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The dream for the Foundation originated from the 1997 adoption of Meg. Meg came from Eastern China and was nearly 3 ½ years old when she came home to York , PA. For her new mother, her family and friends, her arrival and her presence in their lives have been wonderful. Described by one of her teachers as a kind and loving child who is almost always happy, she has done outstandingly well in her adjustment to her new life. Her mom is not certain about the accuracy of Meg’s memories, but says that she talked often about

China

and especially about her “sisters” who were still there, waiting for their new families to come and take them home. (Meg was left at an orphanage when she was 18 months old and was later transferred to a foster home with 10 other children.) “Everything changes with the entry of a child into your life. In this case, it also changed my perspective on homeless children, regardless of where they live. Whenever I look at my daughter, I realize that we are not just talking about numbers or faceless children but about Meg.”

Financially, it is a burden for many families to adopt, even if they can afford to support a child after the adoption. The goals of our organization are two-fold: first, we hope to be able to contribute part of the adoption expenses for one little Chinese child each year (or a child adopted from Nepal or

Vietnam

by a single woman); second, we want to continue to educate our community about the Chinese culture and the contributions of our Asian population.

Special Issue on Hunger

The very thought of people being hungry has bothered me since I was a child. Throughout my life, food has been a great source of joy. Working with my dad and brother in the garden when I was a child, helping my mother “put up” fruits and vegetables, and the everyday cooking we did together were great delights. Probably my favorite holiday has always been Thanksgiving. Our family table overflowed with good food. And there were always extra seats for visiting family and friends to gather with us.

As an adult, I continued to either go “home” for Thanksgiving, or invited other faculty, friends, students—anyone I knew who didn’t really have a place to have their feast. So many wonderful memories! Once we had stuffed grape leaves and other Middle Eastern fare with a Lebanese graduate school friend. Another favorite time was when we shared a vegan meal with one of my students who had been asked not to come home because she would “spoil” the rest of her family’s enjoyment of the turkey --she brought along her friend, another vegetarian, who had never been to a Thanksgiving dinner because his parents were Hari Krishna followers.

One unusual Thanksgiving 11 years ago, I was on my own for this special day. I decided to cook anyway. Needless to say, I found myself storing and tossing out a lot of food. As I stood at the sink, scraping more left-overs into the garbage, I made my final decision to adopt my daughter. Obviously, I could easily feed another person. At least one child would be not be hungry. I was going to

China

I didn’t know when I made that final decision, so influenced by my concern about a child being hungry, that I would also be experiencing what that physically meant to my new daughter. Although she didn’t look underweight when I first saw her, I knew from her health report that she was. Her hair was dull, dry, and reddish brown; her skin inflamed with red bumps and itchy patches.

And she made it clear to me that she was hungry. In our hotel, we couldn’t go by a candy dish without her weeping inconsolably unless I would allow her to take some—not to eat, but to stuff into her pockets. I quickly learned that I needed to allow her free access to food—she needed to know that we had food if she wanted it. Remarkably, she somehow chose foods like eggs, rice, vegetables, and fruits to quell her hunger. She tended to eat slowly, plentifully, making sure to scrape the last noodle from the bowl, the last grain of rice that she had on her plate.

My daughter’s experience did not bring her close to starvation or even chronic long term malnutrition. She has shown none of the long range effects of prolonged hunger (stunted growth, reduced intellectual abilities). But it was humbling to me to have my own little girl, to whom being hungry was real.

Hunger in China

It’s hard for most of us to imagine that only 40 years ago,

China

experienced one of the world’s worst famines. Between 1959 and 1961, 30 million Chinese people starved to death. (www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/319/7225/1619) As is still the case in many countries, this famine was a result of both natural diasters and political policies (this was the period of the Great Leap Forward.)(www.bmj.com)

China

has made amazing progress in reducing severe hunger. Under the guidelines set by the United Nations World Food Program, they have reduced the rate of hunger related deaths for children under 5 by one-third and halved the percentage of underweight children. The percentage of their population which is malnourished is now 11% (www.WFP.org/english/)

Hunger still continues to be a problem. Even without the current risk of a starving population, China is marked by economic disparity that leaves the poor, minorities, and many women with less access to food. The Chinese government, as well as organizations such as the All China Women’s Federation, have specific programs aimed at helping women escape poverty. By 2001,

China

’s rural population reported as still not having enough to eat was 30 million, with another 60 million having “just adequate” amounts of food. (www.womenofchina.cn) Because of the long history of women’s low status, they are especially vulnerable in times of food insecurity. Sometimes, even baby names reflect the potential vulnerability of little girls’ access to food—Wang-shih, for example, means “Reluctant to Feed”.

Hunger in

Nepal

is one of the least developed countries in the world. Forty-two percent of the population is below poverty. Their maternal mortality rate is one of the highest in the world, and their adult literacy rate is one of the lowest. With wide regional and class variations, differential experiences of hunger are evident. Over all, 48.3% of children under the age of 5 are considered underweight. Increasing poverty puts this nation at great risk for increasing, rather than decreasing hunger. (www.WFP.org/english/)

Hunger in

Vietnam

Like China ,

Vietnam

has been successful in reducing hunger and malnourishment. In spite of this, it is still a low-income country. Those most at risk for hunger are those in rural areas, where people depend on agriculture to sustain themselves. Living in remote areas which have a high chance of frequent natural disasters, being a member of an ethnic minority,—these are all factors which increase peoples’ chances for poverty and accompanying hunger. Those most affected are ethnic women in rural areas who have little chance for education or employment. (www/ruralpovertyportal.org/English/regions/asia/vnm/index.htm)

Helping

Check out the Bread for the World website (www.bread) for updates on important bills in Congress and other political actions that you might want to support.

