Emory Club Member Revisits China

May 21, 2010

Karina Legradi is the Co-President of Emory China Care Club in Atlanta, Georgia. She is currently a junior majoring in Chinese and International Studies, but her support and involvement with China Care started back when she was in high school. In 2005, Karina volunteered with China Care during her summer vacation and just six months ago she revisited China to see the children who touched her heart.

Five years ago when I first volunteered with China Care I fell in love with the orphaned children in a small village in Shanxi Province. The one little boy I spent the most time with was named Li. He was 5-years-old and was born with a mild form of cerebral palsy. I loved playing with him and we became fast friends. Upon my arrival home here in the US, I contacted China Care and sponsored Li for the next two years while he was being cared for by his loving foster family. Li lives with two other foster siblings who also have disorders that preclude them from being adopted.

Last year I returned to China for five months for a study abroad program. I knew that I wanted to revisit Li and was so excited to see how much he’s grown. His foster parents shared that he didn’t fall asleep the night before because of his excitement. I was so relieved and ecstatic that Li still remembered me! When I arrived I noticed that Li was dressed up in his finest clothes and did his hair nicely just for me. I visited Li and his family twice and bought them presents.

By far, the highlight of my months in China was being with the children again; despite trekking 20 kilometers uphill on the un-renovated part of the Great Wall of China, riding camels and sleeping in a yurt in Inner Mongolia, or having the Forbidden City to myself after a snowstorm. Having such a profound impact on these children’s lives is incomparable to anything else that I have done and I am forever grateful to China Care and the work they do to help these children.

View Karina's YouTube video [1] about her passion for helping orphaned children in China.