Archive for the ‘Social welfare’ Category
Saturday, August 8th, 2009
Read about the background to Guy Dru Drury’s epic trip here.
Guy Dru Drury, the CBI's Chief Representative in Beijing, has completed the gruelling 2009 JCCR challenge and deserves plenty of ice in delicate places and plenty of donations. Guy - we salute you.
Messages from Guy Dru Drury on the day of his mammoth pulsating pedal-pushing tour to raise funds for SQR:
- 14:34 “125km completed! Hot & tiring but still doing OK. Now in the mountains!”
- 15:12: “160km update: Have been cycling for 5:40 hrs according to my bike speedo. Chengde another 40-50km away…
- Still very hot and just had a series of killer hills but the downhill through a gully was awesome! Feeling fairly shattered but now not far to go!”
- 18:32: “I finished the challenge! 205km in 6hrs 58 mins. Now heading back to Beijing. Thanks for your support! Guy”
Tags:CBI, Chengdu, Confederation of British Industry, cycle, Guy Dru Drury, JCCR
Posted in Civil society, SQR Activities, SQR Donation Request | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
360 volunteers from China and abroad taught more than 4000 kids in 13 camps organised by SQR in various locations around the affected areas.
The SAME (Sports, Arts, Music, English) camps have been hugely oversubscribed, both in terms of those attending and in terms of volunteers, and have been a lot of fun, a lot of hard work and well worth the effort put in by all involved.
SQR sends huge thanks to all our volunteers who worked under difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions.
This summer in the quake zone, there have been large aftershocks, horrendous rock and mud slides, and many bridges and roads in the area were blocked. The extraordinary torrential rains caused 11,000 homes to collapse in the past week alone, and scores of local residents died. It is a timely reminder that, whilst incredible progress has been made in the reconstruction effort, there is still an enormous amount of work to be done in building up an effective infrastructure in this beautiful area, in terms of roads, bridges, schools, clinics, hospitals and other facilities.
All volunteers were camping, with no hot water available. To compensate, however, there was often a plentiful supply of warm buzzing mosquitoes (thanks to them for committing to the project), and heavy rains on tap pretty much permanently in recent weeks. The volunteers and kids showed great good humour and determination to enjoy themselves.
For the volunteers, life really was not easy at times, but they managed to keep the kids occupied and entertained for a week at a time, which is an achievement in any conditions at all. It is wonderful to see such a tremendous effort from so many people, from students on holidays, from people giving up time from work and their families to help out, from people travelling large distances from all over the country and all over the world to make a contribution. The SAME (Sports, Arts, Music, English) camps have made a difference.
Thanks to the hundreds of people who contacted SQR to volunteer, and thanks to those we said ‘no’ to as well – there were simply too many volunteers. To stay in the loop for future volunteering opportunities, email mark@sichuan-quake-relief.org to be included on the SQR newsletter mailing list.
If you took part in the camps and have stories and photos, please email mark@sichuan-quake-relief and we’ll get them up on our Flickr account (www.flickr.com/sichuanquakerelief) and on the SQR website (www.sichuan-quake-relief.org)
Thanks again
SQR
Tags:dead, landslide, mud, newsletter, rockslide, SAME camps, thanks, volunteer
Posted in Arts, Civil society, Education, Living conditions, Psychological health, SQR, SQR Activities | No Comments »
Saturday, July 25th, 2009
Baoxing, according to government reports, was one of the worst affected areas in the 12 May 2008 earthquake; 3 died, 338 were injured and altogether more than 41,000 people were affected in Baoxing, which is 80% of the total population in the county.
More than 800 houses collapsed, and up till May 11th 2009, 652 of them had commenced reconstruction and 435 had completed reconstruction. 2 middle schools are being rebuilt with the help of Hainan province and 1 Hope Elementary school has been donated by a central government research office in the most affected town called Raozi, which is of Tibetan ethnicity.
Online sources.
