Ailing orphans find haven in Shanghai (2)

Talking about the idea of establishing the NGO, Du said many people would define charity as making donations to welfare associations or contributing their spare time as volunteers. "But that wasn't enough for me, or any of us in the Lupin Home," she said.

"I happened to know that many orphanages, especially in the poor regions, didn't have access to advanced medical care and couldn't arrange the children's operations in time. The thing is, for these babies (with certain congenital ailments), the treatment has the best results if they have their surgeries by the time they're 3 months old," Du said.

"They'll become perfectly normal kids, instead of having handicaps for the rest of their lives."

The two-story Lupin Foster Home has three big colorful bedrooms for the children, said Li Yuqing, 39, the only "father" among the six founders. "I decorated the place," Li, who runs an interior decoration business, said proudly.

"The first floor is for the relatively bigger and stronger babies, and here is the children's play area," said Li, pointing to a space where a few babies attempted to crawl across the white playpen. "The second floor is for smaller babies and those recovering from operations - they need better rest."

Li said that the six organizers met at a child-care website, and because they all have small children at home, they were familiar with the kind of anxiety that arises when a child is sick.

"We rented the apartment here (in Xinzhuang) because it's next to my and Du's offices, so we could sneak out during lunch break every day," said Li. He added that all of the organizers have full-time jobs, in addition to their work at Lupin.