The Staff and Interior of ChangDe SWI

Packages of Hope has been successful at ChangDe SWI due to the dedicated efforts of Bonnie Ward, who has been active in supporting the orphanage since 1999.  She recounts some of the orphanage history:

"The ChangDe orphanage was founded in 1950.  [The original building] large although most visitors did not get to see it all.   It consisted of the children's section and the senior citizen section.  There would be between 100-200 children in[the childrens section] - from newborns to about age 4-5.

During the 90s and early 2000s, about 1000 children were adopted out from
ChangDe - most to Europe. Denmark and Netherlands, Canada and America seemed

to receive bulk of referrals from ChangDe.

Due to severe flooding, the new orphanage was built, and they moved there on March 2, 2004."

The orphanage building I visited was a 3 story building in the shape of a quadrangle, with the interior space being covered by an arching dome made of semi-opaque material which allowed sunlight to shine through.  Normally there are some centerpieces in the interior, but those had been removed temporarily. On one side of the quadrangle were orphanage rooms.  The first floor and second floor seemed to be the only ones occupied with the children.  I counted only about 25 present when i was there on Sunday.

One side of the quadrangle is devoted to the elderly.

In the panoramic above, you can see the interior space of the orphanage. The right side is dedicated to the elderly

Some empty rooms of the orphanage

The top level, there was some meat hanging out to dry.  We saw meat hanging outside everywhere, not only in ChangDe, but in other cities as well, like Changsha, Bengbu, and Shanghai.

The interior space of the orphanage, the ground floor wall had been decorated with ladybugs from a number of foreigners on a heritage trip.

Here is the orphanage staff:

 Ms. Wang Qui Xiang, a nanny that has been working there for over 10 years.

Ms. Chen Chun Jing, a teacher for some of the children in the orphanage.

From L to R: Director Wang Guo Qing (the new director of the children's orphanage), me, Ms. Zhu Fei Fei, Ms. Peng (the new head of the children's section), Smile Cao 

 From L to R: Mr. Lian Zhi Yong, (deputy director of the children's orphanage), Mr. Wang Gua Hua (overall director of the SWI), me, Ms. Wang Li (Party secretary representative), Mr. Dai Yan Shang (deputy director of medical care and elder care)