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Giving a pineapple to Vivian to express appreciation.
Intimate photo.
Innocent smile. (Vivian and Willeme)
Taking group photo with children. (Tukia is the
1st child from the left; Vivian's sponsored daughter Sarah is the 2nd
child from the left)
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Christmas is a holiday jubilation around the world. In order to personally
send Christmas blessings to impoverished children who live far away, Vivian
Chow went together with Hong Kong World Vision and a film crew to the
Democratic Republic of Congo last month (10/16-10/23) to understand the
World Vision development projects locally and to visit the local impoverished
children. This time Vivian is bringing the Christmas wishes of the impoverished
children back home to give to the Hong Kong friends. She hopes the Hong
Kong people would respond by taking action and joining the child sponsorship
program, and letting Christmas this year to be for themselves, as well
as increasing happiness for others.
The Congo people have always lived in poverty ever since the past civil
war. Also, the majority of the buildings have been ruined by the war.
It's very difficult for communities to rebuild. The people's lives are
so bitter that they can't bear to speak about it, and the children are
the first victims. During Vivian's visit this time, she saw with her own
eyes the difficult life of the local impoverished children, making her
deeply experience the need to not have boundaries and to give a helping
hand to the people in need.
During the trip, Vivian met a family of 5 orphans affected by the war
disaster. They made a deep impression on her. Thirteen-year-old Tukia
is the oldest child in the family. This young child's life was difficult.
He had to bear the responsibility of raising and taking care of his 3
brothers and one sister, because their father died on the battlefield
while serving as a soldier, and their mother died from an illness. Vivian
really admires Tukia's persistent and mature character. He's brave and
has a positive outlook, and takes good care of his younger brothers and
sister, which made Vivian feel very touched. Vivian said, "They're
all so young and have lost their parents. They're lonely and miserable
with no one to depend on. It's very unfortunate. That's why I've decided
to help Tukia by taking on the responsibility of taking care of his 2-year-old
sister Sarah, and help them walk away from their predicament." Therefore,
Vivian immediately sponsored Sarah and became her 'mother.' Before leaving
the Congo, Vivian visited Sarah again. When Vivian saw Sarah's cute look
while wearing the new clothes, she was so touched and was brought to tears.
Vivian didn't want to let go of her child's small hand. They played with
balloons together. The small girl's innocent laughter made Vivian melt.
Also, Vivian visited many of the children who were sponsored by the Hong
Kong people. One of the sponsored boys was Willeme. Vivian and him went
together to attend class. They also read and did drawings together. Willeme
is lively and intelligent, and he even expressed to Vivian that his Christmas
wish is to have a toy car. Willeme and Vivian were only together for a
short time, but Willeme already left a deep impression on Vivian, and
the both of them built a true friendship. Vivian also went to a school
to visit some of the sponsored children. She collected all of their Christmas
wishes, and she also taught them how to sing a Christmas song. As they
sang "We wish you a merry Christmas," the atmosphere was filled
with the sound of children's innocent and beautiful singing.
Vivian is happy to see how the "Child Sponsorship Program"
has brought big changes to the lives of impoverished children. She's fortunate
to be their sponsored mother and feels very satisfied and happy. But when
Vivian saw how there were many other local impoverished children who haven't
received any help, she sighed and appealed, "With Hong Kong being
such a prosperous place, it's generally considered easy to achieve the
Christmas dreams of our children, but for children in impoverished places,
it's not. If the impoverished children could eat one full meal during
Christmas, then they're already very satisfied and happy. Let's think
about it... in order to fulfill such a simple Christmas wish, you only
need to use a little power, and you and I can do this!"
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