Jenny Bowen

Jenny Bowen adopted a child from a Chinese orphanage. Her new daughter was almost 2 years old but couldn't walk or speak, and was emotionally unresponsive. The little girl was an example of a common problem in China's welfare institutions and orphanages. There are simply too many abandoned children for each of them to receive the proper attention and care they need to develop. To combat this overwhelming problem, Bowen created the Half the Sky Foundation in 1998 to provide family-like nurturing care for the thousands of deserted children in China. In 2007, the Chinese government invited Half the Sky Foundation to expand and create similar models in over 300 institutions. Half the Sky provides stimulation and nurturing for babies, interactive preschools, and individually tailored learning opportunities for older children. The foundation also seeks foster homes for the children who have special medical needs that might prevent them from being adopted. Bowen received the Skoll Foundation Social Entrepreneur award in 2008 and remains given to the goal that every one of China's orphans have a caring adult in their lives. With the love and attention of her new family, Bowen's adoptive daughter blossomed. And through the Half the Sky Foundation, Jenny Bowden has found a way to prevent many of China's orphans from succumbing to their original legacy of having lost the love of their birth families, and providing them, instead, with the nurturing attention and loving touch that every life deserves, and that we all need to survive.