Growing up in an orphanage in Korea, Ji-an wanted desperately to live with her parents like other children.

“Because I could not live with my parents, I spent each day crying,” she shares.

Her days were sad and hard. But one day, her caregivers helped her find an outlet in sports.

“With the support of my orphanage, I was able to start playing sports and became passionate about soccer, eventually joining the A team. However, seeing the happy families of my teammates and the generous support of their parents made me feel incredibly small,” she says. “I spent five years working 12 hours a day in a factory, having given up on my dreams.”

That’s when Ji-an learned about Holt’s Run-Learn Challenge — and began to envision a new dream.

“Through the program, I received professional training, which allowed me to attain the qualifications to become a soccer coach and referee,” Ji-an says. “Recently, I was recognized for my contributions at a national soccer tournament and received a special award. Holt’s program encouraged me to overcome failures and meet challenges. I am now the master of my life, filling each day with purpose by working in areas where I am confident in skill.”

Over the past 70 years, an estimated two million children have grown up in orphanages in Korea, with more than 1,000 young adults aging out every year.  Even though many have living relatives, often single mothers, they are labeled “orphans” and face stigma and discrimination due to the strong value placed on bloodline in traditional Korean culture.

Over the past 70 years, an estimated two million children have grown up in orphanages in Korea, with more than 1,000 young adults aging out every year. Many aged-out orphans struggle to find jobs, and many face a lifetime of poverty.

Many aged-out orphans struggle to find jobs due to this stigma, and many face a lifetime of poverty. They are vulnerable to scammers and other predators as well as sex traffickers who prey on young adults without any family ties. Some aged-out orphans, out of desperation, end up turning to crime as a means of survival. But in most cases, they simply struggle to get by in a society that shames them at every turn. Even if they overcome the odds and earn a college degree, they will likely continue to face discrimination in the hiring process. In Korea, nearly all job applicants require a background check into their family history.  

Holt International has long been concerned about the welfare of children once they come of age and leave orphanage care. “In the 1960s, when Harry Holt was still alive, Holt began their first vocational training program for youth, understanding that something had to be done to prepare older kids for moving out on their own,” says Paul Kim, Holt’s Korea program director. “In many ways, Holt has been a pioneer not only in adoption, but also in terms of the welfare of children in institutional care.”

Since 2018, Holt donors have supported several programs that help young adults aging out of orphanage care to successfully transition to independent living in Korean society. Here is an overview of the Bluebird Program, the Dream Plus Program, the With You Community —  and the Run-Learn Challenge that empowered Ji-an to fill her days with purpose and become the master of her life.

Bluebird Program

Holt began its Bluebird Program in 2018 to help youth ages 15 to 18 prepare for the transition to independent living once they age out of orphanage care. According to Paul, there are two components to the program: career exploration and strengthening self-reliance. “Children who have spent their entire lives living in an orphanage have been provided with housing, food, clothing, medical care and everything else they need as part of their daily routine,” he says. So when they reach high school age, the Bluebird Program pairs them with mentors who help them define their life goals and take steps toward independence. “Children are asked questions like, ‘What is your future?  What do you want to do? Do you see yourself going to college? Do you see yourself working? What career interests you?’” Paul explains.

Participants in the Bluebird Program also receive support from two important donor-funded scholarships, for which they may apply. The Career Scholarship pays for after-school classes that prepare students for college and ensure their success once they are enrolled. The Self-Reliance Scholarship offers tools to help youth set up their own bank accounts, learn how to create a budget and manage their finances.

Bluebird Program participants are also coached by mentors who have formerly aged out of institutional care in activities and cultural experiences that help them develop self-reliance. Such activities may include visiting historic sites and museums, taking part in seasonal festivals and events, and traveling to other parts of Korea, such as Jeju Island. “Children living in orphanages don’t have the same experiences in terms of going out and experiencing life as those who have grown up in families,” says Paul. “They may not know as much about their country, their culture. But the mentors in the Holt-supported Bluebird Program help them set goals, take part in activities that build self-esteem and encourage them to move toward their dreams.”

Here’s what one participant had to say about the program:

“I was selected as a Bluebird student to pursue my dream of becoming a visual designer. This program was like an airport control tower to me. The control tower plays an important role in ensuring that the plane flies in the right direction throughout the entire process, from takeoff to landing. The program guided me on the right path toward my dreams and gave me the opportunity to fly anywhere. I was able to discover who I am and understand what I want. I started to dream and hope for the future.”

Dream Plus Program

Once children have aged out of orphanage care and are enrolled in college or a technical training school, they are supported by the Dream Plus Program, which began in 2022. Through this program, Holt sponsors and donors provide financial assistance for tuition, school materials, dormitory fees, living expenses, including food and clothing, and career building and self-improvement activities. “The program supports students not only in academic and career exploration, but it also helps them grow as well-rounded individuals,” says Paul.  

Here’s what one participant had to say about the program:

“When I applied to the Dream Plus program, I asked myself, ‘What do I want to do? What activities bring me joy?’ I questioned myself one by one. This is how I began to walk toward my career with Dream Plus. After just 10 months of learning, I became proficient in five design and video programs and currently hold 13 certifications. People around me admired my achievements and said I was living a godly, productive life. I became someone who accomplished many things on my own. Could I have achieved this before? Absolutely not! Think about this: An individual who thought he could not do or become anything now has people around him admiring him for what he has achieved.”

Run-Learn Challenge

Once students have earned a college degree or achieved technical training, the Run-Learn Challenge, established in 2021, is there to support them as they enter the workforce and begin their first jobs. Mentors help answer questions about a youth’s job, employer and situations they may encounter on a daily basis. Meanwhile, Holt sponsors and donors offer financial assistance toward continuing education classes, professional lectures and living expenses.

In addition, the program provides young people living on their own with the emotional support they need through individual counseling, health improvement activities and structured support groups, as well as the practical support required to pay bills and manage their money. “The goal of the Run-Learn Challenge is to help youth grow as individuals, successfully interact in a group work environment and become part of a larger community,” Paul explains.

With You Community

In 2023, Holt created the With You Community program to build social networks among youth who are living and working on their own outside of orphanage care. “Korea is a communal society — people do not live in a vacuum on their own,” says Paul. “In fact, in Korea it’s said that no one is as lonely as a person without a family, without a network, without a community. What this program does is help bring that community together, build that support network and create togetherness in a society where togetherness is everything.”

In Korea, bluebirds represent dreams. Thanks to the support of Holt sponsors and donors, young adults who have aged out of orphanage care now have the chance to experience new dreams every day.

