Page 24 - Sphere No.24 (Mar 2009)

fied their hardships to give
Shengyong an education.
One day, a doctor visited the
village and brought the little
boy in for surgery. He hasn’t stopped smiling since.
Founded by the PRC’s Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Hong
Kong-based Li Ka Shing Foundation, Project NewLife is a unique
private/public partnership which is a new model for standardis-
ing surgical procedures, professional project management that
meets international standards and stringent quality control.
The project has already changed the lives of over 5,000 chil-
dren since its inception in April 2008. Project New Life has links
with 20 top university-supported hospitals across the country
selected specifically for their leading expertise in oral surgery
and cleft lip and palate treatment. The project plans to expand
the network of hospitals to cover all provinces.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Li Ka Shing Foundation
have formed a task force to supervise the project office that is
responsible for implementing sponsorship plans, promotional
work and assisting eligible poor patients indentified by Civil
Affairs Departments throughout the country in a transparent
and accountable way. The Beijing-based project office also eval-
uates the results of the project’s work and maintains an online
patient database and financial system.
The project is an offshoot of the Li Ka Shing Foundation’s
work to provide care to the poor and is the only cleft lip charity
22 Sphere
A new life: Zhang Shengyong (centre), abandoned as a baby, smiles for the
camera with his friends in his village in Henan province. Before his surgery
(inset), Shengyong faced a bleak future. Opposite page: Doctors at Second
Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College operate on a child.
Thank you, Project New Life
Project New Life receives many letters from grateful
parents. Here, we publish one of the most moving.
In March 2007, I gave birth to a daughter. I named her
Zhang Mingyue. The first time I laid eyes on my darling
daughter and saw her severe cleft lip and palate, my mind
went suddenly blank; my tears overflowed. I didn’t know
whether it was that my daughter was unfortunate or I was
cursed with a bitter life. I had given birth to a still-born
baby during my first pregnancy, and now this. At the time,
I really thought I no longer wanted to live.
We took my daughter to the hospital and the doctors
said she could be completely cured for over RMB200,000.
This is an astronomical sum for our family! Just as we were
approaching the depths of despair, we heard about Project
New Life.With renewed hope,we thought we’d give it a try
and took our daughter toThe Second Affiliated Hospital of
Shantou University’s centre for cleft lip and palate patients.
To poor families like us, only our hot tears can express the
gratitude we have for the excellent and caring work of the
doctors and nurses and Mr Li Ka-shing. We must raise my
daughter and educate her to repay our country and our
society in order to express our gratitude.
Zhang Huilian and Cai Juhua, parents
LishuVillage, Guangdong
21 January 2009
photos: Liu Chang Chun - Project New Life