Children with ”Morning Tears”.

One kid dreams of having a home again, one dreams of helping others and one dreams of his dad getting out of jail.

No doubt, these kids’ dreams are about something very simple, when compared to those of the Shanghai mayor and the Danish Prime Minister.

At Dong Zhou Children Village
The kids’ parents are criminals but in China these kids are also looked at as criminals. They get no respect and acceptance from society and if they didn’t have the opportunity to stay with the Morning Tears, they would end up in the streets, homeless. Even in the children home they can not be in peace. The kids we visited were recently beaten by the people from the local village – both by children and adults. Now a wire fence surrounds the home.

Despite their tough background we were welcomed to Dong Zhou Children Village with smiles and arms in the air. Dong Zhou has approximately 500 inhabitants and is close to the huge city of Xian. What a welcome. 42 kids live there in the age between 3 years and 18 years, both girls and boys.

They need to learn how to live with the trauma caused by losing their parents. In most cases a parent has been killed by the other parent usually victims of their partners abuse. The state will sentence the parent to death or 21 years in prison for murder – if they can proof they acted in self defence.

Mostly the mother kills the father after years with abuse and often the kids have been abused as well. Morning Tears takes care of these kids that nobody else in China wants anything to do with. They make sure they get a place to stay, which means they can attend the local school. They give them hope for the future.

Further more they treat their traumas and do every thing they possibly can to get the kids back on their feet. Morning Tears fight for the right to let the kids visit their parent in prison. In that way they can stay in contact, because despite the tragedy the kids love their parent.

If a parent is being executed, Morning Tears arranges a visit to say goodbye. These kids have to deal with a whole lot from a very young age - issues that no one should ever have to experience.

It makes a lot of sense that the organisation, that helps these kids, is named Morning Tears.

Fanny Hot Dog Girl in Chinese
”Wo de mèng xiang shì zhòu yoú shi jie lai gu lì bié ren gèng hao shèng huó yòng dàn mài rè gou hot dog laí zhì chì chì shàn”.

I had my debut in Chinese. Helen Hot Dog Agent translated the text and the kids understood my humble attempt to speak their language. With both laughter and help throughout.

Translated to English:
My dream is to travel around the world and inspire to make a positive change for others and do it by handing out Danish hot dogs to support charity

Dreams
When I went to the kitchen, the kids surrounded the book of dreams and a couple of them drew in it at a time. In the primitive kitchen I made my self at home and found very different implements than I am used to. I sent a thought to Hottie, while I unpacked our suitcases and found sausages, bread etc. Hottie would have loved the kids. And the kids would have loved Hottie. No doubt!

The sausages went into a Chinese type of cooking pot and the microwave heated up the bread. I asked for a fork for the pickles and they gave me chop sticks. Oh well, new approaches are always good to try and this is China!

Popular hot dogs
When the sausages were ready to be served, the kids lined up in the kitchen pretty quick. I got help from some of the caregivers and together we served hot dogs `with all` to the kids. They also got Chocolate milk, busily slurping as they went into the eating room. We sat together and had a cosy time with Danish hot dogs and chit chat hot dog talk. In the middle of China. Together with kids, who really need help and where a little can make a big difference.

The biggest challenge right now is to pay the dept they have from buying food – RMB 77.000 (approx. 8.000 Euros). They spend RMB 9 per kid per day. (approx. 1,30 Euros) Usually the province pays the bill at the end of the year. This year the province had to send money to the earth quake province and therefore they don’t want to give money to Morning Tears. That money Morning Tears have to get from somewhere else.

A passionate soul
Koen Sevenants, Founder and General Director of Morning Tears, gets half of his salary from the Belgium state. The rest come from donations. The few donations Morning Tears receive are from businesses, individuals, the Belgium state and the province, where the
children home is. Some of their employees work for food, shelter and a low salary. The rest is volunteers.

Koen has chosen to take care of these kids, and in doing so exposed his passionate soul. He has been involved in this since 1999 and has known some of the kids just as long. When he is in Xian, he lives together with some of the most vulnerable kids in an apartment in the centre of the city. It is very clear that he has a warm and caring relationship with the kids of criminal parents.

Tour de children home
After a bite of Danish culture some of the girls took me by the hand and showed me around. Girls’ rooms, boys’ rooms, the shower, the library, the study room, TV room, which is an old TV and two stools in a stone cold room. Autumn was on its way and the air was chilly. I noticed the rooms had no doors and were missing some windows.
It will be very cold in the winter if nothing is done.

At the moment they cannot afford to make any repairs or improvements. Without windows and doors in the house, it will be very cold when the temperature drops to minus 15 degrees. Despite that, the winter cold is easier to handle than the summer heat according to the kids.

While we were walking around, the other kids were playing on the playground and with the little toys they have. Some played table tennis and some with a hula hoop. Despite everything the kids seem really appreciative for what they have got. For the kids in this situation, to have a place to live, sleep and eat is better than nothing.

The ugly duckling
At the end of the visit before Søren Hot Dog Agent, who was the photographer of the day, and I, Fanny Hot Dog Girl left, I asked one of the caregivers to read a story for the kids from the total collection of H.C. Andersen fairytales. I chose “The ugly duckling” to remind us that even though we are different, we all have the potential to become a beautiful swan.

The kids all know the fairytales of H.C. Andersen and love them. Together we listened to the Chinese version, while the kids drank Cocio’s chocolate milk

Before leaving the kids sang the English version of the ABC…and their very own song about being who they are and their situation. It was very touching to see their happy faces sing.

Wauv, I really think these kids are amazing. They smile; they play and made me feel so welcome, despite the tough reality they live in.

I told them that the direction that does not begin in the heart is a dead end and one of the girls wrote in the book of dreams: ”Thanks, I´m very happy. You gave me a good time. I want to become a country leader in the future. I want to help others like you. I hope that it will come true.” Another one wrote: “Love made us meet and be together”.

A huge difference
When we drove out through the gate, 42 smiling kids were waving. See you, some kids had said. You are welcome to come back…their words were crashing around in my mind. Do we? Are we able to? Are we able not to?

There is no doubt that the help, we are trying to give to Morning Tears and the kids that are going to live in the home in Henan Province, will make a huge difference to needy souls in a society that has turned its back on them.

No matter geography, age, childhood, social class, colour and religion there is one thing in common….. we all have dreams. One of the kids writes very touching and precise: “We all belong to one family.”

More Pictures

If you want to see more pictures from Shanghai just go to this link. http://www.kontutto.com/?id=21332

The hotdogstand is sponsored by following companies:
DSV
Hummel
Paaskebrød
Tulip
Kaffe Clothing
Grundfos
Centrum Turist
Alm. Brand
Rosenkilde Aqua
First Travel
Junckers
Cocio
Interlex
Vangsgaard
GN Resound
Teknologisk
DanishFashionInstitute
Konsulatet
Kontutto