Archive for the ‘Childcare’ Category
Saturday, May 12th, 2012
May 12 marks the 4th anniversary of the deadly Sichuan earthquake.
While most residents are now back in permanent dwellings and key infrastructure projects have been completed, hardship still prevails for many people in the region. More than half a million people were left severely disabled after the earthquake, and many of these face difficulties with on-going medical care and rehabilitation, income generation and social reintegration.
Wide parts of the earthquake-affected area were extremely poor before the disaster and the situation is now more challenging for many, given factors such as medical bills, new mortgages to rebuild homes, and the devastation of local industry, which left many jobless.
Pockets of extreme poverty exist in communities across the area, particularly where a household has lost the primary breadwinner or a member of the family become disabled. Education can be one of the first victims of economic hardship with children not being able to attend more than the most basic of schooling. The need for educational support to enable children to attend kindergartens and continue schooling past the nine-year mandatory period, in particular, is great.
Sichuan Quake Relief is continuing to support people such as these, through our community centre and kindergarten in Guangji, and to work with a variety of grassroots groups and local governments to rejuvenate the local communities and to identify and support the most disadvantaged.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the many hundreds of volunteers who have contributed to this project over the past four years, and to the local government authorities who offer great support for our work. We would also like to thank our very many individual and corporate donors who make our work possible, too numerous to mention here but in particular our key partners Agilent Technologies, NPI, Nokia, the Irish Embassy in Beijing, the British Consulate in Chongqing, the Chengdu International Women’s Club and the local American, British and European Chambers of Commerce.
While the sense of loss and grief is never far away, four years on the people of Sichuan still face their plight with admirable resilience and good nature. We sincerely thank them for their welcome, support and strength.
The SQR team
Tags:education, fourth anniversary, poverty, sponsors
Posted in Childcare, Corporate Social Responsibility, Di Kang Le Community Centre, Di Kang Le Kindergarten, Education, Grassroots NGO capacity-building, Living conditions, SQR, SQR Editorial | No Comments »
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
The Sunshine Family Education Centre, based in Luoshui (an earthquake-affected community visited many times by Chengdu Sports Aid), develops parenting skills and improves children’s quality of life in disadvantaged rural areas. Sunshine instills the importance of children’s education, health care, living conditions and healthy child-parent interaction in parents through seminars and workshops to create more harmonious family environments.
Sunshine runs family education seminars for parents twice a month. Seminars address all aspects of family life, but consistently focus on shifting over-emphasis on school grades and academic achievement, to better balance with their physical and emotional welfare. The seminars utilise practical, hands-on demonstrations to emphasise the benefits of their family lessons. At weekends, the centre also facilitates self-help groups and outdoor activities to further instill parenting lessons by putting classroom theory into practice with the children’s participation.
Since Sunshine’s founding in November 2008, the centre has developed a team with strong expertise in family education and development. The staff is composed of two members of the high-level family education guidance division, two members of the mental health division, three social workers and one teacher. This team currently collaborates with the Chengdu branch of Non-Profit Incubator (NPI), whose incubation services will continue until November 2010. The team has also worked with the Trafigura Foundation, which built the community centre in which Sunshine operates.
In addition to providing direct family services, Sunshine is developing a detailed five-year model for the replication of its community centre development and services. Sunshine is looking for a long-term partner (two-three years) to provide funding assistance as well as to collaborate on future expansion. While Luoshui is just one of the disadvantaged areas in need of family development, Sunshine has had enormous success to date and has been well-received by its participants. Sunshine hopes that the implementation of this model in neighboring areas will continue the improvement of children’s welfare in rural Sichuan.
Posted in Childcare, Civil society, Education, NGO news, SQR Features | No Comments »
Friday, July 10th, 2009
The Confederation of British Industry’s Chief Representative in Beijing is raising money for a key SQR project, the Guangji Kindergarten & Community Centre.
Many Beijing residents will have travelled along some part of the Jingcheng (Beijing to Chengde) highway enroute perhaps to the Great Wall at either Mutianyu or Jinshanling.
Guy Dru Drury, the CBI's Chief Representative in Beijing, prepares to take on the gruelling 500km 2009 JCCR
However, have you ever considered continuing along its entirety, past Beijing’s principal reservoir at Miyun and on into the mountains that lead, after 200 KM, to the imperial resort of Chengde? Well, if you do then you’ll be visiting the summer hideaway of successive Chinese Emperors who created their very own “summer palace” nestled in the mountains that overlook the Mongolian steppes. It is home to China’s largest palace garden and, incidentally, the world’s shortest river, the Rehe. At a mere 9 miles in length it feeds the bucolic Rehe springs and is largely contained within the vast expanse of the royal palace grounds. In August, and tentatively scheduled to coincide with the one year anniversary of the Olympic opening ceremony, the CBI’s Chief Representative, Guy Dru Drury, will be embarking on his own journey from Beijing to Chengde following the route of the Jingcheng highway. Travelling by a mixture of road and mountain bike he aims to cover the mountainous 500km roundtrip route in 20 hours over the weekend of the 8 August.
It is all in the name of a good cause, namely raising money for the reconstruction of the Guangji Kindergarten destroyed in last year’s devastating earthquake.
Downloadable information
If you would like to support Guy’s efforts then please give generously to SQR directly. By the way, if you do want to visit Chengde you can of course travel there in air‐conditioned comfort either by car or rail if a 20 hour cycle ride is not your preferred means of transport!