One of the key components of the Holt-supported With You Community program is to provide group activities designed to eliminate isolation. Participants might go camping together, for example, or spend a holiday with one another, such as Lunar New Year or Chuseok, a mid-autumn harvest celebration. “Some of the individuals who have aged out of orphanage care have shared memories of being alone on Lunar New Year, in an apartment with the lights turned off because there was just no brightness in their day,” says Paul. “Sitting alone, hearing others celebrate, made them feel like life just had no meaning.” But being part of the With You Community gives aged-out orphans the sense that they’re not alone, and that there’s always someone they can turn to. Apart from group activities, the program provides emergency financial support as well as group and individual counseling, particularly in crisis situations.

Participants in the With You Community also create fundraising projects to give back to other youth who are preparing to leave their orphanages. Recently, a group of young people worked with a manufacturer to make personalized grips for cell phones, which are commonly used in Korea. They sold the decorative phone grips to the public, and with the funds they raised, they were able to provide kits containing first aid supplies and personal care items to other youth preparing to live independently. This experience allowed them the opportunity to give back to those aging out of orphanage care and transition to the role of a mentor, Paul explains.

Since 2018, these programs have impacted the lives of more than 2,000 youth in Korea, helping them to transition from a life of total dependence to one of independence and personal and professional growth. In Korea, bluebirds represent dreams, and thanks to the support of Holt sponsors and donors, young adults who have aged out of orphanage care now have the chance to experience new dreams every day.

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The post With Wings to Fly! appeared first on Holt International.

Hai cranes his neck to look through the doorway of his room. His eyes light up and his smile widens when he sees that there are visitors here to see him.

Every day, Hai spends most of his time in his crib. The crib is made of metal, with wooden slats on the bottom covered by a thin woven mat. Caregivers come in to help him eat, get dressed and go to the bathroom. Twice per day, he’s placed in a special chair and wheeled out to the courtyard to sit in the sun.

Hai has severe cerebral palsy, and very limited mobility. He can lay on his back, and turn his head from side to side, but his legs and arms are twisted tightly, and very thin for a 16-year-old boy.

“It breaks my heart,” says Hang Dam, Holt’s U.S.-based director of programs for Vietnam. “When he was in his former room, he used to have a television so he could at least watch cartoons and interact with younger children.”

Now that he’s older, Hai shares a room with a 22-year-old girl with a severe mental disability. This girl has only been here a few months, and before that she spent her whole life locked in her family’s home — because they had no resources to teach her how to function in public. This is heartbreakingly common for children with disabilities who are born into poverty. Now that she’s at the center, she has to be on medication to help her stay calm. She isn’t able to speak, and cannot interact with Hai at all.

Hang pulls stickers out of her bag and puts them on the bars of Hai’s crib. His smile widens, and he can’t take his eyes off them. He asks her to give him the rest of the sheet of stickers. He doesn’t want to use all of them up right away.

Child Welfare Centers in Vietnam

The orphanage where we meet Hai is located in a province several hours south of Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam. In Vietnam, orphanages are called “child welfare centers,” and they are directed and employed by the local government.

This child welfare center is a large, white two-story building centered around an open-air courtyard. The rooms, coming off of the courtyard, have white painted walls and white tiled floors.

From the outside, you wouldn’t immediately know kids live here. Not until you see the small plastic play structure in one corner of the courtyard, or the sports court lines painted on the ground outside.

The facility is clean, orderly and well-run. The caregivers and orphanage directors have strong relationships and bonds with the children, and they work hard every day to make sure the children’s needs are met. With the support of Holt sponsors and donors, Holt’s team in Vietnam helps provide medical care, more nourishing food for the children, nutrition and feeding training for the caregivers, and helps advocate for the children to ultimately join families through reunification or adoption.

But not every child will leave to join a family. And even though Holt has helped improve the quality for care at this orphanage, even a “good” orphanage is no place that a child should grow up.

No Place to Grow Up

The reasons children come to live in child welfare centers in Vietnam are because their families can’t care for them — either because they are truly orphaned, or their parents or extended family are incapable of caring for them due to mental illness, disability or imprisonment. Some infants, and even older children, are left at the gates of the center — and found and brought in by the staff.

This is a safe place for a child to live. But it’s meant to be temporary.

“The government strategy is now to deinstitutionalize,” says Huong Nguyen, Holt’s Vietnam country director. Deinstitutionalization, or transitioning children out of orphanage care, is Holt’s goal in every country where we work. We believe children are meant to grow up in a family, not an institution.

Huong explains that the government has strict criteria for who can and can’t be enrolled into orphanage care. “First [the government] sees if the child has any kind of relatives who can take care of them,” she says. “And even if a child does come to live at the center, they have a plan for reaching out to the family to discuss when they are able to reunite the child and the family.” 

Around the world, Holt advocates for every child to thrive in the love and care of a permanent, loving family. Whenever possible, a child should be reunited with their birth family. But if this isn’t possible, we next pursue domestic and then international adoption. But each of these paths can be complex, and the reality remains that thousands of children around the world live in long-term orphanage care settings.

Holt-Supported Orphan Care

Holt sponsors and donors have supported this particular child welfare center in Vietnam for over ten years. The youngest children in the center, and those with special needs, have Holt sponsors who help provide for their nutrition and educational needs. And over the years, Holt has provided supplemental funding to hire additional caregivers, as well as nutrition and feeding trainings for the staff through our Child Nutrition Program.

One of the caregivers, Le Leiu, has worked here for nine years. Her background was in nursing, which she said has been a perfect fit for taking care of the children, especially those with medical needs. She walks around, holding 22-month-old Vy on her hip, balancing the child around her own pregnant belly. Le Leiu says Vy has bonded especially closely with her. Vy isn’t walking yet, and is small for her age — it’s possible that she has dwarfism, and the caregivers and medical staff are continuing to assess her as she grows. She snuggles into her Le Leiu’s arms, giving a shy and small grin.

“This job is very hard work,” she says, “but seeing the children grow and develop every day gives me motivation.”

In 2019, Le Leiu took part in a training from Holt’s Child Nutrition Program. During the training, she and the other caregivers learned how easily children with disabilities can choke and get injured during meals, how to position them properly, and about the specialized formula or food they need to grow and develop. She says this training made a big difference for the children.

“Phillip,” for example, has cerebral palsy, and has benefitted greatly from the nutrition training.

His caregivers received the training when he was just a baby, so his whole life he’s been fed upright with the proper chair, utensils and technique. He hasn’t experienced as much aspirating, and the lung infections that can follow, like some of the other children have had to suffer.

Philip’s eyes are bright, and he smiles freely as he moves around in his crib, playing with a toy. Properly trained caregivers, and having enough of them employed at the center, have made all the difference for him. But this is a constant struggle for orphanages, which are chronically understaffed. Despite Holt’s efforts to bring in more caregivers, this problem persists due to Vietnam’s complex bureaucracy and strict policies.