Tags:Baoxing, Hainan, Hope Elementary School, house, middle school, Raozi, reconstruction, Tibetan
Posted in Construction and infrastructure, Education, Facilities reconstruction, Home rebuilding, Infrastructure, Local government, National government, Official news source | No Comments »
Monday, July 20th, 2009
Training courses in Chengdu for emergency situations
本报讯(记者石小宏 实习生 陈黎)面对突发的地震、火灾、水灾等灾害，如何在黄金自救时间里运用救生包？20日，在华西医院与香港理工大学护理学院联合举办的华夏高等护理教育联盟暑期灾害护理培训班上，教师给来自内地和香港41所高校护理专业近200名学生出的第一道题。
为期两周的培训，主要是普及灾害理论以及灾害自救护理。举办这样的培训班，目的是让学员们学会灾害中的自救护理，并把这些知识传给更多的人群。
Chengdu-based ‘nursing in emergency situations’ course for mainland Chinese and Hong Kong trainees.
A summer vacation course in ‘nursing in emergency situations’ has been held by Chengdu’s Hua Xi Hospital and Hong Kong Polytechnic University (香港理工大学).
During the course, the first question asked of the 200 students from the mainland and 41 Hong Kong students the first question is, “how can you use a survival kit effectively in case of an earthquake, fire, flood or other major disaster?”
The main aim of the two-week course is how individuals can deal with disasters and protect themselves in emergency situations. The idea is that the course trainees learn survival and first aid techniques, knowledge which they can then pass on to other people.
Tags:Hong Kong
Posted in Civil society, Disaster / risk management, Education, Facilities reconstruction, Health care, Official news source | 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 »
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
The first “Hanmei grants” in Sichuan released by Taiwan Red Cross organizations
2009-06-10 source: www.chinanews.com.cn
According to Chengdu Xinhua (Lin Feng Yang) on the 10th June 2009, the Taiwan Red Cross organization established an organization named “Han-mei grants” in the earthquake area. The first batch of grants were issued to the ‘Liberation of North Road’ Primary School in Chengdu in Jinniu District.
Li Lidong, from the Red Cross Society of China’s Sichuan reconstruction Office, and Chen Dachen and Su Qionghua, from the Taiwan Red Cross Society, as well as important leaders from Si Chuan Red Cross Society, were invited to the issuing ceremony, also attended by more than 1,000 primary school teachers and students.
Tags:Hanmei grants
Posted in Civil society, Donation, Education, Micro-funding, NGO news, Official news source | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
A note from Philip Greening-Jackson, who is working in Dujiangyan.
We have a scheme here whereby we are going to provide occupational training to people disabled as a result of the quake. I am going to teach free, as are most of my colleagues.
We have got some equipment promised and a bit of funding but have come up RMB80,000 short. This is because we shall have to construct wheelchair accessible accommodation for these people. We will be given land and local friends will even organise the construction but we still need that last bit of cash.
We really have come to the end of our own resources now and have to look elsewhere! Please contact us if you can help.
Philip Greening-Jackson
If you can help, please contact info@sichuan-quake-relief.org as soon as possible.
Tags:accommodation, cash, construction, disabled, donate, Dujiangyan, money, occupational training, teacher, training, wheelchair
Posted in Civil society, Donation, Education, Employment, SQR Donation Request | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
The first of professional nursing facility completed a construction project in Sichuan earthquake-stricken district (Xinhua, writer: Zhou Runjian)
Journalists have got news from Hetong Old Age Welfare Association in Tianjin city that the Chinese Red Cross Foundation helped Hetong Old Age Welfare Association with indiscriminate subsidies to design and build the foundation of the Hetong nursing facility of the Red Cross in Ziyan, Mianzhu.
This is the first of professional nursing facilities of reconstruction project in earthquake-stricken area, which aimed at helping the old and childless, the orphaned and disabled.
The Hetong nursing facility, located at 602 Yufei Road Jiannan town, Mianzhu city, which is one of the reconstruction projects. The organization covers an area of 900 square metres. The facility has 10 units of 2 to 4 rooms with 40 beds.