Guy Dru Drury (guydd@cbi.org.uk and gdrudrury@gmail.com)
Beijing 01.07.09
Tags:Beijing, CBI, Chengde, Confederation of British Industry, cycle, Guangji, Guy Dru Drury, kindergarten, rebuild, sponsor
Posted in Childcare, Civil society, Corporate Social Responsibility, Donation, Education, Facilities reconstruction, Media, Social welfare, sport, SQR Activities, SQR Donation Request | 1 Comment »
Friday, July 3rd, 2009
June 28 – July 3 SQR SAME Summer Camp Session 1 at GuangJi Township near Mianzhu
Last week 7 enthusiastic SQR volunteers trekked up to GuangJi to set up the first SAME Summer Camp at GuangJi Township near Mianzhu (2hrs from Chengdu). The GuangJi Kindergarten and Preschool was chosen as our first location because SQR already had an existing relationship with the school principal, Kang Laoshi (‘laoshi’ = ‘teacher’). SQR is actively coordinating the demolition and rebuilding of one of the buildings damaged in last year’s quake.
The 7 volunteers consisted of international students (an American and Brazilian) as well as local Sichuan university students and recent grads. We met on Sunday afternoon at the Bookworm for a short meeting to discuss the upcoming week’s plans then set off by van to GuangJi, arriving by early evening to meet with Kang Laoshi and discuss the week’s schedule and lesson plans.
Our accommodation were more than adequate in that Kang laoshi allowed us to sleep in the temporary classrooms next door to the permanent buildings. It was quite comfortable since we were provided beds and linen and had access to lighting and electricity. The worst inconvenience was the occassional mosquito bite.
The first morning and day began well with the local teachers starting the kids off with morning exercises and dances to loosen up kids for an active day of learning. It was wonderful to see, and I took loads of pictures.
Throughout the day the SQR volunteers conducted their teaching modules in Sports, Art, Music and English; working alongside the local teachers and adjusting our lesson plans to tailor to the school children’s various levels. In that sense, the volunteers are challenged to adapt quickly and be flexible to the needs of the children.
During the second night at camp a 5.6 quake struck nearby Mianzhu shaking us out of bed, but luckily no major damage was inflicted. Indeed it was a stark reminder of why we were there in the first place. Less than 12 hours later an aftershock of 5.0 occurred during napping time for the kids. The local teachers and SQR volunteers quickly scrambled to evacuate the children from the permanent building and arrange for classes to be conducted in the temporary classrooms the rest of the week. Seeing some of the children distraught and crying from the quake gave us another reminder of why we were there.
The remaining week went on smoothly. The classes and activities were fun and interesting for the kids and the experience gained by the volunteers was challenging yet every bit rewarding and life enriching.
I am lucky to have been apart of such a wonderful experience and will remember and cherish it forever. During our last dinner with Kang laoshi, I thanked her for everything she had done for us and told her that “Sichuan will forever be in our hearts.”
Leeman Now
SQR SAME Summer Camp Project Mgr
The Chinese University of HK, MBA 2011
The first SAME camp of 2009 was a success, or "A range of high marks for the ballroom dancers."
Tags:aftershock, demolition, evacuate, Guangji, Guangji kindergarten, Hong Kong, Kang laoshi, kindergarten, Leeman Now, Mianzhu, SAME, Sports Arts Music English, summer camp, temporary accommodation, volunteers
Posted in Arts, Childcare, Civil society, Education, Facilities reconstruction, Living conditions, Psychological health, Seismic activity, Social welfare, SQR Activities | No Comments »
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
SQR SAME camps 2009
DOWNLOAD PDF INFO in English and Chinese.
We need volunteers! With schools out for the summer the kids living in temporary villages in the earthquake area have two months free and not a lot to do, so Sichuan Quake Relief is currently setting up several fun-based activity camps for them.
The SQR SAME Camps will focus on the four areas of Sports, Art, Music and English-language learning.
Camps will be run in 5-day modules from Monday to Friday, commencing Monday June 29, and running till the end of August.
SQR SAME Camps 2009 - 中文
We are asking volunteers to commit to at least one full week of teaching over the summer, leaving Chengdu on the Sunday, staying in the village teaching from Monday to Friday, and returning to Chengdu on the Friday evening. We are looking to build mixed teams to run each camp, so people of all ages, Chinese and non-Chinese, most welcome. And while teaching experience and some Chinese language skills would be great, they are not necessary. We just need flexible, enthusiastic people who have a sense of humour and are able to live and work under difficult conditions.
Transport costs to and from the camp, (very basic) accommodation, and food will be provided by SQR. We are currently building teams for the first seven SAME Camps:
- June 28 – July 3
- July 5 – July 10
- July 12 – July 17
- July 19 – July 24
- July 26 – July 31
- August 2 – August 7
- August 9 – August 14
If you would like to volunteer for one or more of these camps, or if you would like additional information, email volunteer@sichuan-quake-relief.org or call (86) 136 7121 2235.
Tags:art, Chengdu, English, music, sports, SQR SAME, summer camp, village, volunteer
Posted in Arts, Childcare, Civil society, Education, SQR, SQR Activities | 2 Comments »
Friday, May 22nd, 2009
Poverty is inevitably still a huge problem, given the impact of the earthquake on areas which were living at subsistence level.
Information about Qima Township in Qingchuan obtained by SQR in the past few days.
Basic Situation
6 hours drive from Chengdu, 1 hour from Qinchuan County. The road connecting villages and townships can get rather muddy when rains but accessible.
The nearest NGO (World Vision International, which set up its office there before the earthquake) working in Qingchuan is in Qiaozhuang Township, 1 hour drive away from Qima.
There are 8000 residents, many of them are suffering from rheumatism, cholelithiasis, gall-stones, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The township does have a public clinic but only with limited facilities and meds, so the doctors working there are not able to treat illnesses like these.
According to the figures collected by a local volunteer, there are 600+ patients who cannot afford even ordinary medical services. This group of people consists mostly of elderly people without children or living by themselves while children are working somewhere else.
Progress of reconstruction is uneven. Better-off families have already had their new houses built and have moved in. However, many families just finished the foundation part as to claim the subsidy (the policy is that full subsidy is issued only to families that begin reconstruction before 12th May 2009). Some people, as in Caopo, have been using the subsidy or micro-credit to cover their basic necessities, rather than to reconstruct their houses.
