Category: Children Stories

Little Shaun (alias) lacked family care. He moved from one hostel to another and finally came to our Home. In the first few months of his stay, he often threw tantrums and displayed behavioral problems. He was impulsive and his self-care was poor.

Star Medal Award and Advanced Growth

Clear indicators of this scheme promote advancement step by step with specific goals. After the award ceremony, he showed great excitement. The medal became a concrete indicator that encouraged his active participation.

Gigi (alias) is a primary school girl who loves to laugh.  She is methodical, responsible, and reliable. Actually, she only learned all these after she started living in Evangel Children’s Home (ECH).

Gigi has been living in ECH for one and a half years.  At the beginning, she found it difficult to adapt to the living.  She used to live in loose life pattern without any schedule for playing and studying when she was at home.  In contrast, every child living in ECH has to follow the daily routine, obey the rules and do housework according to roster.  Together with long study time, all are not easy for Gigi.  However, with her strong adaptability, Gigi overcame and got used to adapt to a regular life in a month.  She enjoys relaxing time after completing the tasks every day.

With good care from Fiona, foster parent, Gigi could adapt to the new life quickly.

Gigi was shy when the social worker praised her for her improvement in progress.  She realized she got bad temper easily; she would be irritated especially when she came across difficulties at homework.  She thanked both her foster parents and her new school teacher for their patience to her in daily caring as well as teaching at school. She had failed in some subjects in the past but then she improved a lot and got passed. She was relieved.

In the past, she didn’t like sports, as she fell down easily because of her poor balance.  She was afraid of being made fun of by other children thereafter.  Later, Stella, the counsellor taught her how to enhance her balance by making use of tools through practices. Now she can play hide and seek with other children and she loves to play basketball.

The happiest gift

Gigi enjoys the life in ECH very much. In addition to receiving gifts on festivals, it is more important to know the gift of gospel.  She was told that all things around her were created after “thundering” before.  But after hearing the gospel, she knew that the world is created by our Almighty God indeed.  Due to the pandemic outbreak, she was not able to join activities at church.  So she liked to join the Sunday School at ECH, which was held by Mandy from Chaplaincy Department on Sundays.  She could listen to Bible stories, read phrases from the Bible and get to know more about God.

Gigi is a cheerful girl and she is happy to get along well with other children.  She is nominated to be a “Caring Angel” to care for other kids.  With a grateful heart, she strives to do well every day.

播道兒童之家路得家家長及小女孩在家舍路得廚房”Ruth Café”，巧製玫瑰花花蘋果酥，藉母親節獻給偉大的媽媽。

「家舍媽媽」擔任Cooking Mama以廚藝教導家舍小女孩，以心思呈獻愛的禮物，家多點愛，同慶不一樣的母親節。Happy Mother’s Day!

 “The trouble will not go away after dancing, the problem still exists, but I like the feeling when dancing.”  The road ahead seems difficult to Mandy, but after being exposed to dancing, she knows there is still a way out.

A Stable Life to Develop Personal Interests

High conflict disputes often occur in Mandy’s family, and she started to stay at ECH since she was in Form 2.  “This is like my second home, providing a stable environment for living.” Mandy said.  Later, she had a chance to attend church and start to learn breakdance as well.  With encouragement from the instructor, she participated in a dancing competition.  She struggled at the beginning because she had learnt the dancing in a short period and was lack of experience and confidence.  But, she finally decided to take her first step of trying.

Competition Journey

In 2018, she participated in the Hong Kong Trial Tournament and came to the fore, and won a seat to participate the “Youth Olympic Street Dance Asian Qualification Tournament” which was held in Taiwan.  Through selection of the overseas candidates (5 male and 5 female candidates from each country to enter the screening competition and the top 16 to be selected), she was qualified for participating the “WDSF World Youth Breakdance Championship” Tournament held in Japan.  Although she failed to advance further, given the opportunity going abroad with such valuable experience, her self-affirmation had been lasting.

When she attended this dancing competition in Taiwan, she was studying at Form 4 and had to prepare for DSE.  She had to manage and allocate time for both her studies and dance practice, which made Mandy so exhausted.  With God’s help and with prayers from brothers and sisters together, she was selected for the competition thankfully.  When she went to Japan for competition in the next year, she had to take 8-10 days leave from school.  The school did not disapprove her leave; however, no support was shown.  Mandy had faced great pressure when she had to catch up with her studies after competition, she felt so exhausted physically and mentally.  Though she failed to win at last, she was not disappointed because she had tried her best.

Searching for Goal

Mandy had been lack of motivation to accomplish anything and her academic results had been unsatisfactory, but after dancing, she had gradual improvement and learned self-discipline.  How did she get through it? “It might be willpower!” Mandy said.  In order to balance both homework and dance practice, she had to minimize her entertainment time.  With brothers’ and sisters’ prayers, she gained strength and confidence overcoming the difficulties.

Mandy knows that dancing is just for hobbies and relaxing and she will not develop it into a career as dancing is very professional indeed.  Her goal is set to become a social worker and she wants to help people with similar background.  The first social worker who she met in primary school was her role model. She thought her love and concern has gone beyond the scope of a social worker.  From that moment, she had been studying hard as she wanted to reach her goal as social worker.  She was grateful that she could admit to study Social Work after DSE and move towards the goal.

Sincere Thanks

Mandy now exudes a humble self-confidence.  She was so grateful she could stay in the Evangel Children’s Home.  Here she met Loretta, the counselor who taught her how to manage her emotions and how to find the direction of her life. The subsidy for tutorials really helped her a lot in studying and made her feeling a bit more secured when facing loads of studies.  She was still in dilemma sometimes, she could still sustain with the warmth in her heart.