Tags:Chinese Red Cross, health, Hetong, Mianzhu, nursing home, Tianjin
Posted in Facilities reconstruction, Health care, Living conditions | No Comments »
Thursday, June 4th, 2009
Australian group re-building of the three business schools in the Sichuan earthquake damage
A school that was badly damaged in the 2008 WenChuan earthquake re-opened today (4th June 2009) in MianYang in SiChuan Province. The reconstruction project is supported by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, the Blue Scope Steel Group and the Australian Allens Arthur Robinson attorney affairs office.
ANZ Bank said that the three Australian companies are cooperating with the government of Mianyang city Sichuan Province, to reconstruct the teaching building of the YangJia school in the city which contains six new classrooms for 300 students.
The new teaching building was named an “ANZ Bank Building”. Designed for resisting earthquakes of up to 8 on the Richter scale, the building ulilizes high-quality, recyclable building materials, including steel made in Australia.
The school buildings are financed by the Australia-New Zealand Bank Group. BlueScope Steel Group is responsible for the provision of building materials and construction supervision while Allens Arthur Robinson attorney affairs office provides free legal services. The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group will also fund the school’s desks and chairs, and donate stationery to students.
The Chief Executive Officer of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, ZhaoMing Gao, said that ANZ Bank and China are involved in a long-term cooperative relationship. The Yang Middle School reconstruction project provides the opportunity to ANZ Bank “to make some permanent changes in” severely dameaged region in the earthquake.
Tags:Allens Arthur Robinson, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Blue Scope, Mianyang, Wenchuan
Posted in Disaster / risk management, Education, Facilities reconstruction, Investment, Official news source | No Comments »
Friday, May 22nd, 2009
On 14th May 2009, SQR volunteers visited villages in the Wenchuan area.
Villagers setting up tents for the migrant workers they hired
The students in town were relocated to Luzhou and Chengdu, their new school will be put to use in September.
Caopo Central Primary School under construction
Matou Village and Longtan Village can be said to be better off than Lianghe. Using old Chinese wooden house structures, most houses in the village remained standing through the earthquake. There is a big mushroom-shaped plastic-covered greenhouse in Matou, and two white marble quarries in Longtan. As told by a villager of Longtan, if the road remains accessible, they won’t have to worry about buying rice or other things regarding to their basic needs. But again, they were also told not to grow too much.
On the way to Longtan Village; the houses downhill belong to Lianghe Village
Yang Kai yin, a 60-year-old resident of Longtan Village
She has four children: two sons work in Xichang, one son and a daughter stay at home, farming. Her house sustained itself in the earthquake, as did many houses in the village. After reinforcement, the house is now habitable. Though she owns a fairly large field and grow plenty of vegetables, it still concerns her that it is possible that she gets nothing back from it. “They say the village (government) is going to repair that road, and then I can’t get these vegetables and my goats out and sell.” Of the rice that government supplied her, she said, “we don’t have much left. What we have can sustain us through May to Mid-June. Then we’ll have to use a micro-loan to buy rice in town.”
Ni Qiulan, who lives in the same village, is in a similar situation
To repair the house, Ni’s family spent 20-30 thousand RMB, which is almost all the money they got from the government and micro-credit. Ni’s 3 grandchildren now go to school in Luzhou and Chengdu. Although the government takes care of the tuition fees and basic living expenses, “they still need some allowance, you know, when they go out with friends. Things in Chengdu are really expensive,” she said. This family hasn’t bought any rice since the earthquake. The rice provided by the government, “is not enough if you use rice for every meal. We cook corn and rice together so that it lasts longer.” At the time of writing they have about 25kg rice left, and Ni thinks it can support them until mid-June.
One problem for Longtan villagers is traffic. The hill motorway connecting Matou and Longtan is often damaged by rain and landslides, especially in the rainy season. We were told that this road has been repaired twice since it first opened after the earthquake, and the residents have to walk 2 hours to get to Lianghe to buy groceries if they can’t hitchhike.
Liu Sixiu (pink backpack) chatting with Lianghe villagers on her 2-hour walk back to Longtan
Collapsed Middle School at the memorial site of Yingxiu
The collapsed Middle School in Yingxiu, the township at the epicentre of the quake, has been turned into a 5.12 memorial. Nearly every building in Ying Xiu was destroyed and only 3,800 of the 16,000 residents survived, according to official figures.
