The SOCIAL VALUE of living with our "CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD"
Christina Chua is the co-founder of a Hong Kong based charity, CEO Foundation, that places physically or mentally handicapped children in foster homes in Henan Province. The charity raises money, mostly in Hong Kong, to provide the "Families Anew" with a monthly living stipend so the fostered children can be supported by caring, loving families which have been vetted and selected by the mostly Christian employees and volunteers of CEO Foundation.
i3 interviewer: Margaret Chen
CEO Foundation: Christina Chua
Date: May 2009
Christina, thank you for taking time out from your busy schedule - I know you're preparing a trip to visit the children, families and orphanages in LuoYang township, Henan Province for early June - so we are very privileged to have this interview with you. As I noted when we were introduced, knowing that the charity is a Christian based charity, and after having watched the video of your charitable work in China with children of all ages, with mental and physical disabilities, it dawned on me that THIS is the sort of self-less and compassionate altruism that is the true expression of what pure, unadulturated "Christian love" is really all about. It is what you call "Love in Action" in your brochures.
In China, even in Hong Kong and many countries around the world, people who are handicapped are hidden away and marginalized. And I've heard it said that in many parts of Asia, children are a sort of social insurance policy, and that parents raise children often with the expectation that the children will "repay the debt" by taking care of them in their dotage. So, when a family takes in or adopts a handicapped child, it is a pure and selfless act of love and caring for a life that will ALWAYS be dependent, the handicapped adult will NOT be able to repay the debt of caring they received as children.
i3: Christina, can you please tell our readers how and why you and your brother decided to set up CEO Foundation? And, what was your mission?
Christina: The Foundation was part of the Vision/Call that both my brother and I received 17 years ago when we were still residing in North America. According to the Vision, it’s crystal clear for us that God’s heart for every child is to grow up in the love and care with a mother and a father. Studies have also shown us that the longer a child is left without parental nurturing care the deeper the wounds of the resulting mental and emotional damages (and we’re talking about days, not months or years). Although these damages are reversible, it will take at the least twice or three times, if not longer, to heal and reverse them over a lifetime. Therefore, the primary focus of CEO is to reach out to orphans, at the moment, particularly handicapped orphans, in as early age as we possible can through a local foster care program (the fastest way known to give a handicapped orphan a stable family) called The Family Anew in that parental love and care is to then reintroduce back into their young lives.
i3: Can you tell us something about your faith? Was Christianity something you selected yourself, or, was it how you were raised?
Christina: Simply put, Jesus is the Love of my life. Christianity was both how I was raised and also it was something I selected myself. I was born and raised in a Christian family, grew up in church and Sunday school, the whole bit. I backslid, however; after I graduated from College for about 5 years. I totally “sold out Jesus to-the-bone” after that period of time I fell flat-on-my-face, so to speak, in one of life's most painful experiences for me. That was in 1989 and I’d never regretted my return to my trust in Christ and my Christian faith ever since.
i3: In your opinion, is there a difference between Christians who are brought up in the Christian faith versus ones who convert or are introduced to Christ later in life? Is there a difference in having questioned and examined one's motivations for becoming a Christian?
Christina: The first half, whether the person was raised in Christian faith from youth or was led to Christ later in his or her life, I believe the difference depends on whether he or she would at some point make an active, independent decision to follow Christ and consider Him as Lord and Savior, or would simply go through the motion of a tradition, or the rituals of Christian faith.
i3: Now for a difficult question: is it true that Christians get bonus points to get into heaven, for every person they turn into a Christian?
Christina: Personally I don’t believe so. It’s for the simple reason that life in Christ matters in quality not quantity. Besides, to lead or to convert someone into a Christianity in the truest sense isn’t even from our own work or efforts but the work of the Holy Spirit ALONE, we’re simply counted blessed to be there at the moment when someone makes the choice to receive Jesus as his or her Lord and Saviour. In God’s reality/perspective (not how much we know or see in nature), we would never know how much work and preparations, "seeds", have already been sewn in that person’s life before it gets to the actual moment of conversion.
i3: What is the meaning and significance of the name of your organization, CEO Foundation? It sounds so corporate, is it your objective to use this foundation to address 'other' problems beside the needs of 'orphaned children with disabilities'? if so, what might the list of other problems include?
Christina: Actually no objective other than what the mission already spelt out. The name was a result of our prayer. It does sound corporate, and it's because we believe simply that HE is our highest "Commander in Chief", or, the ultimate "Chief Executive Officer" of this charitable foundation!
i3: Can you please describe the current operations of CEO Foundation, and the objectives, how a reader might be able to contribute to the work of the foundation?