There is one central primary school (1-9 grade), and four village primary schools, with 704 students in total. Grades 1 to 3 include 48 preschool students and 48 students from the village primary schools.
The village primary schools provide classes for one specific group only: for Grade 1 students who live too far away from the central school and cannot afford to live in a school dormitory, and each has around 10-20 students.
Students now have classes in a row of prefabricated houses. More than 400 of them live in villages far from this school. They do not pay tuition fees but do have to buy ‘meal tickets’ that are used to buy meals in the school dining room, the cost of which ranges from 80 to 200 per month, depending on the financial situation of students’ families.
Recent Activities
1. Children’s Day
Various people (contacts of SQR) are going to Qima Primary School on the Children’s Day. The school will have its own activities in the morning, and then the students have their own in the afternoon. One suggestion is for 4-7 people to visit the children to organise activities for them. The thing these people need help with is to buy gifts for the 704 students and to fund the delivery.
2. Jun 28th free-of-charge medical consultation
SQR’s contact, Yang, said he’ll notify the locals to come to the central village that day, and will bring a couple of nurses and doctors there. The consultation takes one or two days. Help is needed getting medicine for this trip.
SQR is waiting for the list, and will make it available to those who are willing to help out.
Tags:Caopo, cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular diseases, Children's Day, cholelithiasis, food, gall-stones, meal tickets, medical care, medical consultation, micro-credit, NGO, pencil case, poverty, prefabricated, primary school, Qiaozhuang township, Qima township, Qingchuan, rheumatism, road, satchel, stationery, subsidy, village school, World Vision International
Posted in Childcare, Civil society, Compensation, Donation, Education, Health care, Home rebuilding, Living conditions, Local government, Micro-funding, SQR | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
Download the podcast interview
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From City Weekend
Folk singer Abigail Washburn and producer Dave Liang recorded songs and stories of students relocated after last year’s tragic earthquake. Abigail tells us about their CD to be released on the anniversary of the quake.
How did this project come about?
Last December, I was at Sichuan University teaching traditional American music … I hung out at The Bookworm (in Chengdu) with my friend Peter Goff, and he said, “It would be fun to get you out to these relocation schools … I’m involved in a group called Sichuan Quake Relief, which does all kinds of projects with the schools.” So, over two days, we went to six different schools … After I would perform, some of the kids would come up to me and share their stories and their songs.
What was your response to that experience?
After I left, I kept thinking, there must be something more I can do. I felt like I had been given these kids stories so directly and so personally … I had the idea to go back with my friend Dave Liang to make a pop album with the kids — something that would have mass appeal to bring attention and money back to the disaster zone.
So what was the process like once you were back in Sichuan?
(Sichuan Quake Relief) scouted schools to find the right mix of students … We wanted to have Tibetan and Qiang minorities represented on the CD because they had lost so many people in the earthquake.
Wow. And how did you work with the kids?
We set it up as an event. As soon as I got there, I played a show for all the kids … We asked the kids to sing songs for us. And then we asked them stuff like, “What did your parents used to sing you at night while you were going to bed?” So they came to us with these interesting songs and we recorded them there.
How long did this process take?
We spent four days at the school … Then we went up into Wenchuan, to the kids’ hometowns and visited with their parents. They hadn’t seen their kids since last August, so everyone was missing each other. We gave them portraits of their kids and let them listen to their kids singing their songs, and just connected with them. We also recorded them leaving messages to their kids, singing songs … and also the sounds of rebuilding.
Details
The CD Afterquake will be released on May 12, the anniversary of the Sichuan Earthquake. Find out more at www.afterquakemusic.com
Sichuan Quake Relief: sichuan-quake-relief.org
Abigail Washburn: www.abigailwashburn.com
Dave Liang and The Shanghai Restoration Project: www.shanghairestorationproject.com
(Above photo by Amanda Kowalski)
Tags:Abigail Washburn, Afterquake, Ama, benefit, CD, Dave Liang, Emei Shan, Luke Mines, Shanghai Restoration Project
Posted in Arts, Childcare, Civil society, Living conditions, SQR Activities | No Comments »
Monday, May 4th, 2009
On 30th April 2009, two SQR volunteers and a professional surveyor went up to the Guangji Kindergarten and the topographical survey is now complete.
The next stage is to get architectural plans drawn up, whilst finding builders and project management professionals.
GuangJi Kindergarten
The Guangji Preschool & Kindergarten was founded in 2000 by school principal Kang Yuling and several other teachers. The school is now the only preschool and kindergarten serving five villages. After the closure of other schools, to ensure the continuing education of the youngest members of her community, Kang Yuling rallied her fellow teachers, and then donated her family home and farmland to the cause. The group raised enough money to build a basic two-storey structure, and a small play area alongside her family home.
The new structure became classrooms, while the older structures housed teachers’ quarters, kitchen, and offices.
The May earthquake destroyed Kang’s house, and the former family home is badly damaged, and needs to be demolished. The new structure needs reinforcement if it is to be declared safe.
See photos of the school (in temporary prefabricated buildings) from January 2009.
Sichuan Quake Relief is working with the school principal, parents and teachers, on a project to rebuild the kindergarten.
Tags:children, Guangji, Kang Yuling, kindergarten, student
Posted in Childcare, Civil society, Construction and infrastructure, Education, Facilities reconstruction, Home rebuilding, Infrastructure, Living conditions, SQR Activities | No Comments »
Friday, April 10th, 2009
The following is a second journal entry from Becky Priebe, who, as Becky Hoops took part in the recent ‘Clown Trauma Tour.’
See also Part 1 for a report on Clowns Sans Frontieres’ tour of Sichuan.
