Wish You Happy Forever: What China's Orphans Taught Me About Moving Mountains

by Jenny Bowen

Overview

Wish You Happy Forever chronicles Half the Sky founder Jenny Bowen's personal and professional journey to transform Chinese orphanages—and the lives of the neglected girls who live in them—from a state of quiet despair to one of vibrant promise.

After reading an article about the thousands of baby girls languishing in Chinese orphanages, Bowen and her husband adopted a little girl from China and brought her home to Los Angeles, not out of a need to build a family but rather a commitment to save one child. A year later, as she watched her new daughter play in the grass with her friends, thriving in an environment where she knew she was loved, Bowen was overcome with a desire to help the children that she could not bring home. That very day she created Half the Sky Foundation, an organization conceived to bring love into the life of every orphan in China and one that has actually managed to fulfill its promise.

In Wish You Happy Forever, a fish out of water tale like no other, Bowen relates her struggle to bring the concept of "child nurture and responsive care" to bemused Chinese bureaucrats and how she's actually succeeding. Five years after Half the Sky's first orphanage program opened, government officials began to mention child welfare and nurturing care in public speeches. And, in 2011, at China's Great Hall of the People, Half the Sky and its government partners celebrated the launch of The Rainbow Program, a groundbreaking initiative to change the face of orphan care by training every child welfare worker in the country. Thanks to Bowen's relentless perseverance through heartbreak and a dose of humor, Half the Sky's goal to bring love the lives of forgotten children comes ever closer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062192004
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/11/2014
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Jenny Bowen, a former screenwriter and filmmaker, is the founder and CEO of Half the Sky, an organization dedicated to reimagining care for orphaned Chinese children. Bowen received the American Chamber of Commerce's Women of Influence Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2007 and the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2008.

Table of Contents

Author's Note ix

Prologue 1

Part 1 Laowai (Foreigner) 15

1 Clumsy Birds Have Need of Early Flight 17

2 Do Not Hope to Reach the Destination Without Leaving the Shore 33

3 Do Not Upset Heaven and Earth 51

4 To Move a Mountain, Begin with Small Stones 65

5 Pick the Roses, Live with the Thorns 77

6 A Good Beginning Is Half the Journey 87

7 Enough Shovels of Earth, a Mountain; Enough Pails of Water, a River 101

8 Unless There Is Opposing Wind, a Kite Cannot Rise 115

9 A Burnt Tongue Becomes Shy of Soup 129

10 Push One Pumpkin Under Water, Another Pops Up 141

11 One Who Is Drowning Will Not Be Troubled by a Little Rain 157

12 Wait for Roast Duck to Fly into Mouth, Wait a Long Time 169

Part 2 Guoji Youren (Foreign Friend) 177

13 Why Scratch an Itch from Outside the Boot? 179

14 A. Sparrow Sings, Not Because It Has an Answer, but Because It Has a Song 197

15 Eat the Wind, Swallow Bitterness 215

16 One Who Rides a Tiger Cannot Dismount 233

17 Our Lucky Star Is Shining 251

18 Every Day Cannot Be a Feast of Lanterns 267

Part 3 Zijiren (One of Us) 281

19 If the Sky Falls on Me, Let It Be My Quilt 283

20 Count Not What Is Lost, but What Is Left 299

Epilogue 315

Acknowledgments 317

Credits 319

Editorial Reviews

12/23/2013
In this moving memoir, Brown, founder of Half the Sky Foundation, details her journey toward the establishment of nurturing conditions within China's bleak state run orphanages. After reading a 1996 newspaper article detailing the miserable conditions prevailing in Chinese orphanages, Bowen and her husband made a life-changing decision. "So we set out on our adoption journey not to build a family—we had raised two lovely children, the nest was empty—but to save one life. That was how we saw it then." Following the adoption of a Chinese baby girl, soon followed by a second adoption, Bowenwas spurred to especially help female infants and those with special needs. Bowen chronicles the political, cultural, social and administrative obstacles encountered throughout the process of establishing her foundation. The couple, with their two daughters in tow, eventually moves to Beijing, hoping to raise awareness regarding the foundation's work. Bowen's remarkable narrative illustrates how dedication, compassion and love can create enormous change against incredible odds. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

An inspiring story of triumph in the face of struggle, Bowen’s lyrical prose and her remarkable journey transforming Chinese orphanages amidst government bureaucracy, earthquakes, snowstorms, and more, is a testament to the power of perseverance.

