition. We did not sleep very well but it was a smooth train - no stops until 6:30 a.m. when it arrived in Nanjing. The train worker came to be sure we did not get off there. They are usually very helpful, especially to foreigners. We arrived in Shanghai at 8:00 a.m. and waited in a long line (in the basement and hot as it could be) for a taxi. The line up for taxis was about 200 ahead of us. We spend most of our time waiting in China. We stood in a line at the train station to get tickets the day before we left. After 30 minutes and the line not moving, we left. Early the next morning, Ron went to an agent and got the tickets. I think you only pay a couple of dollars more to go through an agent.

Possibly the site of our next orphanage

Huzhou is the only city around the Taihu Lake that is named after it. Located in northern Zhejiang Province, it neighbors Shanghai in the east, Hangzhou in the south, Nanjing in the west, and opposite the Taihu Lake from Suzhou and Wuxi in the north. It is an important commodity collecting and distributing center and water and road transportation center on the border of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Shanghai. Huzhou City is composed of the downtown district, Nanxun District, Linghu District, Deqing County, Changxing County and Anji County, with a total area of 5,817 kilometers and a population of 2.54 million.

Nationality: Han
City Flower: Lily
City Tree: Ginkgo

Location: Located in the north part of Zhejiang Province, Huzhou City stands on the south bank of the Taihu Lake and adjacent to Jiangsu and Anhui provinces. It enjoys an advantageous location, 75 kilometers (47 miles) north of Hangzhou, 160 kilometers (99 miles) west of Shanghai.

History: Huzhou is a city with over 2,200 years of history since it was set as a county of Chu Kingdom in the year of 248 BC. The Sui Dynasty (581-618) governed this area as a prefecture and named it as Huzhou for its adjacency to the Taihu Lake.

Physical Features: The city's terrain slopes downward from southwest to northeast. The northern part is a mountainous region whilst the east is a low, flat plain.

Climate: Huzhou City has a subtropical humid monsoon climate with an annual average temperature of 16 C (61 F) and rainfall of 1,200 millimeters (47 inches). Generally, the climate of the city is warm and humid.

When to Go: Visitors can choose to visit Huzhou at any season, but especially in spring and autumn.

Special Local Products: Handicrafts: brocade and silk, Huzhou brush writing, Huzhou feather fans, purple-grit tea pots of Changxing County

Foods: Taihu lily bulbs, ginkgo-nuts of Changxing County and zisun tea.

Tourist Tips: Transportation from Huzhou to Hangzhou is very convenient. Visitors can get there within an hour. Due to the expressway between Shanghai and Zhejiang, the distance between Huzhou and Shanghai is now nearer and takes only 70 minutes.

Huzhou is one of the first cities open to the outside world. In February, 1985, it was listed as one of the coastal economic opening zones in the Yangtze River Delta. In 1992, it was again listed by the State Council as one of the 14 key cities in the Yangtze River Delta or the Yangtze River Valley to be "planned first and developed first." The city has six provincial economic and technological development zones, namely Huzhou, Mogan Mountains, Nanxun, Changxing, Anji and Surrounding Taihu Lake Zones. Since the adoption of opening and reform policy twenty years ago, Huzhou has achieved outstanding success in economic development. In 1997, the GDP of the city reached 29.802 billion yuan RMB, with a per capita GDP of 11,707 yuan RMB. Huzhou is one of the rich cities in the nation, with its farmers earning 3,648 yuan RMB of pure income and its city residents earning 7,183 yuan RMB of disposable income.

Huzhou is a city which boasts beautiful scenery with delicate mountains and waters.

It neighbors the boundless Taihu Lake on the north, and the green Tianmu Mountains with an ocean of bamboo forest on the west. The city has both a forest of sky-scrapers with fresh and new atmosphere and the picturesque scene of little bridges and brooks at the countryside. Huzhou is a city with civilized citizens, clean environment and excellent social orders. In recent years, it has obtained the title of the “National Sanitary City.”