China Earthquake Tour, Part 2
The second half of our tour took place in a city called Mianzhu. This city, 2 hours north of Chengdu, was gravely affected by the earthquake. At first glance we immediately saw small signs of damage: cracked buildilngs, random piles of bricks, almost empty river beds (dams that controlled the rivers had burst during the earthquake), but the most obvious sign was the thousands of rows of temporary housing and temporary schools, on the outskirts of the city.
This “temporary” city, made of white and blue metal, consisted of corrugated retangle row housing, forming a completely new city… like a refuge camp within the country’s own borders. Conditions are basic: electricity, no heating, no running water and no windows. There are more than a million people currently living in these conditions. They are no longer receiving governement aid and most are separated from their family networks. In China, family, community and work networks are very important, many earthquake victims are left without this support system.
Most of the shows we did in Mianzhu were in one of the temporary schools. There were about 10 000 children attending this school, so we did multiple shows at the same school for a few days. The children were between the ages of 5 and 16, and shows were for between 400 and 1200 kids at a time. By the end of the week we were had apparently earned a somewhat disconcerning rockstar status…. for those who are curious: yes, 1000 Chinese teenagers who all want an autograph at the same time, is a bit intimidating.
In Mianzhu we also did shows for a retirement home and in the temporary housing project for those who happened to be there. The elderly reacted just as strongly as the children, with a bit less pushing for autographs at the end. One man began yelling, or what I perceived at yelling, at me before we started a show. I was intimated and thought that he didn’t want us there, he seemed agressive and upset. Upon receiving traslation, we realized that he was expressing his apologies that we should see such an ugly part of the country and that he was happy we had come. After he saw me two-person-hula-hooping with a stern, young police officer he was even more happy we had come.
The day that hit me the hardest was when we visited the city of rubble where all of the displaced people had lived, worked and attended school. For the first time since we had arrived in China, it was quiet. There were no people in streets selling fruit, cheap clothing and plastic toys, no herds of school children, there were no traffic jams or honking horns. But within the disturbing silence, if you listened carefully, you could still hear the millions of people screaming as their homes and schools collapsed upon them. Among the rubble we saw toys, stuffed animals, baby shoes; unsettling reminders of children crying and whimpering under mountains of rubble, wondering if they would be rescued in time. Or relatives, crying out to loved ones for days and weeks, with the chances of their survival dwindling with each hour. This day hit me hard. It made me realise in a very tangible way what these “refugees”, we have been performing for, had been through. It fed me with a heightened desire to make the children laugh, to bring joy and smiles to the people. My ridiculous complaints about the food and cold weather began to seem insignificant and frivolous compared with the grim realities these displaced people had lived through and are continuing to face.
One collapsed school we visited was reduced to rubble in seconds, killing 3000 students instantly. Some parents lost their only child; with the “One Child Policy” in China, families are legally restricted from having more than one child; couples are sometimes sterilized after their first child is born.
The government is not really giving much money or aid to these temporary cities. Maybe I don’t understand the issue in its entirety, but I am still somewhat enraged when I think back to the massive expenditures of the recent Olympics in Beijing. There is also a theory that the numerous dams built in the area contributed to weakening the fault line. There are so many issues like these that seem to become increasingly complex upon deeper research and investigation. It is really touchy for any Chinese people to say negative things about the government; even when we had translaters it was difficult to know how people really felt.
The last show we did was in a school for children that had lived in the hardest hit city of WenChuan. These kids were, for some reason or another displaced over 6 hours from their families to live in a vacant factory. The kids were mostly teenagers of minority background. They loved the show and we even won over the slightly reluctant principal. This show, and one other show we did during this tour, was in collaboration with an organization called “Sichuan Earthquake Relief”. This non-governmental oganisation (NGO) has done and is still doing some really phenomenal work in the quake stricken communities accross the province. For more information on this NGO please visit:
http://www.sichuan-quake-relief.org/
For those who are interested in statistics of the aftermath of the quake (as of June 2008, stats obtained from Sim’s Cozy Guesthouse):
69 197 deaths
374, 176 people were injured
12, 222 missing
7, 789,100 houses were totally collapsed
24, 590,000 houses were damaged
15, 147,400 survivors had been transferred (mostly to temporary housing units, I described earlier)
Up to 46 million people were estimated to have been affected.
See first part of Becky’s report here, and her website, for more.
Tags:autograph, Becky Hoops, Becky Priebe, brick, circus, clown, Clowns Sans Frontieres, Clowns Without Borders, crack, dam, damage, David Bernbaum, David Fiset, electricity, fame, family, Jerry Snell, joy, Mianzhu, performance, Pipat Suwapat, rubble, show, smile, student, support system, temporary housing, temporary school, visiting performer
Posted in Arts, Childcare, Civil society, Education, Facilities reconstruction, Home rebuilding, Living conditions, Social welfare, SQR Activities | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
Just a quick post to say that Yan Daiyu, apart from being in the care of her own family, is now having the Green Leaves Foundation seek treatment and funding options for her. For more information on the Green Leaves Foundation, go to the NGOs page and scroll down .
Tags:Green Leaves Foundation, leukemia, Yan Daiyu
Posted in Childcare, Civil society, Corporate Social Responsibility, Health care, NGO news, SQR Activities | No Comments »
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
News from Yan Daiyu:
This morning we met with Yan Daiyu, her father, Yan Shifu, and her stepmother at Hua Xi 2nd Hospital in Chengdu.
After an initial consultation with the doctor, during which Daiyu was quite scared and did not dare to say a word, we made our way through the crowded hallways of the hospital to get her blood test.
The director of the department, Mr. Gao Ju, explained that it was very likely that Daiyu has a form of Leukemia called APL (Acute promyelocytic leukemia) or M3. To make sure this is the right diagnosis the hospital will have to make a bone marrow puncture/ asparation on Monday morning. We checked Daiyu into the hospital where she started treatment for her flu, since her immune system has to be as strong as possible for the chemotherapy.
