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 | Sunday, April 16, 2000, updated at 10:46(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
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Northwest Initiates Friend of China Charity ProgramFive Chinese orphans with facial deformities have arrived in the United States to undergo surgery following a free trip provided by Northwest Airlines.The children, ages one to three, suffer craniofacial deformities and were brought to University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, Virginia where they undergo surgery beginning this week. Four of the children are from the orphanage in Luoyang, in central China, and one is from Beijing. One of them suffers a massive blood vessel tumor in her lip and jaw, which impedes her ability to eat. The complimentary trip of the orphans and their caretakers, arranged by Northwest Airlines, is part of "Friend of China" program initiated by Northwest to assist people with special needs in China in the areas of medicine and education. Under the program, Northwest will partner with well-established US and international charity organizations to utilize Northwest' s staff and resources in China. Northwest donated one million yuan (120,000 US dollars) in free air transportation to initiate the program. As part of the program, Northwest will send more Chinese children to the United States and American children to China to undergo medical treatment that they are unable to receive in their home countries. At Northwest's Shanghai-Detroit inauguration ceremony in Shanghai Pudong International Airport in April 8, John Walkins, Northwest vice president and general manager in China, and two Chinese orphans unveiled a special design on the aircraft. The design featured the Chinese characters "Friend of China" which were specially created by Mr. Qiao Yu, the famous Chinese author and Chairman of China Music and Literature Academy. The next group of children will likely fly to the Babies and Children's Hospital in New York City and the C.F. Mott Hospital at the University of Michigan. The children will undergo complex surgeries at these hospitals. The surgeons performing the operations are donating their medical care and hospitals are donating their staff and facilities- -all arranged by the Grace Children's Foundation. "We are grateful that Northwest Airlines will be our partner in this important endeavor." Nancy Robertson, executive director of The Grace Children's Foundation in New York. In 2000, Northwest will send at least 30 children to the United States for heart, eye, cleft palate and other types of urgent surgical procedures.
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