A message from Smile Cao

Our trip to ChangDe was a success.  We had provided donations to the orphanage for Spring Festival, as well as met with the orphanage staff to discuss future opportunities for donations and support for the orphanage.  THANK YOU to the donors who helped to provide assistance to the children.

We finally had to say goodbye to Smile Cao, and we look forward to working with him again in the future.

As Smile Cao quoted an old Chinese proverb, "Wan Shi Ru Yi" -- "May all your wishes be fulfilled"

Local images of ChangDe

Some local images of ChangDe:

 Some images and video of the Poem wall, above.  It is a 5km long wall that contains poems from the revolutionary era (ca 1940-1950)

 An old destroyer boat, on permanent display on the river

Above, the gates to the river.  Just to the left of this photo is the river, just through these gates is the city, and walking distance to our hotel.

 A rural corner shop on the way to the old orphanage.

 Above photo shows the burm on the way to the old orphanage.  It is difficult to see here, but it rises rather high, presumably created as a defense against floods.

 A farmhouse.  Smile tells me that there are many houses like this being constructed by people who are from this area, but are elsewhere in the country and making a better living.  They then have these houses constructed either as a show of wealth, or as an  investment venture.

To me, the above photo looked a bit festive.  I asked Smile what this blowup fabric arch was for, and Smile replied, "that's a funeral".

I asked Smile what this was all about, and he said that this agency helps people to register their children when they are born. Interesting.....

Around the grounds of the current ChangDe SWI

We had a short walk around the grounds of the current ChangDe SWI.  It was a chilly January day, but the conversation was wonderful.  Thanks to the camera work of JieJie.

Above: exercise equipment for the SWI

Above: looking from the back of the SWI towards the street.  To the left of this frame is the building for children.

 The inscription at the base of the statue reads: "Care and Love - Time Flies.  In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Changde Social Welfare Instituted (CSWI), an eight meter high sculpture has been built.  It is like a strong hand holding a heart full of love, which indicates the party and the government show great care and love for the weak people.  the sculpture is red in colour which implies enthusiasm and unselfish dedication of the staff in SCWI.  The lines flowing upwards promise bright future for CSWI.  The inscription 'Care and Love' was written by Mr. Cao RuGuo, Deputy Secretary of Changde Municipal Committee. July 2010".

Above is the cafeteria of the SWI.

 The statue of the elder.  I touched the statue, and was surprised to find out it is made of some sort of fiberglass composite.  I have seen this elsewhere in China.

A view to the entrance of the children's section of the orphanage. You can see the dome above.  As you go through the gates, you go into the interior section, and the children's dormitories are on the left.

The old ChangeDe Orphanage

The old ChangDe orphanage is located at N 29 00.817 E 111 44.862.

It is now a retirement facility.  

Access to the orphanage is by a very winding dirt road atop a burm which serves as flood prevention from the nearby river.  I can understand why it was relocated due to the threat of flooding.

The Children of ChangDe SWI

When I visited the orphanage there were over 25 children present, most of whom had special needs.  There were only 3 infant/toddlers.

2 of the children that I was able to photograph are posted as waiting needs children, and I will be providing more video of those two boys, which we are identifying as Rocky and William.  We are hoping that their forever families will find them very soon.

 Rocky, above, has club foot, and a slight motor issue with his hands.  However, he is exceptionally smart, and the top of his class.  Spending some time with him, you can see it.  I will get some video up soon, and you will be able to see how awesome he is.  Very mischievous and typical 11 year old.

William, above, is loaded with dimples, and is bright and full of smiles.  He has some sort of vision issue, but I'm really not sure of the details.  He did seem to bring objects very close to his eyes to focus, but I do that when I have contacts off as well.  Video coming soon.

The children shown here have moderate to severe special needs, and were having a nice time looking over some hand drawn pictures provided by children in the Tulsa Oklahoma area.  It made their day!

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)

Donations to ChangDe SWI

We have arrived at the orphanage on a Sunday, and only the attending director, Mrs. Zhu Fei Fei, is there to greet us.  I am thankful for this, as I know that weekends are a valuable rest day. 

(entrance to the children's section of the SWI)

She ushered us into the orphanage, and to her office, where she offered us some tea.  Smile Cao greeted her with the handshake of having met her several times before.  To me, she looked no older than about 18, and I had to calibrate myself in realizing that I am often off in my assessment of age.  I later found out that she was 30, married with a 4 year old daughter, and had been working in the orphanage for 10 years.
  Still a bit stunned that she looked to be only a few years older than my daughter, we sat and made introductions.  I think I caught her off guard a bit as I recorded this video, and I need to apologize for that.  I have been dealing with Bengbu for so long, that they are now accustomed to my video, and the message I am trying to convey.  I don't think Mrs. Zhu realized this.

I was told that there are now about 45 children at the orphanage, with 10 in foster care.  70% are aged 6 to 14.  4 children were adopted domestically in 2012, and 4 were adopted internationally.  There are 6 nannies that work in the children section that work shifts. 

Mrs. Zhu will soon be leaving the orphanage, to join her husband who is in the military, working in Guangdong province.  She will be succeeded by Mrs. Peng (I will show photos later).

There are 2 children that are currently on waiting lists for international adoptions, known as Rocky and William, and they are both 11 years old.  I will also be providing much more information on those two on the blog.

We then took a look at the donations we provided for Spring Festival.  THANK YOU to all the donors who made this possible!

 

Here are some photos of the donations:

In total:
1 water heater
1 washing machine
2 dryers
2 electric cookers
19 pairs of shoes
50 coats/jackets/pants for Spring festival

ChangDe SWI

JieJie and I had a nice breakfast at the Huatian hotel in ChangDe on Sunday morning (GPS coordinates N 29 02.092 E 111 41.160).  JieJie was treated to another cultural experience with the presence of a Buddhist monk seated at another table.

"Daddy, what's that guy wearing?" was her hushed comment to me.  

The head shaved man looked to be in his 60's, although I am always such a terrible judge of age for Chinese faces.  In my opinion, both the men and women seem to age so well, with the women always looking at least 15 years younger than they actually are.
  The monk was in traditional dark yellow robes, and unique boot-like shoes that were just a step away from being overly thick socks.  He greeted us with a wide smile.

  I have always been very respectful to monks of any faith, but I have fond memories of Buddhist monks who befriended me when I was lost in the woods of South Korea ages ago while working there.  They took me in to their monastery, and I spent the night there, no questions asked, and I left the next morning as they directed me to the path back to town.  After that time, I took it upon myself to study the religion, particularly in the Asia region.

  As a matter of respect, I made a small donation to the monk at the breakfast table, saying a small prayer for the children and the staff I was about to see.  In return the monk handed me a small bracelet of prayer beads, and we bowed to each other, as I made sure my head went lower than his.

  JieJie said, "what was that all about?".  I explained it all to her, and gave her the prayer beads, and told her to keep the gifts from the holy man special, which she did.

  Smile picked us up on a short trip to the orphanage, guided turn-by-turn on his Iphone navigation system.  We joked about how quickly the navigation system drained the phone battery.  I guess they are the same all over the world.

  Soon we came to the gates of hallowed ground for so many families (GPS coordinates N 29 02.464 E 111 38.867).  

I have a map of the overall layout of the SWI: