2013 Year in Review

What a year!

27 new kids arrived into Bethel China’s care. As of December 2013, there are 81 children in Bethel China’s care from 33 different orphanages all across China.

10 kids graduated from Bethel Doudian’s primary school and moved to the City Life Project at the Beijing School for the Blind

18 kids ran the Beijing Marathon with over 100 adult runners, thousands more saw it happen

15 children received sight saving surgery and 3000 children from over 30 orphanages had an eye test as a part of Bethel’s Project 555

6 kids were adopted (five boys and one girl aged 2-11!)

The Zhengzhou project moved from a preschool to full time foster care when the orphanage gave Bethel China 2 apartments in July 2013. We now provide overnight care to 10 children.

140 parents, orphanage staff and teachers were trained by Bethel’s education team in 4 locations across China. The parent support group for families with a child with a visual impairment has grown and continues to thrive

The Changping Lighthouse has become a real family with an amazing team working with the kids to provide therapy, education and a loving home

1 couple got married after meeting at Bethel then moved to Bethel’s project in the Philippines and are now expecting a baby

Bethel’s education team is about to publish a manual and 4 DVDs about education for children for visual impairments in China, the first in it’s kind to be published in the Chinese language

1 speech and language pathologist spent a year at Bethel Doudian, training our teachers and caregivers in speech therapy and has helped 20+ kids learn to communicate who could not before (thank you Catherine!)

9 volunteers served for 3 months or more at our preschool (thank you Tabitha, Priscilla, Catherine, Jane, Rachel, Ada, Jes, Kayla and Kate!)

Bethel’s project in the Philippines ‘SPACE’ was launched, providing creative education for children with special needs

An earthquake and typhoon hit Cebu, and the Bethel team in the Philippines began doing disaster relief

Bethel China celebrated 10 years!! (Watch our ’10 years of Bethel China’ video)

10 members of staff celebrated 7+ years of working for Bethel China

Thank you for partnering with Bethel China in the past 10 years. Whether you are an old friend or a new sponsor, we could not do the work that we do without our friends, supporters, partners, sponsors and advocates. Your support allows children to be welcomed into the Bethel China family, and ensures that they are living lives to the fullest as equal members of society.