Right now, for example, there are six caregivers who take care of the youngest children and those with special needs. But Le Leiu will soon go on maternity leave, and another caregiver recently got injured and is unable to come to work. So for the foreseeable future, there are just four caregivers – split up over three shifts – caring for 14 children with disabilities. The orphanage is doing its best to fill the gap by assigning one or two additional administrative staff to support the caregivers during meals and bath time, and by allowing older children to play and interact with the toddlers after school hours. 

Many of the children here — like Philip, Hai and Vy — have disabilities or special needs. But many others who live here are perfectly healthy, both physically and mentally. Some children live here for a short while, just several months or years until the can be reunified with their birth families. But many others, like Hai, will likely live here for their entire childhood, until they either age out and go out into the world on their own, or are transferred to a center for adults with disabilities sometime in their mid-20s.

Aging Out, or Adoption

What happens when a child moves to an adult facility?

“They stay there forever,” Huong says.

But thankfully, many of these children have another option — international adoption. That is, if a family comes forward before they age out of eligibility at 16.

While Hai is too old to be adopted internationally, there is still hope for 6-year-old Phillip, who has been on Holt’s waiting child photolisting for years.

“They see international adoption as very good for children.” Huong says of how intercountry adoption is perceived in Vietnam. “Because [the child] will have a better life, and they will be cared for better, and they will have more opportunities to develop themselves.”

This is because at even the best orphanages, they rarely have the specialized resources needed to help a child with disabilities and medical needs.

“What I’ve seen, and what makes me so sad,” Huong says, “is that for children with cerebral palsy, or autism or other disabilities, if they have enough therapy, their functions can be improved.”

But while they continue to live in the orphanage, their development is slow. While the resources provided by Holt donors address the most basic needs of the children — nutrition, education, medical care, even some therapy — their psychosocial and emotional needs can never fully be met in an institutional setting.

That’s why international adoption offers so much hope — in the care of a loving family, children can receive the medical care and therapies that are simply inaccessible in an orphanage.

Domestic Adoption in Vietnam

At Holt, our priority is to reunite children with their birth families. If that’s not possible, domestic adoption is explored for a child, and this option is always pursued first before international adoption.

However, domestic adoptions, Huong explains, really only happen for the youngest and healthiest children.

For the children who are eligible for domestic or international adoption, they live each day, month and year in hopeful waiting for a family to adopt them.

The Complexity of Reunification

For some children, it’s a different kind of waiting. These children are waiting for their birth family to become stable enough to bring them back home.

“I felt scared when I first came here to live,” says Thuy. Today she’s 16, but she started living here at just 6 years old. She’s a beautiful young woman, petite with an athletic build. Glasses frame her deep, bright eyes, which fill with tears as she shares her story.

“He can take care of me,” she says about her father, who lives just a couple miles away from the center. But the heartbreaking, unspoken implication is that he’s not truly capable of caring for her…

Thuy says her father used to come and visit her, as well as her older biological sister who lived in the center. But he visited less and less frequently as she grew up. Now, she mostly sees him on holidays.

“I wanted to live with my father, but he often drinks,” she says. “He goes out and gets drunk all the time, and comes back violent… So I feel safer here.” She cries softly as she shares this, and the orphanage staff who sit with her fail to hold back their tears as well.

Thuy says that in the future she wants to graduate and get a good job, so that she can help support her father and biological sister.  

Despite her father’s abuse and unhealthy lifestyle, it’s evident that she still cares for him deeply. It’s a complexity that shows a child’s deepest desire – to be loved and wanted by family. And while the children live here at the center, the caregivers try to operate as close to a family as they can.

Orphanage Family

The children who live here refer to each other as brothers and sisters, and to their caregivers as mothers. Because for the time being, they are each other’s family.

Caregivers will take the older children out for coffee, to talk with them and offer support. And even when children age out of the center, they often come back to help take care of the younger children — or to receive support from the staff as they learn how to find an apartment, apply for a job, budget their money and learn how to cook.

“I’m both happy and sad when I’m living here.”

Thuy walks upstairs, down an open-air hallway to a room that she shares with six other girls. Above the entrance to their room is a brightly colored, handmade sign that reads “Tiem Salon” with drawings of hearts and stars around it.

The room consists of three bunk beds, and in one corner are several clothes racks that hold the girls’ school uniforms and outfits.

Thuy shows us her bunk, but then points to a different bed across the room.

“I sleep here, though, with my sister,” she says.

“They love each other,” her caregiver says smiling. These girls aren’t biological sisters, but have bonded closely as sisters while they’ve lived here.

“I’m both happy and sad when I’m living here,” Thuy says.

This sentiment could describe every child who lives here. Each of them has experienced the heartbreak of illness, poverty, family loss and more. But they live every day with hope.

Here at the center, they are safe, they have enough food, go to school and have their basic needs met. Their caregivers do all they can for them, and are constantly striving to make their lives better.

They hope for a family — whether that means going home to their birth family or joining a family through adoption. And they embrace their “family” in the orphanage as they wait.

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Stay tuned for the full-length documentary featuring Holt staff — and hosted by actress Meg Ryan — on PBS this month!

Keep a Child From Growing Up in an Orphanage!

Just $43 helps provide the food, medical care and more a child needs to stay with their birth family or join a family through adoption.

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The post VIDEO: The Disadvantages of Growing Up in an Orphanage appeared first on Holt International.

Isla is a friendly and confident 23-year-old college student with glossy, straight black hair and a warm, beautiful smile. She’s majoring in Filipino language, loves writing poetry, and hopes to become a teacher once she graduates college in a year or two. She lives in an apartment in Manila, Philippines with nine other students, and shares a room with four other girls. They love to dance and make TikToks together, and they sleep in bunk beds, like sisters.

Isla has a great life, and a great future awaiting her. But it’s a long way from where she started…

Until she was 10, Isla slept under a bridge every night.

“I lived in the streets under a bridge. I collected garbage and called people to ride a jeepney,” she says, describing how she survived and helped her family survive. She earned money for food by recruiting riders for a “jeepney,” a uniquely Filipino form of public transportation.

She had a “street educator” — a social worker who checked in on her and her siblings. But when she began to face abuse by her step-father, she knew she needed to escape this life — even if it meant leaving her family.  

With incredible resolve, she approached the one adult in her life who could help her.

“I told my street educator that I wanted to go to school when I was 10, and I started living in a care center,” she says. Five years later, she was accepted into the Independent Living and Educational Assistance (ILEA) program in the Philippines — a program that helps provide higher education and transitional support for young adults aging out of institutional care.

Through the program, a group of boys and girls live together in group housing and learn essential life skills while completing high school or college. The boys and girls live in separate wings but share a common area, like a college dorm. Holt donors provide tuition and material support for the scholars through Holt’s in-country partner, Kaisahang Buhay Foundation (KBF). 

