Sichuan Quake Relief

Huang Li was at home alone in Dujiangyan when the earthquake struck. Pinned under the rubble of her collapsed building, she remained trapped and undiscovered for 96 hours. She says the thought of her 9-year-old son losing his mother kept her alive for so long. Eventually, after four days of searching by local police, firefighters from Yunnan Province and volunteers, Ms. Huang was rescued and rushed to hospital. The extent of her injuries left doctors no choice but to amputate both of her legs and her left arm.

Through months of rehabilitation and treatment, Ms. Huang has retained her warmth and strength of spirit, and resolved to improve the lives of people with disabilities in China. With the support of Dujiangyan Disabled Persons’ Federation and the Department of Civil Affairs, she founded a disabled rights organisation called Heart Starting Point (HSP; their name in Chinese is Xin Qicheng: “xin” means “heart” and “qicheng” is “to begin a journey”). Her husband, Deng Ze Hong, gave up his popular out-of-town restaurant to be Ms. Huang’s full-time carer and co-director of HSP. He attends to every aspect of his wife’s life without complaint, despite suffering back strain from lifting her in and out of bed. “I’ve chosen the right guy,” says Ms. Huang, smiling. They are still living in temporary accommodation but expect to be back in their rebuilt home before the second anniversary of the disaster.

HSP was established to build on “the enormous support from all areas of society that helped us out of the shadow of fear and sorrow,” says Ms. Huang. “We hope we can show people, through our own experiences, that even though we are disabled, we still embrace life, and we can create wealth and value for this society.” It aims to support not only earthquake victims, but also people who were disabled before or since the disaster.

One of the primary missions of the organisation is to develop the means for disabled people to earn a living. So far they have opened a small workshop that trains people in the art of traditional Qiang Minority embroidery and other handicraft skills, setting up outlets as far away as Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shanghai to sell the work. There are now more than ten disabled people creating beautiful designs to support themselves.

One of the hard-working cross-stitchers is 18-year-old Meng Hongmei from nearby Hanwang Town. She lost both legs because of injuries sustained in the earthquake, causing not only physical but severe psychological distress. Slowly, through informal counselling from Huang Li and others similarly affected, she has grown in confidence, come to terms with her injuries, and has learnt to walk again with the use of artificial legs. She has made new friends through HSP and enjoys her new creative outlet immensely.

Other important aspects of HSP’s work are to encourage the adoption of disabled access and facilities in local businesses and public areas; to help other groups and organisations to provide medical and psychological assistance to disabled people in the area; and help allocate funding (either raised themselves or donated by other organisations) to those that need it most.

HSP has established a growing network of people with disabilities in Dujiangyan — almost 200 members and counting — providing a hub of information about services help available, mostly disseminated through home-visits as part of their community outreach.

With their strong desire to improve society, not only in terms of the needs of disabled people, but also to show that they are just as valuable members of their community as able-bodied people, HSP has an important and long-term mission ahead of it, and SQR hopes they continue to grow and make a strong contribution to social development.

See also: SQR’s Re-granting project.