When Invisible Children Sing [Hardcover]

Chi Cheng Huang (Author), Robert Coles (Foreword), Irwin Tang (Contributor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1414306164 | ISBN-13: 978-1414306162 | Publication Date: September 20, 2006 | Edition: 1

Expecting to treat some mildly ill children from the streets of Bolivia on a quick “service trip,” an idealistic young medical student gets more than he bargained for when he takes a year off from Harvard Medical School to work at an orphanage in La Paz. As he comes to know the children, and sees how they live, Chi Huang is drawn deeper and deeper into their complex and desperate lives. The doctor soon realizes that to truly help these children, he will have to follow the example of Jesus: live among them, love them in spite of their brokenness, and cling to his faith in God's goodness, even when it appears it is nowhere to be found. A true story that will inspire and challenge readers to greater faith and action. The book includes a Foreword by Harvard professor and world-renowned expert on the moral and spiritual development of children, Dr. Robert Coles.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Do you see our invisible children?" writes Huang, at the conclusion of his touching and sometimes painful book about the street children of La Paz, Bolivia. Huang, the founder of the Bolivian Street Children Project and an attending physician at Boston Medical Center, went to Bolivia to work with homeless children when he was fresh out of Harvard medical school. Looking to fulfill a sense of Christian mission as well as to come to grips with some of his personal history, he committed to spending a year caring for homeless children in an orphanage. His ministry quickly expanded from daytime medical care at the orphanage to nighttime care for the children on the streets of La Paz, and it is these later stories that Huang tells. He gives only enough of his own story to let the reader understand his lens, but it is the children's stories Huang cares about. Told simply and without exaggeration, each child's account speaks for itself, demonstrating the humanity of those who are usually invisible. Always honest about his own anger, frustration, confusion and even his doubts about God at times, Huang inspires readers to reach out, even to just one child, and make a difference in a life. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Pediatrician and internist Huang is a self-described angry man who traveled to La Paz, Bolivia, to work in the streets as a fourth-year Harvard medical student in 1997. He wanted to do something about the thousands of Bolivian children who live in filth, disease, and squalor. He learned, among other things, that street children are far from innocent. But that doesn't begin to justify, he says, their unspeakable living conditions. Indeed, the stories he tells range from the appalling--a street infant starved to death in a hospital because it was up to her mother to provide food; when she failed to do so, hospital staff watched the baby die--to the sickening: 89 percent of street children, including those as young as four, inhale paint thinner to stay warm through the frigid Andean nights. And worse: vigilantes rape, beat, and even kill street children to "cleanse" the streets. Huang's powerful testimony sounds a clarion call and ends with a plea for support for his Bolivian Street Children Project. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: SaltRiver; 1 edition (September 20, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1414306164
• ISBN-13: 978-1414306162
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #462,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #82 in Books > Children's Books > Religions > Inspirational

More About the Author

Dr. Chi Huang earned an undergraduate degree in biology from Texas A&M University and graduated cum laude in 1998 from Harvard Medical School. He is an assistant professor in pediatrics, medical director of inpatient pediatrics, director of the pediatric global health initiative, and internal medicine hospitalist attending at Boston Medical Center, Boston University School of Medicine. He has spent the last 15 years advocating for the lives of street children in developing countries; was influential in cofounding Casa Bernabe, a home for Bolivian street children, in 2001; and is the founder of Kaya Children International, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Dr. Huang has received numerous awards and recognition for his work. He and his wife, Kristin, have three daughters.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Improved my Understanding of Poverty, October 15, 2006

By 

Susan J. Metoxen (Hopkins, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When Invisible Children Sing (Hardcover)

This book is interesting on several levels. First, it tells the fascinating story of Dr. Huang and his work with the street children of Bolivia. His approach of focusing on the stories of several children makes it very easy for the reader to connect with and understand the children.

In addition, the book really explains generational and intractable poverty and the forces that keep it in place. I suspect similar forces are in place in all settings, even in a country as wealthy as the United States. Moreover, he describes his own childhood living with a family recently immigranted from Taiwan and his family's experience with the health care system in the U.S. It is a must read for employees in social service settings.

Last, because he is an physician, he describes in detail the medical and mental health issues faced by the children, and I would recommend this book to be required curriculum for anyone planning to do medical mission work. (Or work with the homeless in the U.S. for that matter.)

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling narrative, January 13, 2007

By 

G. P. Lennox (California USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When Invisible Children Sing (Hardcover)

Dr. Chi writes an exceptionally transparent account of his own spiritual journey and personal passion for helping "the least of these". He wrestles with doubt and anger, painfully discovers the limits of compassion, and ultimately develops a successful strategy to rescue a handful of the hundreds of abandoned children from the otherwise hopeless streets of La Paz, Bolivia.

This book is a quick read, but opens one's eyes to the humanity of children and adults living on the streets--whether at home or at thirteen thousand feet in the high desert of the Andes. Neither liberal nor conservative, neither utopian nor cynical; the author offers a balanced view of reality on the streets of Bolivia's capital city without the burden of a philosophical agenda. His insights have value in understanding the plight of abandoned children around the world, and hints at potential solutions which offer hope for children like those described so eloquently in Dr. Chi's text.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring, January 11, 2007

By 

Karen A. Trahan "Katrahan" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When Invisible Children Sing (Hardcover)

Chi Huang writes with an open heart. He shows his love for his family and the street children of Bolivia. It is apparent to the reader that his sister's death has left an impact on his life. This book makes you hang your mouth open in awe, wipe the tears from your eyes and smile with joy. Excellent!