Charity show raises money for burned children

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-30 10:11

Four burned children attend a charity show at the Chinese Puppet Theater yesterday.

An audience of 500 people attended a variety performance to raise money for child burn victims yesterday.

The event was held at the Chinese Puppet Theater and was organized by Angelmon, a charity foundation affiliated to the Chinese Red Cross Foundation (CRCF). It raised approximately 430,000 yuan through the efforts of choirs and dance troupes.

Shi Xingxing, a three-year-old boy whose feet and legs were wrapped in bandages, stood on the stage to thank the audience for donating money for his skin graft surgery.

Shi from Xianning city in Hubei province fell into a burning garbage pit on June 29 this year. Two pedestrians dragged him out of the pit but his legs and feet had been severely burnt. He has a mentally disabled father and a deaf mother.

Because of poverty, his family and neighbors could only gather a few thousand yuan for surgery at his village hospital. However, workers from the hospital contacted a nearby branch of Angelmom for help.

Shi was immediately sent to No. 304 hospital, a burns specialist hospital.

Ye Li, Chairman of the Angelmom Foundation, told METRO that Shi's skin graft surgery was very successful and 80 percent of the grafted skin had responded. The cost of treatment was more than 40,000 yuan, and was covered by the charity.

"He is a very strong boy. The operation was painful but I rarely saw him cry," she said.

Bevnawl Verbe, a French citizen in Beijing, attended the event with his Chinese wife's family.

"I think it is a very good thing for children who are in need," he said.

He told METRO that he had already spent more than a thousand yuan on tickets but planned to donate more.

Ye said the Angelmom Foundation receives 400 to 500 applications for treatment every year, but only 200 to 300 cases can be handled.

He also said they are trying to raise a minimum of 200,000 yuan for seven burnt children who urgently require treatment. The average treatment costs are 20,000 to 30,000 yuan for each child.

Research released by CRCF recently shows that children account for 50 to 60 percent of the total burnt population in China, estimated to be about 10 million. Children below the age of three are most vulnerable.

Most burned patients are the children of migrant workers or those in rural areas who suffer from financial difficulties. 30 percent of patients cannot receive timely treatment, the research said.