After the bone marrow puncture the doctor will be able to tell us more about the following treatment and how her chances are.
If she really has APL she will have to take medicine (ATRA Treatment) for a couple of weeks and then start a course of hemotherapy that will last about one to one-and-a-half months.
The chances of long-term survival are over 50 % in China.
We stayed with the family for most of the day and had our first success with getting attention from the media.
Chengdu TV came to the hospital to interview Yan Daiyu, her father, Yuanyuan and me.
Since Yan Daiyus parents separated a long time ago she lives with her father and stepmom, which might make finding a person for a possible bone marrow transfusion harder. Luckily Chengdu TV said they would try to find the mother, who is living with two of Yan Daiyu’s siblings.
So far SQR has paid the hospital and the family around 3500 RMB which will cover the first days in the hospital, living expenses and the bone marrow puncture.
The positive news of the day is that the total cost will probably not be as high as the countryside hospital said.
Right now it seems like the total cost will be around 70.000 RMB, though it is not possible to get any definite answers at the moment, since we have to wait for the final diagnosis on Monday till we will be able to know the exact treatment Yan Daiyu will need. Sadly, experience shows that initial estimates of funds required tend to be lower than the actual funds required, but SQR will keep updating the information on Yan Daiyu’s case. The family is still living in their self build shed and the doctor said if the treatment goes well the chances of survival are also influenced by her living conditions. It’s a case of taking one step at a time.
The other positive news today is that we left Yan Daiyu smiling, giving a hearty kiss on the cheek after a day of drawing, singing and playing together.
Tags:bone marrow, diagnosis, hospital, ill, leukemia, treatment, Yan Daiyu
Posted in Childcare, Civil society, Donation, Health care, SQR Activities | No Comments »
Friday, March 20th, 2009
Through the principal of a Kindergarten in Guangji (close to LuoShui) that Sichuan Quake Relief is rebuilding, SQR met a little girl today who has been diagnosed with Leukemia ten days ago. Her name is Yan Daiyu and she is seven years old. Her parents brought her to Renmin Hospital in Mianzhu were she was diagnosed with leukemia. After a couple of days the Yan Daiyu had to leave the hospital, since her parents could not even afford to pay the 20.000 RMB the hospital asked for the first diagnosis and treatment.
The house the parents, grandparents and Yan Daiyu used to live in was completely destroyed during the quake, now the whole family lives in a small shed they built themselves. Both parents have lost their job and cannot afford to rebuild the house or pay for their daughter’s treatment. The father said he didn’t care about rebuilding the house he just wants his daughter to get treatment and would do anything to make that possible.
When we met the family they hadn’t properly eaten in three days and were desperate for help. Neither media nor government has been able or interested to help so far. We left the family with 3000 RMB so they could buy food, but aren’t able to fund the treatment or rebuilding. We are getting will meet with doctors from HuaXi hospital tomorrow to talk about Yan Daiyu’s situation, cost etc.
To stand an actual chance Yan Daiyu would have to start treatment in HuaXi Hospital in Chengdu as soon as possible. The total cost of this would be around 500.000 RMB.
If anybody has questions or knows any company, individual or NGO that would be interested in funding the treatment please contact us as soon as possible. Also, please forward this information and spread the news about Yan Daiyu.
[IMPORTANT NOTE: the title of this story was edited on Monday 23rd March 2009 to reflect the changing estimates of the level of funding required. As the next blog entry illustrates, it is difficult to estimate costs, and experience has shown that initial estimates can be on the low side. SQR will keep updated with the latest estimates of funding required.]
Tags:diagnosis, Donation, Guangji, Huaxi Hospital, illness, leukemia, Luoshui, money, Yan Daiyu
Posted in Childcare, Civil society, Corporate Social Responsibility, Donation, Health care, Home rebuilding, SQR, SQR Donation Request | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
心理援助培训班为灾区的人们打开心结
The Wenchuan earthquake happened nearly a year ago, and everyone has tried their best to reconstruct their home towns. But the mental healing is a long process. Recently, the International Cooperation Agency and All-China Women’s Federation, has been focusing on providing vocational training for survivors, in order to help them cope with some of the effects of the disaster on mental health.
Earthquakes occur frequently in Japan, and the Japanese have a great deal of experience about how to help quake-afflicted people overcome the barrier of fear. A 41-year-old Japanese man, assisted in the rescue work. In spite of the frightening situation, he insisted on taking part in the relief work. After the earthquake, he couldn’t sleep at night, and he couldn’t forget quake-afflicted people’s faces. He lives in a car, in order to escape from any future earthquakes.
“Many people after this earthquake also have psychological problems , but they don’t know how to deal with it, we hope we can help them through it in positive ways,” said Mr. Kato, the Deputy Director of the Mental Health Centre, in Hyogo, Japan.
“Through this training course, I know not only children need psychological aid , but also the teachers need this help. I will try my best do my work well, I believe our love will help children in the disaster areas,” wrote Luo Xiaoyan, from an experimental primary school, after the training.
