Packages of Hope - China 2005

The Lanzhou Project was inspired by an article Sarah Woodard found in early August.

You can see the link here:
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/08/21/for_chinas_infant_castoffs_a_home/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+World+News



Here are some excerpts from the Boston Globe article:
"ANDING, China -- Chen Shangyi makes a living as a scavenger. He prides himself on having a good nose for unusual finds. So when he saw a crowd clustered around a white bundle at the local train station one day while he was hunting for empty soda cans and soy sauce bottles, he couldn't resist taking a peek.
It was a baby, wrapped in a thin sheet.
''Everybody was just looking. Nobody would do anything," recalled Chen, who was 65 on that bitterly cold, snowy day 17 years ago. ''When I took her home, she was frozen stiff. My wife and I wrapped her in a burlap bag. . . . We started a fire. We fed her soup and put some old clothes on her. A while later, she started to wiggle."
Chen named her Ling-Ling.
Today, Chen still makes a living as a scavenger in this remote Chinese town of 460,000 people on the edge of the Gobi Desert. And he is still bringing home children -- 42 in all, at last count.

....
Now Chen worries that local officials may take his children away on the grounds that he is too old to be their caretaker. ...Chen says he can't trust the government to do what's best for the children.
''All I know is that when they were little, no one would come and help them. They say I am too old. I say I will raise them as long as I can. They'll have to kill me first before I'll let them take the kids away." "


I was surprised by the email that said, "Hey Jeff, how about a side trip to Lanzhou?"

With the help of the internet and very wonderful and generous supporters, the project quickly evolved, and Packages of Hope is proud to announce that we have enough funds to hire two full time caregivers to help the family care for the children. We also have boxes and boxes of donated supplies provided by inspired families with children adopted from Lanzhou. While there, we hope to provide the family with a more adequate place to live.