“I’ve been at ILEA for eight years,” Isla shares while sitting in the living room of the ILEA house — a spare but homey space with a worn upright piano and a newer TV. “I like the comfort and safety. They meet my basic needs and let me feel that I am safe and loved and to trust myself.”

At ILEA, Isla has found a home, and a family of friends who share a common background and a common bond. As Isla says, “Having friends outside is good, but inside is better because we have similar stories.”

When we visit the ILEA home, the scholars laugh and joke with each other while eating a lunch of Jollibee fried chicken and spaghetti — a popular fast food in the Philippines. One scholar sits apart from the others and studies on a laptop. During the pandemic, the scholars had to use old computers. But just this year, Holt donors made it possible to provide a new laptop for each of the 10 scholars so they could attend class and do schoolwork remotely.

An accounting student, the scholar on the laptop just got a job in IT and is about ready to move out and live on her own.

“I’m encouraged seeing my roommate starting a job and looking for a house,” Isla says.

At ILEA, the scholars build skills that will help them transition to living on their own — skills they likely would have learned growing up with their family, but missed out on growing up in an orphanage.

 “I’ve learned cooking, budgeting, kids’ ministry in church, cleaning, responsibility, washing clothes and being a good scholar,” Isla says, listing some of the things she’s learned living at the ILEA house over the past eight years.

With the support of Holt donors, the scholars receive funds to buy groceries and other essentials. They have to create a menu and a budget and cook for themselves. To track their spending, they return the receipts for what they purchased to KBF. They have chores, and some have part-time jobs. Isla’s first job was at McDonald’s. The first thing she bought herself was a pair of blue Converse sneakers — still her favorite pair of shoes.

But even at 23, with all her life experience and the things she’s learned at ILEA, she is still nervous about leaving when she graduates college. “When adulting hits you, it gives you a headache,” she says, laughing.

Thankfully, at ILEA, she knows she is always welcome back to visit.

“I’m the second oldest in the house,” she says. “[When I leave], I can come back to visit. It’s hard because I don’t have a house to visit because my family lives on the streets.”

Whenever possible, Isla does still visit her family — including her siblings, who she struggled to separate from when she left the streets to live in the care center 13 years ago. “It was hard to leave my siblings, but I kept in touch with them, and I’m trying to help them go to the [child welfare foundation],” she says, referring to Holt’s in-country partner, KBF.

Part of the reason she wants to become a teacher is to inspire her younger siblings to follow in her footsteps. “My mother finished only grade 6 and my siblings weren’t able to go to school because we couldn’t afford it,” she says. “I want to be a teacher to be an inspiration to my family.”

Isla also keeps in touch with her mother, but she doesn’t know her father — which she has struggled with at times. “In 2019, I performed poetry in my church about Father’s Day, but it was hard because I don’t have a father,” she says. “I asked my friends about their fathers and what they love about them.”

At ILEA, she’s not only gained sisters and brothers among her fellow scholars — but also caring adults to help guide her. The scholars have four house parents — two for the boys and two for the girls. They also have a social worker, Alba, who advocates for them and supports them as they make important life decisions and pursue their goals. Alba is just 27 and looks as young as the scholars. But for Isla and the others, she plays a role that was missing in their lives before they moved to the ILEA house.

“My social worker stands up for me like a mother, like a friend, and supports me to do better,” Isla says.

In addition to emotional support and counseling, the ILEA program staff also network with employers to provide internships and job placement opportunities for the scholars. As a result, more than 90% of youth in the program find jobs and are living successfully on their own six months after graduation.

But even when it comes time for Isla to move out on her own, she will always have a home and a family to return to at ILEA.

“Even sometimes when I feel the world is against me, I always have a family,” Isla says. “They know my story, and they love me.”

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The post I Always Have a Family appeared first on Holt International.

Through your monthly sponsorship, you not only support your sponsored child — you also support sustainable change for children and families through Holt programs around the world. This month, I would like to share how you support and empower older children aging out of institutions in the Philippines.

The Philippines is home to an estimated 2 million orphans. The government works alongside child welfare organizations — including Holt and Holt’s in-country partner, Kaisahang Buhay Foundation (KBF) — to reunite many of these children with their birth families, or find families for them through domestic or international adoption. Yet, many children are not adopted and instead grow up in — and age out of — orphanage care. Research has indicated that aged-out orphans face high risks of homelessness, joblessness, substance abuse, trafficking and crime due to lack of support networks.

Now I can testify to the fact that a difficult past is not an impediment to achieving our goal of a brighter future. As I always say, it is never too late to make changes in our lives and learn to appreciate those we know who care about and love us. Thank you very much!”

Roseline, who received a bachelor’s degree while part of the ILEA program

To help children aging out of orphanage care in the Philippines, KBF developed a program called Independent Living & Educational Assistance (ILEA). This program provides education and life skills to help prepare youth to live independently. Groups of boys and girls live separately in a group home. With support from Holt sponsors and donors, they receive tuition and supplies so they can attend either a secondary or vocational school, or college. They learn life skills such as cooking, grocery shopping and financial management. They receive counseling to prepare for independent life, and ILEA program staff network with employers to provide internships and job placement opportunities. The outcome has been outstanding as more than 90% of youth in the program find jobs and are living successfully on their own six months after graduation.

Roseline’s life story is a testament to the ILEA program — and to her own determination to overcome obstacles and achieve her dream.  Now 25, Roseline was only 2 years old when her mother left for Korea in search of work, leaving her in the care of the landlady of the boarding house where they used to stay. Roseline attended school and received honors for her academic performance despite being separated from her family. Her birth mother continued to support her financially for a while until she could no longer sustain the support. And although Roseline had a living grandmother, she was too old to care for her. 

When Roseline reached adolescence, she started to engage in smoking, drinking and illegal drugs. She also failed to complete school due to frequent absences. Her grandmother referred her to the Department of Social Welfare and Development and Roseline was placed in institutional care at age 12. While in care, the staff saw her determination to have a better future — and recommended her for the ILEA program. At ILEA, Roseline pursued a bachelor’s degree in information technology. Sometimes, studying became hard and she thought about quitting. But the ILEA staff helped her through challenging times. She graduated in June 2022, found a job in her field and a place to live, and can purchase her basic needs and wants. 

“I’m grateful that God used KBF as a means for me to realize my lifelong dream of becoming a professional,” Roseline shares. “And now I can testify to the fact that a difficult past is not an impediment to achieving our goal of a brighter future. As I always say, it is never too late to make changes in our lives and learn to appreciate those we know who care about and love us. Thank you very much!”