Christina: At the moment, all efforts and time are contributed to The Family Anew program in China. As mentioned earlier, the objectives are to help the abandoned handicapped orphans to regain parental love and care as we understand that being our heavenly Father’s heart for all children, i.e., grow up in the TLC of parents in a family setting (orphanages serve merely to provide shelter and food, surely they’ve saved many orphans’ lives from being abandoned, but it’s far from what our Lord intends for children). We encourage those who know about our mission to do one of three things if they’re open to consider: 1) come along and experience our work by joining one of our Love-in-action trips to Luoyang (once every 2-3 months); 2) sponsor a child or a teenager in one of the two programs we have; 3) contribute one’s time and be a volunteer in one’s own profession or expertise. (We encourage people with 'skills' to ask us what we need!).
i3: Where do you hope the organization will be in ten year's time?
Christina: Please understand this is not an “official plan” but for the purpose of answering your question personally.
1. Will have expanded our prototype programs (foster care & teen education) into 3 to 5 different Provinces in China or into another country.
2. Will have established a steady stream of income for the foundation through self-sustaining programs or from independent business operations/corporations.
3. Has become a known platform for the Body of Christ to practice Love-in-action
i3: IS this your career? This charity. If not, what is your 'day job'?
Christina: I probably won’t call it a “career” simply because the Vision/Call has become a part of my life. That means no matter what I do or where I go, the work at CEO will always be part of my conversation. I am truly “full-time” in this Vision including the work of the foundation.
i3: What has been the most rewarding and also the most challenging thing for you with relation to the charitable setup and operations?
Christina: Most rewarding: Witnessing the results of applying faith…and even if it’s only one child’s life has been made different as a result of demonstrating Christ’s love.
Most challenging: Everyday is a Love-walk and a step of faith, may it be in the areas of setting strategy, direction or obtaining resources in various levels and types of operations; or subjecting the leadership (including my personal life) to human criticisms and opinions.
i3: In light of your life experiences, can you offer our readers (aged 13 to 21) some 'words of wisdom' or thoughts about life that you've learned in your journey through life thus far?
Christina: It may sound very simple but far from it I must say…
“Childlike” faith in Jesus and… learn to be God’s “good little girl” (toughest but the most enlightening lesson I've learnt throughout the last 17 years; it means being obedient to His Word regardless of how you might feel, what you might think, and if you might understand)
Besides “Salvation through the Cross”, anything worthwhile and matters in terms of eternity, there’s no escape from “suffering”, a price to pay to gain the ultimate compliment from Jesus saying,”…Well done, My good and faithful ‘daughter’ (I desire more to be His daughter than His servant)” one day…and that includes responding “yes” to a “Call/Vision”. The good news is… Jesus is right where we are willing and eager to help as we “pay” that price.
i3: Christina, CEO Foundation has organized a 'mission trip' to LuoYang at the end of May. What is the purpose of this trip - is it to visit the families where the children are being cared for, or the orphanages - and what should someone do if (s)he wanted to join this trip, or the next one, or if (s)he to 'foster' a child through CEO Foundation? How much does it cost to foster a child, for example?
Christina:As part of the Family Anew program, we, together with sponsors and anyone who is interested in understanding and learning about our program first-hand visit our children and families approximately once every two to three months; we call these “Love-in-action” trips. We strongly recommend people to come along with us even before they begin their support at CEO in any level including children/teen sponsorship. In that way, there’s no convincing from our part but a personal experience and let the Lord (for Christian) or their hearts (not-yet Christian) show them where and how they shall involve with us in this ministry. Any interested participant can simply call and let us know about their availability and we’ll email them a registration form or to register them via phone if they come too close to our trip like about now for the May 29th trip. Seats are usually limited to about 10-15 for each trip for it is our intent to keep it small enough for each person to have his/her personable experience with us directly. Besides field visits to a few of our foster families right during each trip, we also visit the LCWI to gain perspective of the difference between orphans in the institution verses those in families. I’ve enclosed the info and the registration form for our upcoming trip for your reference. BTW, there are still seats for this trip and we welcome those who can join us.
To sponsor a child/teen in either program is HK$400 per month.
-----------------------
Christina, thank you so much for giving us this opportunity to learn about the work of CEO Foundation, and for taking time from your schedule to do this interview...
|
Delicious
Digg
reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon
