From the moment she came into the world two weeks ago the odds were stacked against baby Yao Ye.
The Chinese girl was born on May 4th with a cleft palate and harelip, making it very difficult for her to feed in the conventional way. Abandoned, she ended up in No 1 Orphanage in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province.
In China it is common for babies with a deformity to be put into care by parents unable to afford the necessary medical treatment.
It is not clear how Yao Ye would have coped. The dedicated staff in Changsha orphanage do their best. But with nurses responsible for feeding several babies each a day, it is not easy to give the time required to the vulnerable ones.
Thanks to International Orphan Aid Ireland, Yao Ye was yesterday en route to Dublin for vital medical treatment. Yao Ye and three other babies are the first children from Changsha to be brought to Ireland for medical treatment under Orphan Aid's new Ashling Project which was officially launched in China this week. The treatment is paid for through Orphan Aid fundraising.
The Ashling Project is also sponsoring the development of a floor of Changsha orphanage into a unit for disabled children. The work will be finished in July.
A nannies' scheme is to be set up to train and recruit local women to work in the orphanage which has hundreds of children.
The £25,000 cost of the disabled unit was raised through fundraising which is continuing. The organisation is holding a golf classic in St Margaret's Golf Club, Co Dublin, on May 30th.
Orphan Aid volunteers, led by chairwoman Mrs Sally Keaveney, travelled to Changsha a week ago to get the Ashling project officially under way and to organise the children's trip to Ireland. The group flew to Ireland with the babies yesterday.
The volunteers had collected Yao Ye from the orphanage on Thursday morning from where they travelled to Beijing. Because of her deformity, the baby was having difficulty feeding from a bottle.
But at midnight on Thursday, frustrated and hungry in a hotel bedroom in Beijing, she suddenly got the knack. With the assistance of Orphan Aid director Ms Cathy Monahan, Yao Ye developed her own unique system of taking in the milk, and fed happily. Nine-month-old Tan Quan, who also has a cleft palate, and four-month-old Yao Anyyong, who has a club foot, slept peaceful in their buggies. Eight-month-old Tan Jiangui, who has a benign vascular tumour on her face, was quietly taking in her new surroundings.
The four babies will be in foster care in Dublin while they receive treatment.
The five-person team in China this week also included volunteer Mr Sean O'Neil, consultant paediatrician Dr Brian Denham, and Dublin-based GP Dr Carmel Chang Mullen, a native of Changsha.
According to Mrs Keaveney, the staff in Changsha orphanage work hard and are doing their best under difficult circumstances.
She also praised local officials for their enormous help and cooperation in getting the Ashling project up and running and in sorting out the necessary paperwork to get the babies to Ireland. According to Dr Denham, the orphanage has many disabled children and it is hoped the new unit will become a centre for excellence for such children.
International Orpan Aid Ireland was established in the mid1990s and helped to organise the first adoption agreement between Ireland and China. In the last five years 110 Chinese babies have been adopted by Irish couples.
The organisation can be contacted at 01-2781234 or info@internationalorphanaid.ie