It has taken a whole year to excavate the enormous piles of rubble that covered the valley where the town is located. The survivors, who are all now in prefabricated housing, hope that work will soon start on their new homes. Local government officials predict that Ying Xiu will become a big tourist attraction for Chinese who want to remember the May 12 disaster and visit the key sites.
The Remains of Yingxiu Middle School
Tags:Caopu, Caopu Central Primary School, Chengdu, food, hunger, Lianghe, Longtan village, Luzhou, Matou village, remains, rubble, school, students, subsidy, volunteers, Wenchuan, Yingxiu
Posted in Construction and infrastructure, Living conditions, SQR Activities | No 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 »
Friday, May 22nd, 2009
Danwei.org article on the Afterquake track, ‘Sala’
From the Afterquake music project, the traditional Qiang minority song “Sala”. More about this video and Afterquake below.
One year after the May 2008 Sichuan Earthquake in China, the Afterquake music project has created music with quake survivors to raise money and awareness for the ongoing reconstruction.
This song is a traditional Qiang minority song called “Sala”, but all the kids in Wenchuan seem to know it whether they are Han, Qiang or from another ethnic group. They also all seem to know the dance. The kids called it a guo zhuang (锅庄) song which means that you dance around a fire while singing it.
The vocals are by the girl in the video named Luo Shuang (罗霜), a 14-year-old first year middle school student from Wenchuan County. She is Han ethnicity. Her mother appears at the end of the video, on the site where they are rebuilding their house, which was destroyed in the earthquake. The accompanying music was produced by Abigail Washburn and Dave Liang, of the Shanghai Restoration Project. The video was shot and edited by Luke Mines.
To hear more of the music, see pictures from the project and to learn more about how to support Sichuan Quake Relief visit afterquakemusic.com, or support SQR by getting the tracks on iTunes or Amazon.
Proceeds from the music help to provide much needed quake relief to the 5 million who lost homes in the earthquake through the work of Sichuan Quake Relief.
Tags:Abigail Washburn, Afterquake, earthquake, Luke Mines, music, Sexy Beijing, video, Wenchuan
Posted in Arts, Civil society, Media, SQR | 2 Comments »
Sunday, May 10th, 2009
After the Chengdu Sports Aid visit to Xiaoyudong on Sunday 11th May 2009, Jonny Dallas, head of Chengdu Sports Aid, wrote this moving ‘Thank you’ letter.
Chengdu Sports Aid volunteers, donors and friends,
Today we completed another successful trip up to the earthquake zone and spent the afternoon with some great kids.
Today’s event had a huge significance to me personally, in three different aspects. Firstly this week is the first anniversary of the May 12th earthquake, and as we drove up those now familiar roads towards Pengzhou, it was heartening to see some progress in the form of new homes, new bridges and finished roads. I even noticed one of the blue roof temporary villages being demolished, which means some lucky few will move back to a permanent home. As we got deeper in to the Longmen mountains though, progress is not so apparent and Xiaoyudong village itself is still a pretty depressing site, with many leaning and fractured buildings still needing to be demolished, hundreds of blue roof temporary homes and not much sign of commerce to kick start their economy. The people as always were very pleased to see us, especially the village kids and the village leader himself. We had a busload of 20+ volunteers who jumped right in to games of rugby, soccer, badminton, ultimate frisbee and basketball with over 100 kids.
The second significance of today was that it was my birthday. When my wife, Kim, asked me what I’d like to do on my birthday, there was never a doubt that I’d like to spend it on a Sports Aid event. So the family plus my father in-law, Steve, packed the van and had a blast.
The third significant aspect of today was with respect to my sister. Today’s event was supported by funds from “Irish Friends in Kircubbin” and dedicated to my sister Karen. On this exact day three years ago my sister unfortunately passed away, at 37, and it was a brutal blow to our family to lose someone so young. As I ran around today, there were several times I thought about how much she would have enjoyed being there with us today. She was a very active volunteer back in Ireland, and spent many summers in the housing estates of Co. Derry, running camps and events, just like today, for underprivileged kids. Friends and family from Karen’s church back in Kircubbin, Co.Down collected money after the earthquake and we were able to put the money to use today.
