ON THIS PAGE: First team to China

China is the largest country in the world with a population of 1.2 billion and is made up of approximately 490 different people groups. It is also a country of great extremes – 5% are extremely wealthy (mainly in the cities) and 95% extremely poor. During his visit in 2003, Clive witnessed a 6-year-old boy fast asleep on the pavement, a mother and her child begging and going through the bins to try and find any scraps of food, along with teenagers living on the streets.

Most families wish for a boy to continue the family name and the "one child" policy has resulted in many baby girls simply being abandoned. This also goes for any child suffering a deformity. Smile is seeking to help care for these abandoned children and those families struggling to survive.

It is estimated that there are between 50 and 100 million Christians in China, both in the registered and unregistered churches.

Smile's first ministry trip to China

The team of 14 volunteers went out 2-16 August 2004. During the first week they attended BWA 14th Youth World Conference in Hong Kong, where Clive also gave seminars on AIDS. The second week was spent visiting orphanages and villages in China.

Smile team	Conference Centre, Hong Kong	BWA Conference – Tim Doubleday speaking, the youngest delegate at the meeting at age 12
Hong Kong	Hong Kong harbour	Country life in China - rice fields