Every religion, probably every subgroup, has programs to help feed the hungry, both here and abroad. For example, one Jewish group that responds to world hunger is The American Jewish World Service (www.ajws.org). The Tzu Chi Foundation is one of many different Buddhist programs for addressing hunger (www.tzuchi.org). Islamic groups such as the Islamic Mulit-Service Organization also have extensive food programs (www.ismo.us/).

Christian based organizations include Bread for the World, (www.bread.org), Catholic Relief Services (www.crs.org), and Stop Hunger Now (stophungernow.org).

Non-denomination groups also have programs desperately in need of funds. The United Nations’ World Food Program is one of the major organizations (www.wfp.org/english/); the International Fund for Agricultural Development (www.ruralpovertyportal.org/english/regions/asia/vnm/index.htm) is another.

While our Foundation does not directly help to feed the hungry, we do help through supporting adoption and education.

Consider this: 12 million tons of grain is needed to adequately feed all of the world’s people: 12 million tons of grain would instantly be available if Americans alone reduced their beef consumption by 10%* (www.pcusa.org/hunger/learn/htm.).

Thinking about what we eat can be an important way to reduce world hunger. Changing the way we think about food, especially about how we can avoid wasting it before we buy it, could also make a big difference.

Talk to others about world hunger. Tell your children about it. Brainstorm ideas about ways your family can make a difference. Share your experiences with others (If you have a “hunger story” please sent it to us at the address listed at the end of this newsletter.)

Supporting educational programs within countries experiencing any level of hunger is also important. The Foundation for Meg’s Sisters supports the Education and Science program which helps fund education for Chinese poor (see the information listed below)

I know from personal experience that you can alleviate hunger, even if it is for only one person in a million (or in the case of

China

, in the case of one in 30 million who are poor and still hungry).

Become more aware of the food you eat and how precious it is. Saying grace, eating mindfully, thanking the person who has worked to buy the food, the one who has prepared it—any way of acknowledging that our daily food must not be taken for granted is important.

*The political problems of distributing this food would still exist, but if that much extra grain was actually available, it would certainly help.

Special Thanks to Rev. John Morgan for inspiring this special edition of our newsletter, for providing several of the web-sites, and for making many of the suggestions in the How to Help section.

Education and Science Society

One non-profit organization which is dedicated to helping children in China acquire the education that they need is the Education and Science Society. This multi-faceted program is run entirely by volunteers, from both here and in China . Contributions can be directed to a variety of projects.

The Foundation contributes to this program as part of our on-going effort to provide educational opportunities for Chinese girls. With this program, $100 will send two children to junior high for one year (this will often include room and board as well, so your student will receive food, too!); $200 for a senior high student; $350 sends a kid to college for a year and $75 will provide education for a disabled student.

If you are interested in contributing to ESS, you can do so directly by contacting them at www.esscare.org, or by sending contributions to The Foundation, indicating that you want your funds directed to ESS.

As many of you are aware, China has drastically altered its policies for international adoption. One of the biggest changes that directly effects the Foundation is that China no longer allows single women to adopt.

While our grants have been given to families as well as singles, we want to continue to encourage single women to create families of their own through adoption. Consequently, we have included two other Asian countries, Nepal and Vietnam on our eligible country list. We hope to keep our educational focus primarily on China , and will expand our vision as we include single adoptive parents whose children are from our two new countries.

Our primary goal is to help one family each year to cover a portion of the expenses of adopting one little girl from

China

. We have established the following criteria:

1. Applicants must meet all of the criteria set by the Chinese government at the time of the adoption of their daughter (Single applicants must meet the criteria set by the Nepalese or Vietnamese government.)

2. Applicants must meet all of the criteria set by the Cradle of Hope adoption agency or another registered agency

4. Priority will be give to single parents over the age of 40 without children, who reside in York, Dauphin, Adams, or Lancaster county

5. If no applicants meet the criteria listed in #4, others who meet all of the other requirements will be considered

Selection of the applicant(s) will be made based on recommendations from the Cradle of Hope Adoption Center, Inc. or another agency and the Board of the Foundation for Meg’s Sisters. (Employees of Cradle of Hope or other affiliated agency and/or their relatives, members of the Board of the Foundation for Meg’s Sisters and/or their relatives will not be eligible to receive funding.) One grant will be awarded annually. The Board will ask each recipient to sign an agreement, which indicates that the funds they receive will be used only for the purpose of undertaking the adoption of a Chinese, Nepalese. or Vietnamese girl. Further, we may ask the family to provide written receipts of their expenditures. None of the funds provided may be used to pay any of the legal fees charged by the Chinese government and the total funds provided by the Foundation will not exceed 2/3 of the total adoption expenses. The Board will ask each recipient to sign an agreement to indemnify the Foundation if they do not use the funds for the purpose of undertaking the adoption of a Chinese child. Adoptive parents acting in good faith, whose adoption is unavoidably delayed or incomplete while in

China

will not be responsible for returning funds.

Those receiving the grant will be expected to participate in the Foundation’s activities and to attend specific events for fund-raising.

If you would like to help our Foundation, please return this form to the address below. You can be confident that your charitable giving is fully tax-deductible. We are a registered not for profit organization.

You can also give a donation in honor of a loved one or as a memorial. We will gladly send a memorial card or honorarium gift card.

__Please send me information on the criteria for receiving a grant from the Foundation

All materials published in this newsletter are the property of The Foundation for Meg’s Sisters. If you would like to use any of them, please contact the Foundation at the address above. Thanks. Kathy Brace, publisher and editor