Difficult Goodbye

Kids running after our bus when we left Jubilee School - the orphan school in Gansu.

A chubby 8 year old girl at Jubilee was one of our favourites. She seemed happy and well-adjusted, particularly in comparison to some others who seemed more troubled. It was only after we came back to Hong Kong that I learned of the darker side of her story.

Her father was beaten to death. Her mother left home. When her grandfather tracked down her mother, her mother chose her sister and rejected her - she had to return reluctantly to Gansu with her grandfather. When her grandfather begged Jubilee to accept her at the orphanage, she must have felt being rejected one more time. When asked whether she would be willing to go with her mother should her mother come to fetch her, her reply was, “I will tell her to go away!” It took a long time before she could share her story with the staff at Jubilee. Eventually, she found the strength to forgive her mother and her father’s killer.

Her story was not the worst - every child has a story unhappy in their own way.

Knowing the stories such as this makes the parting even harder. How can one not want to hold these kids and cry with them? I pray that, God willing, Jubilee can be a healing place for these kids. He has to, He is the only one who can. It is our privilege to be of any help.