Last month, Bricks closed its Brick 3 project for which Bricks and the good Dr. Zang were very happy about. Just yesterday, we received an email from Dr. Zang again thanking the donors of Brick 3 for the help they have extended to the Zhen Guan Ai AIDS Center for purchasing the AIDS scanner. He also sent some pictures of the scanner being used in the clinic.
Again, on behalf of Dr. Zang and his clinic, we thank the people who donated for Brick 3.
Hou Dong Yu is in an idyllic setting nest to a reservoir and is unusually mountainous for Hebei Province. The home is an occasions of quiet and rest for the 14 elderly women and men who live there. Built on a philosophy of mutual support and self help, the home offers a protected environment where the residents can continue to follow the rhythms of the farming life with which whey are familiar, but which they are no longer able to follow on their own.
The “Bricks” project was a very simple one, to introduce indoor toilets to the 4 three-bed units which are the norm for the home. In theory a simple idea and much needed, (the alternative is a common toilet outside the main gate with no water,. In practice the project required a complex adjustment to the plumbing in order to keep within regulations and still provide the residents with practical benefits. Building a septic tank was the most difficult aspect of the project. There is no sewage system in the Houdong yu area and disposing of waste so near to a reservoir required a well designed septic tank. The site is on a hill, and placing a tank low enough to allow gravity to take care of the flow meant digging back into the hill side. The result might not look much, since most of it is underground, but ensures that improving the facilities does not impact negatively on the environment.
A second concern was the provision of suitable toilets. The space available in each room was not sufficient, (adding this facility meant the loss of one bed in each room). Giving the residents privacy and ease of access had to contend with cost and space demands in a limited space. In the end each unit is accessible and has supports so that even those with only some mobility can use the toilets without help.
A complexity, which will resolve itself in time, is that the current residents are not used to indoor plumbing and even though it is difficult, many still prefer the outdoor option. A cold winter, and increased familiarity will take care of this problem! However it does point to the challenge which caring for the elderly poses in poor communities. Basic standards are increasing rapidly, and Residential homes must adapt to the changing expectations of society. But if society change rapidly, individual seniors don’t, it takes sensitivity on behalf of the staff to allow current residents to feel at home, in a Home which must adjust to the times. It looks odd to have some of the residents shuffle out to an outdoor lavatory when they have an indoor one available, but this is the anomaly of a rapidly changing society.
Thank you for your kindness in funding this project. The financial report is being translated and will be posted next month.
The five mascots of the Bejing have a rather sweet naming convention. Each one is based a Chinese character in the sentence “Beijing welcomes you” doubled to sound like child’s pet name. So you get, Bei-Bei, Jing-Jing and so on. It must have all sounded so adorable and clever when the ad agency was putting the concept together, and a whole merchandising campaign has been built around these five rather cute characters. Each has their own little personality, but I confess, I am not a big enough fan of the morning cartoon shows to be able to differentiate them, but I suspect any child of seven could do so quite correctly.
Recently however, one begins to wonder if a character is missing from the quintet and a sixth character Bu-Bu, needs to be added to the line-up. Bu-bu (named for the Chinese word not) lacks the sunny personality of his five friends, but without him this particular team is loosing touch with the unfolding reality. Beijing does not welcome you as warmly as Bei-Bei suggests and without Bu-Bu to at least whisper some unpleasant home truths, the soft centred message is beginning to sound awfully thin.
It doesn’t help that I am just back from a “visa run” and found the experience more than usually unpleasant. Although I am very familiar with the processes, I found myself anxious this time lest, for reasons beyond my ken, I might be refused a new visa. That the Hong Kong papers were full of new regulations and reports that tourist numbers are well down on expectations, did little to lighten my mood. There is a plethora of new and unevenly applied regulations and they make the process of getting a visa expensive and uncertain. In effect, I lost a working week and am considerably out of pocket for what was, until not so long ago, a minor inconvenience only. I should hasten to add that, though I was very sensitive to Bu-Bu hovering over my application like a malevolent angel, nothing untoward happened; the entire process was uneventful and I am once again back in the capital. Thank you Bei-Bei!