[Approx. English translation by SQR]
距“512”汶川大地震发生已近一年，家园通过重建正逐渐恢复昔日的美丽，而如何进行“心灵的重建”却是一个艰巨而漫长的过程。日本国际协力机构和中华全国妇女联合会日前在成都举办了面向灾区从事心理援助工作人员的培训班，以帮助更多的人走出心理阴影。
作为地震多发国的日本，过去曾遭受过数次重大地震灾害，在针对受灾民众心理持续支援活动中积累了十分宝贵的经验和见识。日本兵库县心理卫生中心副主任加藤宽说，日本有一名41岁的男子，地震后参加救助倒坍房屋下的居民，看到了惨不忍睹的尸体，并坚持开展救助活动。但夜里他开始失眠、做噩梦，即使在清醒时也会回想起挖出来居民的面孔。此后的一年半，他住在车上，不愿回到原住地，以便再次地震时容易逃离，而且再也无心工作。在四川地震灾区，很多人正面临着同样的心理问题，自身却并没有意识到。”加藤宽期望通过专业的心理援助，让四川地震灾区的人们打开心结，尽快走出心理阴影。
“我看到原来不仅孩子需要心理援助，老师也同样需要。作为一个普通人，我希望能做好最善良的自己，用一颗阳光的心去驱散地震带给孩子们内心的阴影。”来自绵竹实验小学的罗晓燕老师在培训会上写下这样的感想。
Tags:All-China Women's Federation, Hyogo, insomnia, International Cooperation Agency, Japan, training
Posted in Childcare, NGO news, Official news source, Psychological health | No Comments »
Monday, March 2nd, 2009
Early in July 2008, SQR blog caught up with Lynda Dyer, who has written ‘Good Grief,’ a book for children intended to help them cope with grief and bereavement. Here are extracts from the interview, with Lynda, and her friends and colleagues, Peng and Beate.:
LD: We landed on 12th May, and somebody mentioned that there had been an earthquake. The earthquake was at 2.28pm and we landed at 6.30pm. I was here teaching Neuro Linguistic Programming for a few days. We were here in town and so we couldn’t help but hear the news. On the TV we saw at the bottom of the TV screen that they were looking for coaches.
So we said, we can do something we are coaches, we coach coaches. So they kept asking us for coaches. The people were devastated and needed help to get through this, so I went back with this scathingly brilliant idea, we call it.
Peng was amazing, because once you give her an idea she flows with it.
She also has an incredible network of contacts.
We were flying off each other, bouncing ideas off each other, and I said, I don’t think we can do this on our own. So let’s look at the organizations which are going in there, and what qualifications they had.
She ended up doing a lot of the work in finding out what was happening.
And then it went from there we found people, well Peng did. Also, Beate would find organizations, and even when I went back to Australia, there were organizations we were then contacting, telling them we need money to get the books translated into Chinese, but the money wasn’t forthcoming at the beginning.
So we went ahead and got the books printed anyway, not even knowing how we were going to fund it. When I came back here in June, the books arrived, but we still didn’t know how we were going to pay for them.
There were various things going on, including a triathlon event.
Peng’s friend asked here, How about if I put it to the group tonight that we can fund the books?
The people were very generous, and the organiser started the ball rolling by putting 5000 rmb on the table, which was amazing.
Then I ran a values morning and people paid for that, and donated the money, and soon we had enough for the first set of books.
It just went from there, and more donors were found, and we decided that the minute we got money for the next 2000 books, we start printing.
…Every time we met somebody they were really excited about what we were going to do, because it was so positive, we had a book, we had something that they liked and the kids liked, and the parents liked.
If they didn’t like it, then OK, it was an idea, it could just fade out.
However, it was so well received, we kept on working on it.
We went up to the earthquake zone, to the epicentre.
We met the most amazing volunteers. We were told we would have trouble getting through the checkpoints, but we never had any problems…
We’ve had this trip this time, and we also came back here in June. Friday was amazing. We went up there we had no contacts. School had finished. A few kids were hanging around, and they knew we were the writers of the book. A teacher came up to us and asked us if we would come along to his school. We said we would, and the next thing we were in the school. The headmaster there is amazing, he really makes things happen. His school was educating students from the other schools that didn’t exist any more, and he now had 1200 students. He asked for 1200 books. We would also like to help him get the land for the school he wants to build.
So we came back and we had an order for more books.
We need at least 2000 books per school, so we’re looking to print about 10,000 books in the next run.
It’s a big order, but if these books will help kids, parents, and grandparents turn around from being in grief, then it’s well worth it.
We have also talked at length with SQR about how we can work together to make more things happen…
SQR blog: Today when you went up into the quake-hit area, you took part in a sports day.
What’s changed since June?
LD: We were with the right people who have permissions, which made things easier.
We helped set up activities. I was a soccer coach, we played soccer, volleyball, a big parachute game, shuttlecocks, and there were also arts and crafts…
Beate: Art and crafts: it was amazing. I didn’t know what to do. I started cutting paper hearts, and they all wanted to do this, and then one boy who was very creative started making bracelets.
It was wonderful to see how they help each other and how creative they are.
Then something else came up, which was face painting. They kept coming back. Other children kept coming over and they were happy to be doing these activities.
LD: There were many tables, with colouring in, giant jigsaw puzzle for older kids, a Winnie the Pooh puzzle for the smaller kids, and plenty of other things to do.
The people we went with today are from the Rainbow Project. They do an amazing job, they go up there every Sunday.
They take up around 20 people. Not everyone goes every week. Whoever wants to go can go. There is a little handout, and you put your name down for arts and crafts, dance, music etc.
Every Sunday they know to come to this spot for activities. The numbers of kids are declining because more housing is becoming available in more places, and it’s further to go for a lot of the kids.
The plan is to come back every month.
We’re also in touch with people in Sydney now, we’re looking to work with the government, and there’s a huge Chinese community there. Maybe they lost people here.
Distribution is done by 5 different organizations. Postage is becoming expensive, so we are looking to print locally here in Chengdu.
It’s been an overwhelming experience. Head of XL has invited me to go back to Australia via Hong Kong, so opportunities are coming. We will print as many books as are needed. The next run is 10000. We are paying all our way for everything. We just want the books printed, and we hope they help people.
[SQR blog: apologies to Lynda and her team for taking so long to post this]
Read Lynda’s account of her contact with earthquake victims
Tags:Good Grief, Lynda Dyer, Rainbow Project
Posted in Arts, Childcare, Civil society, Donation, Psychological health, SQR Activities | No Comments »
Friday, February 27th, 2009
联丰村“太平”文化中心动工 川保险业关注重建
2009-02-24 来源： 四川新闻网
On 20th Feb, Taiping Community Centre in Lianfeng Village, Anxian, Mianyang City, which received 1.23 million RMB from Taiping Life Insurance Co., started constructing.