This all built up a case for today’s trip to be very special, and it was. It was one of those days that motivated me to continue and reassured me that we are making a bit of a difference in quake relief. We set up a rugby game with six boys and after 15 minutes coming to grips with the rules, they started really having fun. For those of you who have participated in many of these events, there’s always one of the kids that is not shy at all, and instantaneously becomes your favourite. Today was no different, the most energetic boy was Xiao Pengyou (Little Friend). I could only name him XP because he was too busy playing and organizing the rugby, to tell me his real name slowly enough for me to understand. Anyway XP became his name and he was a natural Stephen Ferris (Irish rugby player). When he scored his first points it was all worthwhile for me. The look on his face when he scored the try was priceless, even though this was the first time he had seen a rugby ball, never mind play the game, he was so excited. For those 10 seconds of exhilaration he did not notice the crumbling mountains, buildings and roads around him. He did not feel sad that his village is not progressing as fast as everyone promised. He was not angry that the world had moved on to the next media-hyped disaster and forgot about the people of Xiao Yu Dong. He was just ecstatic that he scored for his team. For those 10 seconds of glory he experienced the same thrill every sportsman in the world gets, the pride he felt when all his teammates hugged him and celebrated his score, the nod to the old Auntie on the sideline who really just cheered and wept because she’s happy to see him smile. Xiao Pengyou was THE man and no one was going to knock him off his perch. That’s the universal joy of sports and why I feel Sports Aid can bring a little bit of joy into the lives of hundreds of unfortunate kids in Sichuan, as their communities keep chugging away at rebuilding over the next 3-5 years.
Thanks to all who volunteered today.
Jonny Dallas
Chengdu Sports Aid
Tags:badminton, bereavement, Chengdu Sports Aid, children, Ireland, joy, rugby, running, smile, soccer, volunteer, Xiao Yu Dong
Posted in Civil society, Education, Home rebuilding, Living conditions, sport, SQR Activities | No Comments »
Saturday, May 9th, 2009
The 2nd Chengdu Half Marathon, this time with a parallel/tandem/parallendem event of a 10K run, was completed this morning by a few dozen hardy individuals, in aid of Chengdu Sports Aid. Ben Fredman was on hand to capture photos of the day.
Tags:10K run, Chengdu, half marathon, photos, run, sport
Posted in Civil society, Donation, sport, SQR Activities | No Comments »
Friday, May 8th, 2009
More than 5,000 people in the remote villages of Cao Pu and Li Xian are struggling to meet their daily food needs a year after the deadly earthquake that reduced their homes to rubble.
Cao Pu and Li Xian are examples of the pockets of extreme poverty that are still to be found in the devasted region. The villages are between 2,000 and 3,000 metres high, only a few miles from the 5.12 earthquake epicentre, and since the quake are often very difficult to access by road. With aftershocks, landslides and floods a daily threat to their existence these tent-dwellers often do not have enough food to meet their family’s basic needs.
Sichuan Quake Relief needs your support to keep sending in supplies of rice, oil, vegetables, meat and fruit to these stricken people.
To help support their nutritional needs for the next two months, SQR is aiming to raise 200,000RMB.
Tags:food, help, hunger, starvation
Posted in Donation, Living conditions, Relief | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
Download the podcast interview
Buy an EP or Premium Charity Package
Listen to Dave and Abigail’s interview on NPR’s All Things Considered
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 »
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
Keith Linch, Director of architectural company Robinson JZFZ, is on visiting the Guangji site today to begin the process of designing the Guangji Kindergarten.
This is a major step on the way to getting the kindergarten rebuilt, and to have architects of this calibre involved is a major boost.
For more information on the GuangJi Kindergarten Project, download the project outline or visit the Guangji project page.
Tags:architect, Guangji, Keith Linch, kindergarten, plan, project, Robinson JZFZ
Posted in Civil society, Construction and infrastructure, Corporate Social Responsibility, Donation, Education, Facilities reconstruction, SQR Activities | No Comments »