As a sponsor, you also help to support programs for aged-out youth in China, Colombia, Mongolia and Korea. Thank you for your heartfelt support of your sponsored child, and for supporting programs for orphaned and vulnerable children around the world!

Empower Women and Girls!

When you give a Gift of Hope like job skills training, a sewing machine or a school scholarship to a woman or girl living in poverty, you empower her to change her life forever — and transform her family and community!

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The post Helping Roseline Realize Her Lifelong Dream appeared first on Holt International.

When a child “ages out” of an orphanage at 18 years old, there’s so much they don’t know how to do on their own. Their whole life, they’ve had orphanage cooks and caregivers feeding them and taking care of them. Not knowing how to cook makes the transition to independence even more scary and difficult… 

That’s why Holt donors support programs that teach critical life skills to children aging out of orphanage care! 

Just this past fall, these older children in Mongolia learned all about cooking! They rolled out dough for bread, chopped veggies and stirred soup. And throughout the meal prep, they learned about kitchen safety, nutrition basics, grocery budgeting, menu planning, hygiene and sanitation and more! 

Thank you for making sure that these children have the essential skills they need to make a healthy meal and live independently someday! 

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The post An Orphanage Cooking Class appeared first on Holt International.

Myung Hoon plays the viola beautifully.

Beautifully enough to win second place in a solo competition with musicians who learned to play the instrument years before he did. Beautifully enough to earn a scholarship to New York’s prestigious Manhattan School of Music. But no matter how beautifully he played, for a long time, Myung Hoon never felt like he was enough. Like he deserved what he achieved.

“I did not have a dream when I was young because I did not grow up in a family. I thought orphans do not deserve to have a dream.”

Myung Hung wrote these words in a letter to Love Beyond the Orphanage (LBTO), a U.S.-based organization that provides scholarships and support for young adults who grew up in orphanages in Korea. Young adults who once they turn 18, find themselves unceremoniously released into society with nothing but a $3,000-$5,000 stipend, and absolutely no survival skills.

According to Julie Duvall, who co-founded LBTO with fellow adoptee Kim Hanson, this is the time in their lives when they are most vulnerable.

“They have no skills. No one to trust. And it is scary,” she says. “A lot of them struggle. It’s a scary world for them.”

“They have no skills. No one to trust. And it is scary. A lot of them struggle. It’s a scary world for them.”

Julie Duvall, co-founder of Love Beyond the Orphanage

Julie especially worries about the girls, who are vulnerable to predators and sex traffickers who prey on young women without any family ties. Some aged-out orphans end up turning to crime as a means of survival. But in most cases, they simply struggle to get by in a society that shames them at every turn for something they have absolutely no control over.

They are orphans. And in Korea, orphans do not deserve to dream.

“It’s just very unfair for them – for orphans,” says Julie. “In Korea, bloodline is very significant. If you don’t have the bloodline, they don’t look at you the same.”

Although Julie uses the term “orphan,” the irony is that most children growing up in — and aging out of — orphanages in Korea are not actually orphans. They have a family. They have parents. The reason most children end up in orphanages in Korea also has nothing to do with poverty, as in many countries. Rather, it has everything to do with the overarching cultural value placed on a “pure bloodline.” These “orphans” are the children of single mothers — women who, had they chosen to parent, would face the same stigma, discrimination and shame that their children now face as they age out of orphanages and enter Korean society. Having a child out of wedlock breaks a family’s bloodline. But being an orphan means you have no bloodline. You don’t belong.

Over the past 70 years, an estimated two million children have grown up in orphanages in Korea, with over 1,000 young adults aging out every year. And since August 2012, when the government passed a law that makes it harder for children to be adopted, Korea’s population of orphans has only continued to grow.

“Now that adoption is declining, that means more babies are sent to orphanages. That means more babies are going to grow up and age out,” Julie says.

“The public has no idea that orphanages even exist in Korea. Some people may know, but [they don’t know that] several thousand orphans are aging out,” she says. “One orphanage we visited has 600 orphans. It’s unthinkable! And no one knows.”

Through Love Beyond the Orphanage, Julie Duvall and Kim Hanson are determined to make people know about the crisis of aged-out orphans in Korea. Both Korean adoptees, Julie and Kim have a unique heart and passion for the children left behind — the ones who weren’t adopted. But Julie in particular shares a special bond with aged-out orphans in Korea. Adopted as a young adult, Julie’s story is unusual. She lived in an orphanage until she turned 16, and never expected to join an adoptive family.

Like the kids she now advocates for, Julie was also an aged-out orphan. She was one of them.

Julie wears glasses, a little silver cross around her neck and a brace on her wrist from a tennis injury. After 30 years in the U.S., she still speaks with a bit of an accent, which she’s self-conscious about, and she insists she’s actually very shy. But when she talks about her life in Korea and the life of aged-out orphans who still live there, her voice is forceful and clear. She does not wait for questions. She does not break for air.

“I grew up in an orphanage in Korea and aged out at age 16 only because back then – in the 1970s and 80s – Korea in general was very poor. Everyone was struggling, and orphanages were struggling even more to support those orphans,” she says. “I remember growing up in the orphanage where food was not there much. It was not a pleasant experience.”

Julie lived in a small orphanage with just 25 other girls. They became her sisters, her family, and together they survived. But she says the 16 years she spent in an orphanage was the darkest period of her life.

“Our orphanage was a private orphanage so we went through so much abuse physically, mentally and sexually,” she says. “I escaped the sexual part, but I have come very close to being one of the victims.”

Today, she says, the Korean government provides more oversight and protection for children living in the country’s social welfare system.

“But when I was growing up, none of that existed … A lot of girls went through the trauma of abuse and still to this day, some of them are suffering,” Julie says of the girls she grew up with — of her “sisters.”

At 16, Julie left her orphanage to serve as a live-in housemaid for a family in her community, which 30 years ago was a common way for aged-out orphans to pay for their high school education. But from day one, they made it clear to Julie that she was not a part of the family. She was there to work, and that’s it.

“In Korea, when you are working for somebody and the owners know that you’re an orphan, how they treat you is a lot different,” she says. “You are their employee, but they really don’t care about you.”

Bloodline and family name are so valued in Korean culture that many aged-out orphans struggle to find jobs in the first place. Even if they overcome the odds and earn a college degree, they will still face discrimination in the hiring process. In Korea, all job applications require a birth certificate or family name.

“They will see that you are an orphan,” Julie says. “That causes them to reject you.”

“They will see that you are an orphan. That causes them to reject you.”

Determined to earn her high school diploma, Julie continued working as a housemaid until she graduated. After that, she found a low-paid job delivering supplies to office buildings. She endured sexual harassment by her supervisor, but never spoke up. She was an orphan, after all. Who would take her seriously?

After six months, she injured her back and quit.