According to Du Shaoyou, the village head, the original community Center that had served 1143 ‘Left-behinds’ (children, women, and elderly whose relatives are away working, leaving them behind in their home village/town) from Lianfeng and other five neighbouring villages was destroyed in the quake.
The centre that is expected to be completed in June this year will be mainly used for Children and Elderly people and also a training centre for female villagers.
2月20日，在地震中遭受重创的绵阳安县联丰村太平文化活动中心正式破土动工，该中心由太平人寿保险有限公司捐款123万元与联丰村共同兴建。中心建成后将成为联丰村及附近5个丘区村留守儿童学习知识、留守妇女学习技术、空巢老人颐养天年的场所。
据联丰村村支书杜少友介绍，联丰村及附近的5个丘区村共有留守儿童643人、留守妇女400多人、空巢老人100余人。“5•12”地震使安县联丰村“留守儿童关爱中心”400多平米的公共设施和辅助设施毁于一旦。
预计该中心将于2009年6月前落成。
Tags:'left-behinds', An'xian, Du Shaoyou, Lianfeng, Mianyang, Taiping Community Centre, Taiping Life Insurance Co.
Posted in Childcare, Civil society, Construction and infrastructure, Facilities reconstruction, Local government, Official news source, Social welfare | No Comments »
Friday, February 27th, 2009
200名四川地震灾区儿童在长春滑雪过“小年”
2009年01月19日
This Jan. 18th is the traditional Chinese “mini new year” and from the quake-stricken areas of Sichuan Maoxian, 200 Qiang children in this day came to Changchun City, Jilin Province Jingyuetan Ski Resort, to celebrate their first ever world of ice and snow “mini new year”
新华网长春1月18日电（记者王昊飞）18日是中国传统的阴历“小年”，来自四川茂县地震灾区的200名羌族小朋友在这一天集体来到吉林省长春市净月潭滑雪场，用滑雪的方式庆祝他们有生以来的第一个冰天雪地的“小年”。
Our hometown is also snowing now, but the snow will melt quickly once it falls down to the floor. Here the snow is very thick and hard, so we can ski on it happily and freely.” Yu Jiaoxiao, from Qugu primary school of Maoxian, told us, “after the earthquake there is no school, but only my grandmother had some minor injuries. Father, mother, and my brother are all staying at hometown. ” She alone, together with other 199 Qiang children were sent to Changchun city last June.
“我们家乡也下雪，但是雪落到地上就化了，这里的雪很厚、很硬，踩着雪板滑在上面好开心。”来自茂县曲谷小学的王娇巧笑着告诉记者，地震后学校没有了，但家里仅有奶奶受了点轻伤，爸爸、妈妈、哥哥都留在老家，她自己于去年6月和其他199名羌族小朋友一同被送到长春市，目前在长春解放大路中学读初一。
Among these 200 kids, there are not so many lucky ones as Wang who still has a complete family. The majority of them have lost some of their relatives or even both of their parents.
据了解，在这200名小朋友中，像王娇巧这样拥有完整家庭的孩子已是少数，大部分孩子在地震中失去了亲人，有的成为孤儿。
On that day, the children were wearing a long skirt and cotton-padded jacket. The color of their skirts is impressively eye-catching in the snow. Because it was their first time skiing, children frequently fell down onto the floor and broke into laughter.
当日，孩子们穿着羌族长裙和棉袄，撑着雪杖驰骋在雪野中，色彩光鲜的裙摆在雪地上赫然醒目。由于都是第一次滑雪，所以孩子们在雪地中频繁“人仰马翻”，笑声变成回音久久响彻在四周。
The chairman of Changchun City Jingyuetan Tourist Group, Wenbin said: “It is the responsibility of the whole society to make these children spend their first Spring Festival after the quake happily. Today is the” mini new year “, so we invite our children go to the resort as their new home. Celebrate the holiday in this way is not only a happy experience but also a kindly love message sent to them. /’
长春市净月潭旅游集团董事长宫文彬说：“让地震灾区儿童快乐地度过灾后第一个春节，是全社会的责任和义务。今天是”小年”，我们把孩子请到雪场来，让他们用滑雪的方式庆祝节日，不仅仅是带给他们一种快乐，更重要的是给他们带来关怀和爱。”
[SQR approx. translation into English]
Tags:Changchun, holiday, Jilin, Jingyuetan Ski Resort, Maoxian, new year, primary school, Qugu, Winter
Posted in Childcare, Official news source | No Comments »
Friday, February 27th, 2009
Hope Project to invest 400mln Yuan in Sichuan quake zones
Xinhua 2009-01-07 18:43:25
More than 410 million Yuan (about 60 million U.S. dollars) will be invested by the Hope Project in quake zones in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, according to the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF).
Some 254 primary schools in 33 counties will be built with the money, said Tu Meng, deputy general secretary of CYDF. A construction timeline had not been decided yet, Tu said.
The foundation will also provide computer rooms, libraries, movies, sports grounds, teacher training and scholarships.
The money will be used in eight quake affected areas in Sichuan, including Chengdu, Mianyang, Deyang and Aba Autonomous Prefecture of Tibetan and Qiang nationalities.
Donations helped raise the 410 million Yuan, said Tu.
Hope Project, started in 1989, is a Chinese public service project organized by CYDF and the Communist Youth League (CYL). Its goal is to help children in poverty-stricken areas to go to school.
