Bethel Training Centre for Blind Orphans<\/a><\/strong> near Beijing. Having sold everything they owned in the West, they relocated to China, setting up their training center as a response to their concerns about the lives of orphans in state orphanages, especially those suffering from blindness.<\/p>\nIn December of 2003, Guillaume and Delphine took their first 3 orphans. Now, their project \u201cLove is Blind\u201d has expanded into a 17-acre property, housing over 30 blind orphans, with 50 local staff caring for them 24 hours a day. Their foster home is one of the only institutions throughout the whole of China which specifically provides education and care to orphans with disabilities.<\/strong><\/p>\nWhen I first discovered Bethel in 2007, Guilhaume and Delphine welcomed me into their home to witness and photograph the extraordinary lives of their young children. After having been abandoned and facing the incomprehensible challenges associated with blindness at the beginning of their young lives, I arrived expecting to tell a tale of despair and sadness at the situations these children found themselves in. What I found however was the complete opposite; I discovered the most inspiring place I have ever been to<\/strong>.<\/p>\nBethel is a place of love, joy, kindness and most importantly, hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
*This week’s ‘Photo of the Week’ is an image from my story on the Bethel Training Center for Blind Orphans, currently being featured on the Photophilanthropy website. Below is the extract which supports the story. To see more images from this story, please click on the Photophilanthropy link.” \u201cI can see, and that is why I can be happy, in what you call the dark, but which to me is golden.\u201d – Helen Keller, Blind and Deaf US Writer. There […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[37,42,34,45],"yoast_head":"\n
Photo of the Week | 16.11.09 | Bethel Training Center for Blind Orphans - Sean Gallagher - Photographer & Filmmaker - Beijing, China<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n