“I had no money, no place to go, no friends. I didn’t have anybody,” she says. “So I ended up visiting Molly Holt at Ilsan.”

The second eldest daughter of Holt founders Harry and Bertha Holt, Molly Holt devoted her entire life to advocating for orphaned and vulnerable children in Korea. From her early 20s until she passed away in her 80s, Molly lived at Ilsan, the long-term care center for children with special needs that her parents founded in the early 1960s. In Molly, Julie found a friend and advocate.

“Molly accepted me. She allowed me to stay with her at her house. She knew my situation,” Julie says.

For a time, Julie lived and worked at Ilsan. But it soon became clear to her that she had no future in Korea. She had no desire to work as a housemother, the only job available to her at Ilsan. Then, one day, she met the Mayberrys, an adoptive family from Eugene, Oregon. They had traveled to Korea with their three adopted daughters, and stopped at Ilsan for a visit. Molly told the Mayberrys about Julie’s background and the difficulties that aged-out orphans face in Korea, and they felt compassion for Julie — and started looking into how they could help her. They reached out to the leadership of Holt International in Eugene, who brainstormed a way for Julie to come to the U.S. on a work visa. They even offered for Julie to live with them while she worked at Holt.

That year, the Mayberrys asked Julie if she would like to legally become a part of their family. She said yes.

“Just an amazing family, wonderful people,” Julie says of her adoptive family. “I felt very blessed to have gotten this opportunity … I didn’t expect any of this to happen, but I had faith that deep in my heart, I wanted to come to the U.S. The number one reason, I knew I could work hard — and no one cared whether I was an orphan or not.”

Julie went on to attend college in the U.S., get married and raise two lovely daughters.

“I’ve been blessed,” she says. “I could just enjoy my comfortable life. But I feel that’s not why God brought me here.”

Although Julie had no desire to return to her birth country, she could not stop thinking about her sisters back in Korea.

“It was always in the back of my mind how my sisters are continually suffering,” she says.

Most of Julie’s sisters found work in factories or in other low-paid jobs — often the only jobs that aged-out orphans can find in Korea. Some of them married, some of them are divorced. Some of them stayed in abusive relationships because they had nowhere else to go.

“But they’re survivors,” Julie says. “They have to work every day, sometimes seven days a week, to provide for their family. But when we’re together, they’re just happy to see each other.”

To advocate for her sisters, Julie became a board member of Korea Gospel Mission, an organization that supports orphans and aged-out orphans in Korea. When her sisters struggle financially, the mission can allocate funds to help them. Every so often, Julie travels to Seoul to visit her sisters as well.

“I could easily say, ‘I am done with my life in Korea,’” she says. “I don’t want to go back and think about it and relive this horrible life in Korea. But there’s something in me that says, ‘These are your sisters.’ So I will go back and be there for them …I want to let them know they’re not forgotten.”

Julie couldn’t forget her sisters in Korea, but she also could not stop thinking about the thousands of other orphans aging out every year into a society that shuns and discriminates against them.

“The reason no one is coming to defend vulnerable orphans is because no one understands their outcome,” she says. “But I went through all that and completely understand what they’re facing. I always felt in my heart that someone has to be their voice. But no one is doing that in Korea … And nothing has changed. Nothing has changed in their attitudes toward orphans.”

Every so often, Julie and Kim would get together with other adoptees, and talk about their lives in Korea, or talk about what they saw in the media. They felt especially emboldened to speak out against the anti-adoption movement in Korea — a movement led primarily by Korean adoptees who grew up in the U.S. and other countries.

“[Adoptees] go to Korea and they advocate against adoption,” Julie says. “Whenever I hear that, it really upsets me because there are so many orphans who did not get chosen to be adopted into a family. And they age out, and they will remain as an orphan for the rest of their lives, live in silence. Those adoptees have no idea … If they were not chosen to be adopted by families, they would not say what they say in Korea. NO way.”

“With my story, with my experience, and with Kim Hanson and her adoption experience, we said we need to do something … And so we formed the organization Love Beyond the Orphanage,” Julie says.

Through LBTO, they hoped to bring awareness to the struggles that aged-out orphans face in Korea. They wanted to be their voice, and their advocate. But they also wanted to give them the opportunities and support that they miss out on simply because they don’t have families.

Growing up in an orphanage is, itself, a huge disadvantage for any kid trying to succeed in Korea’s competitive educational system. “They have to work twice as hard to maintain the same grades as non-orphans,” Julie says. “Because they didn’t get to have private lessons. And when you’re living an institutional life, mentally, you’re several years behind the kids who have families.”

To help close the gap, Julie and Kim began raising funds to provide scholarships for a handful of young adults pursuing higher education or vocational training. Although the government will cover the cost of tuition for aged-out orphans to attend college in Korea, the students often struggle to afford the cost of books, transportation and basic living expenses. And as many of them have to work twice as hard to maintain their grades and keep their scholarships, they struggle to hold down jobs that will cover their expenses.

“What we’re doing is helping them stay in school by offering an extra $500 a month for food, transportation, books, have a meeting with their friends, have coffee or go out to dinner,” Julie says. “Other kids have those privileges, but these kids don’t. We want to provide that for college kids so they graduate from college and they’re not struggling to figure out how they’re going to get food the next day.”

But it’s not just material support these kids need. Through LBTO, Julie and Kim want to give aged-out orphans something more than they experienced in the orphanage. They want them to experience what it’s like to be part of a family.

Every year for the past two years, LBTO has hosted two holiday events for aged-out orphans — Lunar New Year and Chuseok. During these two biggest holidays in Korea, families will often have a week of festivities during which no one works or goes to school.

“But these kids have no place to go,” Julie says. Often, they will just stay in their dorms.

During the holiday celebrations, Julie and Kim don’t do any lectures or seminars or counseling sessions like they normally would when the students gather. The students stay together in a nice hotel. They cook traditional foods and exchange gifts. They joke around and socialize and relax.

“I want them to feel like they are just as important,” Julie says. “They are cared for, and loved, and I want them to understand they are very special and they have a right to celebrate, just like anyone else.”

To the more than 25 aged-out orphans who attend these events, Julie and Kim have become both family and mentors. Often, Julie says, orphans in Korea hold tight to their feelings, and give answers that people want to hear when asked about their lives. But they trust Julie because she understands what it’s like growing up in an orphanage, and aging out into Korean society.

“The kids, the orphans, they’re more willing to open their hearts because they understand I understand what they are going through,” Julie says. “They do not open their hearts to most other people. But see, there is a connection because they understand that I went through the same thing they did.”