Tags:Aba Autonomous Prefecture of Tibetan and Qiang nationalities, Chengdu, China Youth Development Foundation, Communist Youth League, CYDF, CYL, DeYang, Hope Project, Mianyang, primary school, Tu Meng
Posted in Childcare, Civil society, Education, Ethnic minorities, Facilities reconstruction, Governance and social policy, Investment, National government, Official news source | No Comments »
Friday, January 16th, 2009
Sichuan Quake Relief volunteers delivered winter supplies to children at a school in the village of Guangji, two hours northwest of Chengdu on January 9th, 2009. The 132 children, aged two to six years, currently attend a day school in a temporary structure with no heat or running water. In spite of their conditions, the children greeted volunteers with smiles and a song.
Schoolboy at Guangji Kindergarten.
Their school, Guangji Di Kang Le Kindergarten, was closed due to structural damage after the earthquake. The school has been moved to a temporary structure in a neighbouring field until part of the school can be reinforced, and an older section demolished. Principal Kang Yuling hopes that they will be able to return to the school in September 2009 if donations are made available. The school has been given a 5,000rmb subsidy by the government to help with the rebuilding, but it will cost at least 50,000rmb to simply strengthen the structure, plus any decoration costs.
The temporary building is cold.
As the temporary classrooms are extremely cold, SQR volunteers provided students with 15,806rmb’s worth of winter supplies, including; gloves, scarves, coats, long underwear and electric kettles (receipts available). The funding for this project was provided by the British Chamber of Commerce Shanghai (www.sha.britcham.org). The British Chamber of Commerce Shanghai donated a total of 37,000rmb to be used for this school.
School principal (l) Kang Yuling
The Guangji Di Kang Le Kindergarten is the only pre-school institution and Kindergarten serving five villages. Almost all the parents of the children that attend this school are migrant workers who are forced to work in the coastal cities as there is very little employment in the quake area. This school is a non-profit community project that has been around for more than 20 years. Principal Kang taught many of the parents of her current students when the school opened up first. In 2006, to help them move to better premises she donated part of her family’s farmland, and a section of her family home to start the school. In addition, the other teachers raised enough money to build a new section, purchase playground equipment, and supplies.
The building remained standing, but damage is severe.
The school they built then with their own money, though badly damaged by the quake, was one of the few buildings in the area that stayed standing. All of the children and staff got out of the building safely when the earthquake struck.
Tuition for the kids, including meals, is 120rmb per month. If families cannot afford the fees the school reduces or waives them. The local government has confirmed there will be no more financial support for this community kindergarten. SQR is currently assessing the situation in detail with a view to helping to rebuild the school, and perhaps extend the community facilities, and develop a long-term partnership with the Guangji community. This project will be implemented in conjunction with the Chengdu American Chamber of Commerce, the British Chamber of Commerce SouthWest China, and the European Chamber of Commerce in Chengdu, and the Chengdu International Women’s Club.
Photos by Kirsten Allen
Tags:assessment, British Chamber of Commerce, community project, demolish, glove, Guangji, Kang Yuling, kettle, kindergarten, long-term partnership, migrant, non-profit, reinforce, scarf, school, Shanghai, subsidy, temporary housing, tuition, winter supplies
Posted in Childcare, Civil society, Construction and infrastructure, Donation, Education, Facilities reconstruction, Home rebuilding, Infrastructure, Labour and migration, Living conditions, Local government, SQR, SQR Activities, SQR Donation Request, Winter | No Comments »
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
Report by Andrew Jacobs for the New York Times, November 21, 2008:
BEIJING — The news conference on Friday was meant to explain how far the government had come in helping victims of the earthquake that devastated Sichuan Province last May. More than 200,000 homes have been rebuilt, 685,000 are under reconstruction and $441 billion will be spent in the coming years to help make Sichuan whole again, Wei Hong, the provincial vice governor, told reporters.
But a garbled translation of Mr. Wei’s words ended up shifting public attention from reconstruction efforts to unresolved questions about how many children perished beneath the rubble of their poorly built schools.
Asked about the final student death toll by a foreign reporter, Mr. Wei gave a lengthy answer that ended with the figure 19,065 — more than double previous estimates and one that would suggest that a quarter of earthquake victims were schoolchildren. Lest there be any doubt, the official English translation of Mr. Wei’s remarks placed the word “student” after the figure 19,065.
The news was immediately picked up by the foreign and Chinese news media. Within hours it was even posted on the central government’s main Web site. In a country where official statistics are often taken with a grain of salt, the figure seemed to be a stunningly frank admission that the earthquake’s toll on children had been even more horrific than anyone imagined.
Later, however, the government issued a clarification, insisting that Mr. Wei’s remarks were flubbed by his translator. The figure 19,065 applied to the number of positively identified victims, it said, not the number of dead students.
For now, the official death toll from the quake stands at 69,227, with 18,222 missing. A government spokesman said the authorities were still working on a final tally of dead students. In the past, the government has said that 7,000 classrooms were destroyed across the province.
Coming six months after the 7.9-magnitude earthquake, the episode has refocused attention on aspects of a national catastrophe that the government would rather forget. Although an investigative committee acknowledged in September that many of the schools that crumbled were shoddily constructed, the government has yet to issue a full report.
The subject remains a difficult one in China. The official narrative surrounding the quake has centered on the military’s Herculean rescue operation and the unprecedented wave of generosity by Chinese who donated their time and money to relief efforts.
But in the weeks after the quake, local officials found themselves on the defensive as grieving parents sought answers as to why so many schools collapsed while adjacent structures remained standing. The anti-riot police were called in to break up rallies, and many parents said they were offered enhanced compensation in exchange for their silence.
During his news conference, Mr. Wei was eager to move on to other issues, pointing out that two million people remained homeless and vulnerable as winter approached. “We have put at the core of our work ensuring that thousands of affected people, especially those living in extremely cold and remote rural areas, will be safe and warm through this wintertime,” he said.
Tags:children, dead, homeless, Vice governor of Sichuan, Wei Hong
Posted in Childcare, Education, Home rebuilding, Living conditions | No Comments »