It isn’t only the visa run which is colouring my attitude, there really are increasing signs that Bei-Bei’s sunny welcome is being countered by Bu-bu’s heavy handed concerns for security. Two bus bombs in Kunming don’t help, and will have given the powers that be, every reason to be nervous. The large media pack add to the situation. Many are here only for the Olympics, have no experience of China and want to fill out their background pieces with overly simplified examples of the contrasts within contemporary China. I have been approached more than once, to help round off, with my Bu-Bu perspectives, the “dark cloud behind the silver lining” story under which China seems permanently to be filed. I am committed to standing with Bei-Bei and cheer on the marvellous achievement which these Games represent and but to my surprise I shiver whenever Bu-Bu’s shadow crosses my path, which it is doing rather too frequently at the moment to be entirely ignored.
Beijing itself does not quite share my gloom, everywhere there are earnest young volunteers oozing beibei-esque hospitality, and were I to counter their earnestness with questions about pollution or the migrant problem I would be dismissed as the Olympian equivalent of Mr. Scrooge humbugging Christmas. Perhaps it is a bit churlish of me to want to introduce Bu-Bu to the mix, just because he is messing up my life a little. Bu-Bu may be a part of the story, but it is too easy sometimes to be a naysayer. For most people, Bei Bei caputures better the mood of the moment. Buildings are gleaming, the city is looking beautiful and the enthusiasm for the event is palpable. Maybe its better to go with the flow, and let the Games begin!
A few weeks ago, Bricks Director, Joseph Loftus, went to Sichuan Province to work with volunteers and the people in charge of the relief and rebuilding efforts in the earthquake stricken areas in Sichuan. In one of those occasions, Fr. Loftus, together with Jinde Charities visited, a camp for the survivors of a middle school in Beichuan County. He took some pictures and some footage of the camp. Here are some of them.
Three buses exploded this morning in Kunming City, Yunnan Province’s capital , killing three people and injuring 14 others. According to a spokesman from the Yunnan Public Security Bureau, the bus explosions were “cases of man-made, deliberate sabotage.” More on the incident from Reuters.
Washington Post Reporter Jill Drew writes about a family that survived the 5.12 earthquake in Beichuan County and the difficulties that they and the millions of farming families face in starting over.
From FinancialTimes.com comes an interesting look on China’s suburban citizens, the sleeping dragon that is slowly awakening.
As a foreigner, living in Beijing is to be exposed to extraordinary contrasts almost on a daily basis. One gets used to the excellence of the transport system, the availability of all but the most obscure of home comforts and a standard of living unsustainable at home. At the same time my work brings me into contact with those at the bottom of the economic ladder, who are those whom, in any society, struggle for recognition, but as residents of the Chinese countryside are not even guaranteed a place on the first rung; I speak of the handicapped, and the disabled, those who can be abandoned at birth here as being of no value, but whom the Irish language refer to graciously as “God’s People”. Recently, I came across a group of Sisters offering the possibility of a life to these children whom society has rejected.
At first it was supposed to be a straight forward visit to an orphanage. The Sisters would be gracious, the children winsome and the decisions made about cooperation reasonable. The Sisters were indeed gracious, the children more winsome than I could have expected, but I left with an overwhelming sense that the home was stuck in a rut, offering barely basic care to “God’s People” when even I could see that more was possible. It was hard to see a child of 10 denied a cleft palate operation because he was also severely mentally disabled and therefore was “less in need of the surgery” or to see a crippled child not get an education because he could not be brought to school. It was deeply disturbing and part of me wanted to shout at those dedicated women for their lack of imagination and for neglecting the children whom God had put in their charge.
