Archive for June, 2009

The Story of An Adoptive Mother with Spina Bifida Children

June 08th, 2009 | Category: Foundation Support, Volunteers
Sinthea Hunt is an amateur photographer from Albany, Oregon.  She is donating all profits of future sales from pictures taken during her adoption trip to China.
Sinthea’s primary occupation is in nursing, working for almost 17 years in a wide variety of settings such as home health, oncology, pediatrics, postpartum, and currently in hospice.  She has also finished formal training in massage therapy and will soon be licensed in Oregon.  Her intentions are to use her skills with the Baobei Foundation medical missions in Shanghai this fall.
Sinthea is married to John, a research scientist for the USDA-ARS and assistant professor at Oregon State University.  She has 4 children: Arika, 15; Aysha, 13; Cameron, 6; and Kimberli, 3.  Kimmi was adopted in August 2007 from Datong SWI in Shanxi Province, China.
Two of her daughters, Aysha and Kimmi, have spinal bifida.  Sinthea’s prenatal tests did not detect her daughter Aysha’s birth defect, who went undiagnosed with her spinal bifida for the first six months of her life.  Sinthea pressed to have diagnostic tests to reveal the fatty tumor and hemangioma on Aysha’s back were not cosmetic, rather indicative of a more serious diagnosis.  Lipomyelomeningoceal and tethered cord were discovered and finally repaired when her daughter was 7 months old.  Aysha now lives a full life, without any signs of her spinal bifida.
Kimmi’s profile was posted through her adoption agency’s special needs list having “spinal bifida and spinal fistula” that leaked minute amounts of “clear, yellow, oily fluid”.  Though Sinthea and her husband were pursuing a non-special needs, as young as possible child, they felt moved to inquire further about Kimmi and subsequently continued with her adoption.  Their adoption process was expedited out of medical necessity.  Kimmi’s had an MRI the day after she arrived home from China and surgery was performed 14 days later to correct a myelomeningocele, tethered cord and draining lumbar dermal sinus tract.
Miraculously Kimmi fared very well pre- and post-operatively.  According to the orphanage staff, Kimmi never showed symptoms of meningitis her 17 months in China.  Currently she shows no neurological deficits and is growing and flourishing with her new family.
Sinthea’s experience with her two daughters has led her to help support the Baobei Foundation financially and personally.  She hopes that more families will feel comfortable to adopt a child with spina bifida because of the early intervention the children receive from Baobei’s mission work
Limited edition prints of any size are available.  Please email for more information.
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Clearing Closets Can Be Fun!

June 03rd, 2009 | Category: Foundation Support, Volunteers

Ever wondered how to clear out your families closets, update your wardrobe and have fun doing it?

That is exactly what a group of friends here in Shanghai recently asked themselves. Girlfriends; Malay Wu, Sophia Choi & Jenevieve Snyder decided to have some fun and raise money for Baobei Foundation by hosting a fundraising lunch and clothes swap with a number of their friends.

Malay Wu had heard about Baobei Foundation after attending the fundraising luncheon at M1NT with a friend back in March of this year. At that event Malay decided she would go straight home and donate the baby formula her son no longer needed, to the Baobeis who were currently in the hospital. This was just the start and she knew she wanted to do more. With a young son in the home, her free-time was short, but she talked with her girlfriends about ways they could help. Between them the idea of the charity fundraiser began to take shape.

Each friend donated 250rmb to take part in the event and at the end everyone got to take home some great items to update their wardrobes. I was lucky enough to be invited to give a short speech on the work of Baobei Foundation and I have to tell you I never knew clearing closets could be such fun. At the end of the lunch all remaining items were donated to charity. The ladies kindly gave any items useful for children under 4’s to Baobei Foundation and everything else went to River of Hearts.

The event was a lot of fun and there were plenty of great food, wine and raffle prizes to be had, but best of all there was a giving spirit and a common goal to make a difference.

The day after the event, Sophia Choi personally delivered the remaining baby clothing and shoes to my home, along with an amazing 5,700rmb that had been raised. I personally want to thank Malay, Sophia and Jenevieve for all their hard work in hosting this event, but I also want to thank them and all the ladies that attended on behalf of the babies of Baobei Foundation. The children may not ever know who you are, but they will always know you cared.

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