Nov 2003----Dec 2003-Jan 2004----Feb 2004----Mar 2004----Apr 2004----May 2004----Jun 2004----Jul 2004----Aug 2004----Sep 2004

People (October 2004)

Shibi Chadwick-Dias is our Person of the Month for October 2004. Her original name is Chen Shibi, a beautiful Chinese name. "Chen" goes after the City of Chenzhou; "Shi" is poem and "Bi" means green jade in Chinese. Like her beautiful name, she is a good-looking girl.

Shibi's story begins with her twelve years life spent in China. She was born in January 1992. No one knows her exact birth date for her being abandoned in February when she was not even one-month old. She was found by a local resident at the corner of a small village, near the City of Chenzhou, Hunan Province. She has lived in different places since then. First the government made an arrangement that Shibi was raised by Long Songhua, an old woman who lived in that area. Long gave her the name, Shibi, with love and kindness. However, the happy ending has not arrived yet. While raising her, Long discovered that little Shibi had serious eye disease by natural. With only light vision, she had no eyesight, which meant she was blind. What would the life be as a blind girl? Even though she had undergone several treatments, it seems that no medication has efficiency on improving her eyesight.

Her story would have been very sad if she led a miserable life without hope and love inside. She has proved herself that she is tough and intelligent. Being taken care of by Long, Shibi eventually grew up and learned doing simple housework. In November 2000, she was sent to an orphanage within the county when she was almost 9-year old; she then transferred to the Chenzhou Orphanage in January 2002. She attended training and learning programs at the Little Sister School under the Half the Sky Foundation. She showed her talents and confidents both in school and orphanage. According to the orphanage, not only she is a smart and independent girl, but also she is a caring person. She always helped teachers and staffs take care of little kids and babies. She also encouraged other disabled kids to be independent.

At the other side of the world, Patricia Chadwick and Steve Dias, a very nice American couple, made the decision to adopt their 2nd child from the same orphanage as their first daughter, Rosa. The adoption criteria kept the same as for Rosa - they wanted a girl with disability. After over one-year's process, they were happy to know that Shibi would become their daughter.

Shibi, Eureka, Ca, August 2004, talking with her friends on the phone

In August 2004, the day has arrived. It's a good, but also sad moment for Shibi because she finally would have a permanent home in America, but would leave her friends at the orphanage. Pat, her new mom, had arranged a warm home for Shibi. Rosa, being a six-year old girl, traveled with Pat and helped bring Shibi home. Now, Shibi has started her new life in Eureka, California. She has a long way to go to adapt to the new environment, but no one has doubt on her for her being a tough girl and having nice parents and sister aside.

If you are interested in knowing Rosa and her family more, please go to the People in March 2004 under our website. Rosa was the Person of the Month. Again, this article is to contribute to the disability society. Pat and Steve maintain a web site for Disability Social History Project.

We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.