Of course to do so would have been grossly unfair. I would be shouting at them for being as poor as their neighbours and for having horizons narrowed by that poverty. These dedicated women love the children; it is not their fault that they have not been introduced to the advances in professional care which we take for granted. So I did not shout, and I hope I avoided communicating some of my frustration at the unrealised potential of this group of God’s People. After all, I will get into the transport they provided and drive back into my shiny Beijing world, while they have to continue to care for these children as best they can, depending on handouts from neighbours as poor as themselves. Every week a new child will arrive and they will try and care for him or her while I will write a moving article about it from my air-conditioned office. From this elevation one can see so clearly the needs of this or that child, but the Sisters clean up after them and share their very humble lifestyle. I could not do that and the three hours I spent there was long enough, thank you very much.
The Olympics is about the potentials of the most physically able women and men on the planet and the government has built beautiful temples to display their prowess. It is an achievement to be proud of. The potentials of “God’s people” in rural China are more modest, and the temples built by the Sisters are more ramshackled. Still, were there justice in this world, some of accolades showered on athletes and organisers alike would be going to the countryside, to “God People” and those who are care for them, even if the achievements seem, in comparison, very modest indeed.
You can read Part One HERE
Bricks came to know about Tianjin Hai He through Sr. Claire Zhai who used to be a volunteer worker for The Red Ribbon Foundation in Ditan Hospital in Beijing. I asked Sr. Claire what she thought about working with persons with HIV/AIDS. Simply put, her answer, which she gave in Chinese, was that it was not a job. Watching her, I noticed that’s how she behaved. She had this easy going and relaxed manner with the group. She didn’t impose either nor does she treats herself like some “visitor” or “guest”. She’s just there. Sr. Claire is a Catholic nun who has been involved with AIDS work for more than three years, first with Ditan as a volunteer worker and now through Jinde doing consultancy work with AIDS support groups like Tianjin Hai He. Not only did she introduce the group to Bricks but she also introduced the group to the local church where they regularly meet. Sr. Mary Yang, one of the sisters in the Tianjin Cathedral, know Sr. Claire and her work with PLAs. She got in touch with Sr. Claire and offered the group a meeting room in the cathedral which they could use for their regular meetings.
Not all the members of Tianjin Hai He are like Xiao Xuen, Da Hua and Li Hu. There are also the quiet ones, the ones who are still coming to terms with them being HIV+, like Mr. Liu. He only found out two months ago and I could still see that from his interaction with the group, he was a bit reserved and quiet and perhaps even a bit afraid. It was his first time to go to a public meeting with the other members through Da Hua and Li Hu’s persuasion. During the interview, he says that he was thankful for having found a support group that could actually understand his situation. He is somehow fortunate to have found Tianjin Hai He.
Not everyone living with HIV/AIDS is fortunate enough to find a support group like Tianjin Hai He. A joint study by the WHO, UNAIDS and the Chinese Health Ministry estimates that are 700,000 Chinese living with HIV/AIDS, which accounts to .05% of the population. Although education and awareness has fast been improving in the past decade especially with the top leaders in the government putting priority on the issue, this does not translate to the change in perception of HIV/AIDS among many Chinese. The stigma that comes with the disease is the more debilitating factor than the disease itself. One becomes faceless with HIV/AIDS. And “face” is important in Chinese culture. “Losing face” means to temporarily lose a certain sense of propriety and pride which the Chinese hold so dear. With HIV/AIDS, the “lost of face” goes to a whole new level, it becomes permanent. PLAs are “removed of the face”. They become faceless. They don’t exist. In many cases, coming out in the open is a social death sentence. Not all families are as accepting. Not all employers are as understanding. Not all hospitals are as accommodating. With HIV/AIDS, one becomes the unwanted guest in the family, a liability in the workplace and a mere statistic in the medical profession. .05% of the population does not exist because of AIDS and support groups like Tianjin Hai He become the sanctuary for men and women living with HIV/AIDS as many of them become all of the above.
With a regular venue, the sisters’ support and backing from the local CDC, Tianjin Hai He has evolved into a more organized, established and secure group. They have a hotline where members who are not yet ready to face other members can call for counseling and advice. They have a website/blog (managed by Xiao Xuen), an email address and a QQ messenger account for Internet and web gatherings. Recently, Li Hu attended a major training conference about cultivating AIDS support groups like Tianjin Hai He. I was impressed. What Fr. Loftus noticed was the business card that Li Hu handed out to everybody. It was nothing fancy, but it was a Tianjin Hai He business card. It meant that they were serious. It’s a good omen. The group plans to network with other AIDS support groups and they are being encouraged by the sisters and the local CDC to do so. It is very evident that knowledge about treatment and ways to prevent infection are not the only things that matter when someone has HIV/AIDS, it’s also connecting with other PLAs. From what I saw that day, the latter is more important than the former.
