‘The secret to true happiness’
Linda Grieve can’t wait to tell her granddaughter about her life-changing work with Chinese orphans
Linda Grieve’s granddaughter is far too young to understand that there’s any greater happiness than the feeling she’s likely to get on Christmas Day. Sixteen-month-old Isla will be the centre of attention at Granny and Granddad's house in Folkestone and it promises to be a jolly occasion when she unwraps a host of carefully chosen presents. nursery teacher Linda (64) says, “Isla is our only grandchild and she’ll be here with me and my husband Robert, my two sons, my daughter and daughter-inlaw. We’ll open stockings in the morning, go to church together, sit down to Christmas dinner and then open presents. We all absolutely dote on her!” Surrounded by her family’s love, Isla’s little life is a world away from the one that the abandoned children with special needs in a Chinese orphanage were facing when her Granny was first introduced to them. Ten years ago, at the age
of 54, Linda finally caved in to her daughter Rachel’s insistence that she should follow in her footsteps and fly off to do voluntary work for the International China Concern Charity. Linda explains, “Rachel had spent two weeks when she was 16 working in an orphanage there and she loved it so much, she went back for six months two years later. She kept sending pictures home and telling me to do it.” Despite her protests that she was too old and too tired and needed her holidays to relax, Linda eventually agreed to give it a go – albeit reluctantly. “The idea of sleeping on a rush mat and using squat toilets really didn’t appeal to me. At my age, it wasn’t my idea of fun but in the end, I agreed to go to find out why she loved it so much. It was also an excuse to see her – not an altruistic decision at all!” she adds. Nevertheless, it soon became one when Linda flew out to Hong Kong in August 2007 with a team from the ICC charity to catch a slow train to a rural area. “When I first arrived in China, I felt I’d made a mistake; it was very daunting, nobody spoke English and the further we travelled into the countryside, the more poverty we saw,” she recalls. After meeting Rachel (now 29), they headed to an orphanage in rural Hengyang, where Linda’s heart went out to the children – most with special needs – who’d been abandoned by their impoverished parents. “It was such a sad situation, it was overwhelming. Sometimes over here, we’re quick to
‘If you can help others, it makes a great difference to your own everyday outlook’
judge but parents do not abandon their children lightly. At that time, China had a strict one-child policy. There’s no NHS and people live in terrible poverty. They have no choice.” Seeing one very thin little boy sitting alone on the stone floor making quiet sounds Linda instinctively picked him up for a cuddle. “I just wanted to adopt him and take him home. To give just one child like that the opportunity of a better life would have been amazing,” she adds. At 54 she was considered too old to begin the two-year process. But after spending time playing and looking after the children, she returned home with a new purpose. “Like everyone, I can feel sorry for myself if I’ve got a bad cold or the arthritis in my hands is playing up. Yet these children have nothing – no toys, no clothes of their own and little food other than rice. In spite of all that, they were so happy. “It had such a great effect on me that I can honestly say those two weeks changed my life.” After talking it over with supportive husband Robert (69), a retired hotel manager, they decided to sponsor a child and that Linda would also begin fundraising. At 60, she applied to run the London Marathon despite never being a runner in her life. “My heart sank when I was accepted,” she admits. Nevertheless she stuck at her six-month training programme and completed the course in six hours and seven minutes. “I kept seeing the little faces of the children in China and knew I had to keep going…” she says. Raising £9,000, she went on to swim the distance of the English channel in her local pool and is now walking four miles a day until she’s clocked up 5,500 miles – the equivalent length of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall. Her ongoing efforts, that include boot sales and cake sales, have already raised enough money to pay for a new apartment for six of the Chinese children and are helping the charity to provide therapy, education and nursing care. Linda has seen the improvements herself after revisiting the orphanage in May 2015 and she’s planning a third trip in March next year to complete her walk. Despite her strong Christian faith and past voluntary efforts, Linda has been surprised how much her Chinese experiences have added value to her own life. She adds: “If you can help others, it makes a great difference to your own everyday outlook. I honestly believe that the secret of happiness is to help others. It’s a strong message Linda hopes to pass on to her toddler granddaughter – supported by her son and daughter-in-law – as soon as she’s old enough. “I very much hope she’ll be interested in the people Granny’s helping when she’s older and realise that if you can make somebody else’s life happier or better, then life is truly worth living.”