Dr. Larry Brilliant

An astonishing and inspiring tribute to the power of human imagination harnessed to passion and purpose.

Jane Pauley

Jenny Bowen is a brilliant and amazing person. Her work and writing are great, profound and inspiring.

Anne Lamott

Both heartrending and victoriously uplifting, Wish You Happy Forever provides the backdrop on the lives of thousands of orphan girls and their foster grandmothers, teachers, volunteers, donors, and the ever-grateful adoptive parents. This is a must read for lessons on compassion, persistence, and true love.

Amy Tan

2014-01-05
A social entrepreneur and former filmmaker's account of how adopting two Chinese daughters inspired her to help China reform its child welfare system from within. Bowen and her husband were two empty nesters with respectable but unfulfilling careers in the Hollywood movie industry. That all changed in early 1996 when they saw a photo of a malnourished Chinese child in the New York Times and learned that China allowed thousands of orphans, most of them female, to die every year. After adopting a little girl and watching the sick, dispirited waif grow into a healthy, happy child, Bowen realized that she also wanted to help her daughter's "orphaned sisters." So in 1998, she created a nonprofit organization that advocated a child-centered approach to caring for abandoned or parentless children. She named it Half the Sky in honor of a Chinese saying that "[w]omen hold up half the sky." At the time, the Chinese government actively discouraged foreigners from setting up aid programs in China. Yet Bowen persevered, often going against a board of directors that disagreed with her decisions and tactics. She faced other major challenges as well, such as fallout from 9/11, the SARS epidemic, earthquakes and other natural disasters. These found embodiment in her second adopted daughter, a wary, physically traumatized child who came to trust her only very gradually. But Half the Sky succeeded beyond her wildest dreams. Bowen was able to establish more than 50 sites around China dedicated to helping all abandoned children, including those with special needs. In 2008, government officials allowed Half the Sky to become just the third registered NGO in China. Two years later, Bowen's most ambitious vision—to help Chinese child welfare social workers create loving environments for orphans—also became a reality. Memorable and moving, Bowen's story is a gift straight from the heart. A great complement to Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's Half the Sky (2009).

Kirkus Reviews

Bowen’s remarkable narrative illustrates how dedication, compassion and love can create enormous change against incredible odds.” — Publishers Weekly

“Memorable and moving, Bowen’s story is a gift straight from the heart.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Both heartrending and victoriously uplifting, Wish You Happy Forever provides the backdrop on the lives of thousands of orphan girls and their foster grandmothers, teachers, volunteers, donors, and the ever-grateful adoptive parents. This is a must read for lessons on compassion, persistence, and true love.” — Amy Tan, bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club

“Jenny Bowen is a brilliant and amazing person. Her work and writing are great, profound and inspiring.” — Anne Lamott

“An astonishing and inspiring tribute to the power of human imagination harnessed to passion and purpose.” — Jane Pauley

“The hopeful smiles of a million waiting children shine from the pages of Jenny Bowen’s writing. This compelling story is a page turning must-read of breaking down barriers as one woman embarks on the monumental quest of building families, forever.” — Nia Vardalos, author of Instant Mom

“An inspiring story of triumph in the face of struggle, Bowen’s lyrical prose and her remarkable journey transforming Chinese orphanages amidst government bureaucracy, earthquakes, snowstorms, and more, is a testament to the power of perseverance.” — Dr. Larry Brilliant

From the Publisher

The hopeful smiles of a million waiting children shine from the pages of Jenny Bowen’s writing. This compelling story is a page turning must-read of breaking down barriers as one woman embarks on the monumental quest of building families, forever.

Nia Vardalos

In a heartfelt performance by the author, listeners hear how Jenny Bowen and her husband were inspired to adopt their daughters from China after having seen an article about the terrible conditions in Chinese orphanages in the 1990s. Encountering the harsh circumstances firsthand spurred them to action, and they started the Half the Sky Foundation to provide a more nurturing atmosphere for the children who had been languishing in these institutions. Bowen’s narration of her story lacks polish, but the listener can sense her deep dedication to her cause and her compassion for the plight of these children. Her voice is tinged with emotion as she chokes up while recounting some of her experiences. It’s clear she has a big heart and wouldn't let anything get in the way of her goals. S.E.G. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

SEPTEMBER 2014 - AudioFile