There are 8 girls with special needs living in the Sen Yu Jia Yuan group home. All of them are under the care of Changsha Rainbow Disability Service Centre. One of the girls’ name is Wang Hua. People like to call her Hua Hua, and she is everyone’s favorite “Sister Hua Hua”. In this family, she is the oldest among the girls. Because of her physical disability, Hua Hua performs all of her daily activities on an electric wheelchair. She is an incredibly strong and intelligent young lady. Even though her hands are not very flexible, with her perseverance, she had trained herself to eat and to use computer on her own since childhood. In her relationships with others, Hua Hua is known to be a competent helper to her caregivers, and she always lives her life with a grateful heart toward people.

Wang Hua (the middle person on the back)’s family group

Hua Hua works very hard. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays every week, she will take the work van to Rainbow’s Desert Flower Workshop to make handicrafts. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she works part-time in the Family Partners Program (FPP), meeting students and teaching craft classes. On the weekends, she stays at home and helps host international volunteers. Hua is also responsible for doing grocery shopping, managing her online business, writing the hand-in-hand reports of the younger sisters in her family, and so forth. In short, Hua Hua lives a very busy life filled with lots of fulfilling activities and good work.

At the end of last year, the novel coronavirus invaded the whole country of China. During the most critical period of epidemic prevention ICC started closed-off management in all of its Changsha homes, including Sen Yu Jia Yuan, as reducing the gathering of people and taking protective measures have proved to be the most effective ways to prevent infection. Therefore, Hua Hua’s family has not been allowed to go outside, and their daily lives are taken care of by their caregivers.

Being stuck at home for over two weeks, Zeng Feng who is a little younger than Hua Hua started to get restless and all she wanted was to take a walk outside. In response, Hua Hua told her no and patiently explained that going out would increase the likelihood of infection and put the whole family under risk. “Also, look at our Ayis (caregivers). Only one person can come to work each time and their work shifts last for several days. It’s really hard for them.” said Hua Hua, “We have the privilege to not have to worry about food and clothing, so please don’t make any trouble.”

At home, Hua Hua usually takes the initiative to lead her sisters to play games, listen to music and watch TV. Sometimes she makes sure that they de-clutter the closets, clean the rooms and sterilize their home environment. She also teaches them to practice some basic skills so they can perform their daily activities more independently and take care of themselves better.

Wang Hua gives her sisters a hug

For now, Hua Hua’s family has successfully gone through the first phase of the epidemic prevention period, and now they have transitioned to the next stage. In fact, every single day, Hua Hua closely follows up with the news on the coronavirus, and she will even give updates to the caregivers. Recently, the Changsha Special Education School opened up its online classes. In order to help her sister Zhen Zhen to stay on track with her schoolwork, Hua Hua gladly takes up the responsibility of playing videos for her and supervising her to finish her homework in various subjects. In everything she does, Hua Hua always tries her best to lift the burdens off the caregivers’ shoulders. During this crucial time, Hua Hua has become like half a staff member for the group home.

Wang Hua helps her sister Zhen

Thank you, Hua Hua, for giving your caregivers so much support and understanding. You set up a great example for the rest of the organization, and you have inspired and encouraged us all. We are truly amazed by you, Hua Hua. Good job!