Mandy grew up under non-favorable environment; she could choose to be negatives, to give up, to complain, or to go wrong… pick up any other justified excuses for herself.  However, she chose to stay positive and to move towards her goal silently.

Even though she has got experience and good results in dancing, she only gives herself 4.5 points (out of 10 points). She kept herself humble as she knew there are lots of people perform better than her.  She admitted she did not gain enough confidence, but she does not feel inferior at all.  She learnt how to be grateful and thankful to have supporters’ companion.

One day’s afternoon

Social worker: “Boy, you may try to join the uniform team…? “

Mom: “Miss Chan, something you don’t know…. I have tried before; everyone receives the notice of application, except my boy.  They told me he’s not suitable… “

Another day’s afternoon

Social worker: “How’s your boy doing in school recently? “

Mom: “Miss Chan, something you don’t know… he kicked his teacher… kept watched by TA (teacher’s assistant)… not attending class at all…”

Another day’s afternoon

Social worker: “There will be some summer classes coming.  Does your boy take any interest class before? “

Mom: “Miss Chan, something you don’t know… I did apply the class for him at another center before, however he’s rejected at once… they said it’s lack of manpower to have one-on-one service… the activity is only designed for general kids…anyway, not suitable at all…”

Being rejected again and again, those parents whose children being ADHD and moderate autism and also studying in traditional primary school are truly helpless.  “Something you don’t know…” – this indicates how isolating and helpless of their situation and how they are misunderstood enduringly.

However, parents find it difficult to find a way out. Community Centers in general fail to provide appropriate services; those grassroots families cannot afford the expensive private tutor fees, while, the units that provide children’s rehabilitation services mainly serve pre-school or special schools children. These parents, whose children are within this gap, often feel frustrated.

Evaluation after 3 months

Social worker : “How’s your boy after joining our service for 3 months？＂

Mom: Miss Chan, I’m so grateful my boy can join the service here.  He can finish the homework before he gets back home.  I need not to struggle with him about doing homework… he likes coming here… he even tells me about the pals he meets here…”

Social worker: “After evaluate the adaptability and our situation… (tears came up in mom’s eyes) we are confident that we can take good care of your boy.  He can stay here after this trial period.”

Mom: “Thank you so much!!!”

“Acceptance, care and patience allow children to grow up at their own pace” – this is very important for both children and parents. SEN Service never has such ‘magic’ to change children, it’s only love and acceptance is the ways out for children to change.

Love in the Epidemic

There has always been a demand for services for the children of working families.  It is especially difficult for SEN children to find suitable service due to their special learning needs. However, this plague of the century (COVID-19) seemed to stop all activities.  When the Education Bureau suspended classes in a short time, no support for child care services is provided to working families in need.  It’s even worse that general care services and tutorial classes were suspended, too.  In order to earn living, how can those parents just stay at home for taking care of their children without going to work?  Taking into account the needs of grassroots working families, the “S.E.N. School Age Support Program” of Evangel Children’s Home insists in providing whole-day service to working families, from Monday to Saturday, so that parents can go to work with ease.

At the same time, we also provide half-day care services for children from non-working families on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so that children can keep learning under school suspension. The tutors follow up the children’s online learning, so the children can catch up when classes resume later.  Also, the children can learn life skills as well.  We cherish every moment of their growth.

Companion and support during the epidemic is our promise. We wish to be the second home of SEN children in the community, responding to the Lord’s call with service.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

(Matthew 19:14)

“Did Ngor Jei admit to the hospital?” Tsz Ying from Day Care Centre ask Ngor Jei, our administrative worker, with care and worry.

Ngor Jei got injured on the forehead and she took a few days sick leave.  During these few days, Tsz Ying worried about her and missed her.  

A simple greeting from this little girl did make Ngor Jei moved.

Ngor Jei ‘s love for children has accumulated bit by bit in her life and this little girl does reserve a place in her heart.  The heart of a child is pure, when love presents she responds love.

A greeting + a hug = more love at our ECH home.

The growth of a child is like cultivating seedlings. To thrive strongly, it requires careful irrigation, soil loosening, and fertilization.

Thanks to the Rotary Club of Kowloon Tong for giving the seven youngsters from ECH the opportunity to broaden their horizons. In December 2019, they went to Taiwan for a 5-day tour of the “Experiential Learning Trip to Taiwan with Fellow Travellers”. They learned to cooperate with the Rotary Club of North City, Taiwan, and organized activities for the Elderly Center, which aimed to bring joy to the elderly.  For this trip, all these youth had to take up the role of preparation by themselves.  The entire itinerary consists of booking air tickets, transportation and accommodation, itinerary routes, travel budgets, etc., all are planned by the youngsters.  This allowed them to learn plans and develop a spirit of cooperation. This ever first trip to other country in their life did bring them the most memorable experience.

“I am very brave today.  I am brave enough to go out and interact with the elderly in the class. This is a big breakthrough for me!  Everyone has more communication, and many events are going smoothly, so I appreciate everyone’s effort and hope to keep the momentum in the next few days.”

Hei

“I can offer help to hold this meaningful service, I feel so satisfied because I can have opportunity to serve other people in need during the trip, so it is not just fun but also let me learn how to take care of the elderly.”

Fung

“I am so happy today, especially everyone is trying his/her best to perform own part and create a wonderful atmosphere for the elderly. Those elderly are very happy.  We feel very grateful.”」

Kwan

 “At last, we have to say big thanks to Pik Yu and Max for their valuable comments.  Also, they provide the opportunities to us and let us try to arrange all the itineraries by ourselves.  Of course, we must thank for the sponsorship from Rotary club of Kowloon Tong for having this chance of being one of the participants.  In the Graduation ceremony, you can see our development and growth during this trip.  Again, big thank you to all our companions!”

Man