Currently, LBTO is providing monthly stipends for 11 aged-out orphans to cover needed expenses while they work to graduate college. In the two years since LBTO was founded, they have provided scholarships for a total of 14 students, two of whom have already graduated — one as recently as February 2019. One is still working to find a job, and the other one already has a job lined up. Although Julie says the government of Korea is working to reduce discrimination in hiring practices, orphans still struggle to find employment after graduation. For that reason, LBTO continues to support the program participants until they find a job.

Myung Hoon is one of the 11 students in the program who is still working toward his degree. “After I met Love Beyond the Orphanage, I allowed myself a dream and my dream was not just ‘a dream,’” he wrote in his letter. “It helped me to break my thought that orphans can’t have dreams. There are no words to express my gratitude to LBTO … you have given me not only scholarship money, a great opportunity but also confidence, motivation and a vision.”

Once he graduates from Manhattan School of Music, Myung Hoon hopes to secure a position playing viola in an orchestra in the U.S. He also hopes, he says, “to be a role model for the 1,000,000 orphans, to help show them to dream and to let them know that they deserve to dream.”

Myung Hoon does not want to return to Korea after he graduates, and Julie understands his decision.

“Here, there is no discrimination,” Julie says. “You work hard and you get treated according to how hard you work and your skills. I see why he doesn’t want to go back to Korea.”

But Julie is hopeful that in the coming years, as LBTO and other organizations raise awareness about the challenges that aged-out orphans face in Korea, life will gradually become easier for kids who have no family name.

“My greatest hope is that the whole of Korea’s perception would change so [orphans] don’t fear anyone knowing who they are,” she says. “So it’s okay for them to freely say, ‘I grew up in an orphanage and that’s totally fine.’ You know, acceptance. I want them to be accepted into society and feel free to be who they are.”

Together with Love Beyond the Orphanage, Holt International is now working to identify ways we can help prepare institutionalized children in Korea to lead successful lives once they leave their orphanage. 

Learn more about Holt’s work in Korea!

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The post Love Beyond the Orphanage appeared first on Holt International.

The story of my life is so beautiful with a lot of learnings.

I was born in 1997. I grew up with a family with whom I have no blood relationship. I was only 2 years old when my mother entrusted me to the care of the landlady of the boarding house where we used to stay because she went to Korea to work.

When I was growing up, I was wondering why there is no name of my father on my birth certificate. I asked the landlady, whom I have been calling grandmother “Lola,” to explain “why I have no father on my birth certificate,” but she would just tell me it is only your mother who can answer your question. And my mother kept ignoring my question, too.

I could not approach any relative because I don’t know anyone — and maybe nobody knows about me, too.

Years went by and I remained studying in private school, always having honors because of my good performance and achievements in school. My life changed when my mother stopped sending financial support to me from Korea because, accordingly, she already became an illegal alien. Our frequent communication via cellphone was also reduced, until finally she could no longer communicate with me or send me any financial support.

Our last communication was in 2009 and no more up to now. My “grandmother” had no choice but to transfer me to public school. That, I really appreciated. Despite such difficulty and big challenges to me and to my “grandmother,” I graduated from elementary school with honors. I met the Lord as I started to engage in different church activities.

However, when I entered high school, my lifestyle changed. I started to get involved with “barkada” or a group of youth with attitudinal problems. Even when I was inside the church, I did not care for other people anymore. I became hardheaded so my “grandmother” decided to refer me to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). I was admitted at Nayon ng Kabataan (NK), a center for abandoned and neglected children of the DSWD.

That, I could not understand.

I attempted to escape from Nayon but it came to my mind, “Where would I go?” I do not know any relatives who can help me, so I decided to stay. I was able to go to school, and I learned some skills from the training I attended like dressmaking, consumer electronics and cosmetology. I tried to grab all opportunities coming to me to change my life. I became a member of a “Rondalla” as a drummer and a guitarist. I also became a student leader in NK.

Considering my newly acquired skills, NK referred me as a worker to a garment factory, where I only stayed for four months because of my asthmatic condition. I resigned from my work and stayed with one of the workers of NK with whom I was closely bonded. I wanted to continue my studies so I begged for the understanding and help of my godmother, Gemma. Then, DSWD staff referred me to KBF — [Kaisahang Buhay Foundation, Holt’s long-time partner] — for scholarship under ILEA [independent living and educational assistance program].

In 2016, I was admitted at KBF as an ILEA scholar after I passed the Alternative Learning System (ALS). That is why I was able to proceed to college instead of completing high school.

My first dream was to become a civil engineer, but I thought there are more jobs available for information technology (IT) graduates so I enrolled in the two-year course in IT on March 23, 2016, and graduated this April 2018 as a Top 8 achiever. I again requested that KBF allow me to enroll for another two years to complete the four-year IT course. I am very thankful to God that I am now enrolled and He used KBF as the medium for me to achieve my dream in life “to become a professional.”

I can be a witness to the truth that a challenging past is not an obstacle for achieving our dream to have a better future. It is never too late to change our lives, and to learn to appreciate the people you know are concerned and are loving you. THANK YOU!!!

Konny Geraldine Dela Cruz | Holt ILEA Scholar

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The post The Story of My Life appeared first on Holt International.

I was 5 years old when I got lost in the market of Marikina City and never found my parents again. That was the start of my struggles in life. I did not know where I would stay and how I would eat. I came to the point that I was sleeping anywhere I could. To survive, I started to carry baskets and bags of goods for people in the marketplace so I could get money for food. When authorities learned that I had no parents, they put me in an orphanage and they started to look for my parents.

But nobody was found and nobody came back to claim me.

The barangay authorities sent me to Boys Town Complex in Markina City, an institution for children without parents. I was admitted in Mahay, a section in the institution where children like me are housed. I had mixed feelings, happy but sad. Happy because there were people who would care for me and there was food, so I did not have to wonder how I would find food to eat. Happy that I would not experience again what I had been through, I experienced playing again. I focused my attention on playing to avoid thinking of my lost parents and continuing to wonder why I no longer have parents.

I asked myself, “Did I become a bad child because I felt that nobody liked me?” I experienced a lot of bullying, but I tried to ignore it for my dream was to finish my schooling. When I was in kindergarten, I was excited and dedicated to go to school. When I turned 10 years old, I was transferred to the Boys Home school together with other children, ages 10 to 18 years old. From grade one to grade six, I was always in section one. I was the top student when I was in grade two and grade three, and was always receiving the Best of the Year award for being a good child of Boys Town.

I started to mingle with other children when I was in high school. I became active and learned to enjoy playing basketball. I concentrated on playing and studying instead of thinking about my being parentless. I envied other children in Boys Town who had parents visiting them, bringing them food and having bonding time with them. I was in my third year of high school and one of the Top 10 students when I was granted a scholarship by the organization Kaisahang Buhay Foundation. I became so excited because it was an opportunity for me to pursue my dream of finishing college. I was thankful that I did not neglect my studies. Even if I was not an honor student, at least I would be able to graduate.