The disease and the social and emotional complications that comes along with it seem to have made a unique bond between these men. I looked at them during the meeting and I saw fear, yes, but not as much fear as I thought one would possess when one is faced with HIV and AIDS. As I looked at them I saw other emotions too. Like joy when Da Hua told the group that he has finally told his family that he is HIV+ and the family is dealing with it and slowly learning to understand it. I saw concern on their faces when one member, Yun Ming was telling the side effects of his new cocktail drugs. Each was willing to share their experience that might help him deal with it better. I also saw hope in their eyes. I also saw hope in their eyes when they were talking with us, especially with Sr. Claire. I saw the same hope when they thanked Sr. Mary who had offered them the room to use on a regular basis. It was the same hope that I saw when they were talking to CDC representative who regurarly come to their meetings. People like them give them hope that Chinese people can actually accept them without any sort of judgment and that they actually understand. Hope that translates to many things like living this reality they call AIDS and that happiness is possible. As Da Hua pointed out to us “The past doesn’t matter anymore. We must think of tomorrow.” Living with AIDS doesn’t have to mean the end. Life after AIDS is possible. I see it in the faces of these men.
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The crowd jostling against each other in the halls of Tianjin’s large and dingy temporary station were good-humored despite the grimy environs. Trains were running on time and people were getting to where they needed to be. Suddenly a woman next to me started shouting frantically. You could hear the rising panic in her voice but eventually a man responded and was given a very public “earful” for having gone off with the tickets for both of them. He (I took him to be her husband) was embarrassed and tried to move away, but there was for a length of time, no let up, despite his reassurances. He did not respond in kind, but he clearly wanted this over. Finally, she calmed down and the two were reabsorbed by the anonymous crowds waiting for the train to Beijing.
One fast and efficient train journey later, I saw them heading for the exit. They were holding hands and talking, not as young lovers might, but as one hears many married couples talking in semi public contexts. By that I mean every topic, the weather, the mortgage or what they were going to have for dinner weaving in and out of .one another all on the same relaxed tone. What caught my attention was the ease of manner between them and the holding of hands, when barely sixty minutes earlier, all was fireworks. There was no trace of it now, instead a simple and rather moving picture of what I took to be an established married couple still able to link hands in public, all traces of earlier frictions forgotten. The difference an hour can make!
I found the transformation remarkable. If the idiot husband had behaved so badly then, how could he be so quickly forgiven now? If the panicky wife had berated him so publicly then, how could she so easily restored to grace? There cannot, have been a resolution of issues, she is going to panic again, and he is going to be thoughtless again and yet it seemed that all that mattered was to be linking arms and talking the small talk of every couple on the way out of Beijing station.
Watching, I felt I was being given a lesson on love. Love is an applied science, and we, (celibates that is), speak about it in such theoretical terms, that it can loose its connection with the earthly context in which that love has to be lived, especially in that terra incognita which is an unfolding marriage relationship. In a marriage, or in any relationship of love, many issues don’t get resolved, but if mutual love exits, it’s still possible to link arms and give the honest impression of being a happy couple, even if you still think he is a twit for going off like that or that she really needs to stop panicking at the smallest thing!
My faith is centered on one who loved enough to die for those He loved, even though we frequently don’t live up to His standards. That degree of forgiveness I find a constant challenge. However, a couple who could set aside the argument of a mere hour earlier and be at peace with one another captured the essence of His action more completely for me than many a homily, even those I have preached myself!
From resentments held onto beyond the moment of experiencing them, especially ones against those I love, Good Lord deliver me. Amen
Such are my prayers as I ride the ever faster and more impressive rails of China.
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