I felt happy and sad because I was not aware of my strengths and what course to take that suited me. However, I took the entrance examination at Marikina Polytechnic College that I passed. I was included in the group of students to take mechanical engineering, but after completing my first year, I reflected and decided to change my course because my dream is to take a course that would let me help children who went through the same experiences I went through. I took the entrance examination at the University of Rizal System that I passed. Unfortunately, the social work course was already filled up so I was enrolled in the community development course. I did no regret this, though, because I learned that both social work and community development work have similar missions — to help people in difficulty. So I studied hard to achieve my dream of finishing college.

I was a bit anxious but excited to become one of KBF’s ILEA scholars. I learned to live independently. I learned to wash my clothes, to cook food, to take care of myself and my personal needs that were all new to me as a former Boys Town kid. I also learned from KBF how to budget my school allowance for daily food and transportation to school. I finished my four-year community development course and received my diploma. That made me feel successful so I was very happy. I was wondering where I could apply for work, but then I was hired by KBF as a staff member of the Family and Community Outreach program. Here, I was able to work with Ms. Marinel, one my former college teachers who taught some of my major subjects. From her, I learned more about the nature of our work. I became so happy because we are helping many people every day. There were many challenges we encountered that I considered positive because it taught me new lessons. I believe in the saying “Nasa tao ang gawa nasa Diyos ang awa”, which means “In God’s grace, I can do my best.” I am thankful to God and to the people who helped me and became part of my life.

Marlon Cruz | Manila, Philippines

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In 2013, Li Ai You graduated from college, and is now a physics teacher. “With Holt’s help, I could focus on study, live seriously as well as work hard to chase after my dream,” he says.

One student wanted to be an architect. Another a veterinarian. Li Ai You wanted to be a teacher. He had the grades and spirited determination. In the United States, Li Ai You could have been eligible for many scholarships, possibly a full-ride to the college of his choice. But he lived in China, where competition is especially fierce. Where extracurricular activities and electives don’t enhance a college application, and test scores mean everything. If you perform poorly on your college entrance exam, there are no second chances. And if you come from a poor family or you are an orphan, the odds of attending college are slim.

Li Ai You’s father died from complications of HIV in 2004, and his mother died shortly after.  Li Ai You went to live with his grandparents, and worked hard through high school with assistance from Holt’s sponsorship program. The resolve to better his family’s financial status motivated him through the years. As high school graduation approached, Li Ai You’s test scores were impressive enough to get him into college.  Unfortunately, his family’s financial status dictated another path.

But in 2009, Li Ai You did start college, and last year, he graduated. A decade ago, Holt didn’t have a model established to help Li Ai You accomplish this feat. But through the efforts of one woman — a longtime Holt supporter and adoptive mom, and other generous donors — Li Ai You made it to his graduation day.

In 2005, while in China to adopt her son, Tina Gsedl was asked a poignant question by Cathy Yu, Holt’s program manager for the Shanxi province in China. “What do you think happens to the children who don’t get adopted?” Cathy asked. Tina pondered this for a moment. “Foster care maybe, if they are lucky,” Tina replied. In fact, when an orphaned child ages out of the adoption process in China, the state no longer provides for them. “The more I thought about this, the more it bugged me,” Tina says. She needed to do something for “the children who got stuck.”

With sponsor support, Fu Yuan, whose parents died when she was young, began her college education in September 2012.

Later that year, Tina received a letter from a girl in foster care who she had sponsored for many years. In the letter, the girl explained that she wished to attend college to become an art teacher but couldn’t afford the room and board fees. “My mother was an art teacher,” Tina explains. “How perfect, I thought. This is how I can help.” While in Beijing that summer, Tina met with Chinese officials to discuss the possibility of supporting her sponsored child through college. “They politely said no,” Tina says. “There was just no precedent for that kind of project in China at the time.” But Tina persisted, writing letters to the Chinese government, advocating for her sponsored child and for other impoverished and orphaned children. A year later, her efforts paid off when she received a call from Holt-China, asking if she was still interested. And with the help of Holt staff, the Chinese government and Tina, Holt’s continuing education program in China was born.

After word got out about this special program, “a groundswell of support emerged,” Rose McBride, director of program and foundation relations, says. Others wanted to get involved. Christabel Lee, a resident of Hong Kong and Holt sponsor, started supporting three students, including Li Ai You.  Sally Weiner, a Holt adoptive mom, also learned about the program.  “I wanted to pay it forward somehow,” she says.  “My parents always supported my education, but not every parent can do that, so I wanted to give back.”  For the last three years, Sally has helped 13 students in China go to college.  Several of those students want to be teachers.  One student in particular stood out to Sally — an aspiring veterinarian. “Pets aren’t valued as much in China,” Sally says. “The profession is highly ridiculed.”  But instead of discouraging her sponsored student’s dream, Sally nurtured it.  “I was thrilled for him,” Sally says. “I sent him pictures of my dog, and really wanted to support him. He has such a big heart.”

In June, nine students graduated with help from Holt’s continuing education program. Fifteen students have graduated from the program since its inception. Donor funds help to pay for books, room and board fees, tuition and other supplies. The money provided, however, is not what matters to students like Li Ai You, says Jian Chen, Holt’s vice president of China programs, says. “What’s important to these students is that someone far away really cares that they succeed,” Jian says. “Things around them are always so negative, but someone reaches out and gives them hope.”

Though human medicine is more respected in China, Yang Ma Luan continued to pursue his dream of becoming a veterinarian with encouragement from his sponsor.

Today, Li Ai You is a physics teacher thanks to the Holt sponsor who supported him through his youth, and Christabel Lee, who helped him through college. “Li Ai You is a cheerful and optimistic young man,” Christabel says. “He has always maintained a sense of optimism even through challenging personal times. I am pleased with his decision to enter the teaching profession.”

In the coming years, many children in Holt’s care — students with dreams just like Li Ai You — will need financial support to attend college. With donor support, 17 students will continue working towards their degrees this coming fall. And Holt-China staff is currently reviewing applications, looking for 10 more aspiring college students in Holt’s family strengthening and foster care programs who will need financial assistance for the upcoming school year.

Not much was expected of Li Ai You once he graduated from high school. Chinese society, according to Li Ai You, commanded that he return to his hometown and become a fisherman. “But I kept chasing after my dream, and it came true. I still feel like it’s a miracle,” he says. “Two ‘aunties’ from Holt took care of me. Through many kind-hearted people, my destiny was changed. I feel so lucky.”

Ashli Keyser  | Staff Writer

If you are interested in learning more about Holt’s continuing education program in China, and helping a student achieve his or her dream, please contact Rose McBride at rosem@holtinternational.org or at 541-687-2202, ext 164.

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