I noticed recently that “China becoming the second largest economy” had been media’s hot topic worldwide. Statistics show that China’s GDP has surpassed that of Japan in the second quarter of this year, and China’s gross economic volume is expected to rank No. 2 in the world by the end of this year. Click here
Author Archive
Why Does China Remain A Developing Country
Wednesday, October 6th, 2010Thermometer Code
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Tian Ji Social Service Center
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
Unlike many recently established charitable organisations in rural China, Tianji Social Services Centre boasts some incredible achievements since it started taking shape in 2006. In such a small space of time its dedicated team have expanded their focus from a volunteer service that visited those in the local area living with AIDS, through to the education of orphans and poor rural children and the support of poverty stricken elderly people. This huge charitable endeavour is undertaken by six full-time employees who carry out their work from a well established office in Jilin City supported by an army of between 100-200 volunteers.
But like so many emerging charitable organisations in rural China, they find themselves drastically under-funded. Their care for the poor and those living with AIDS aims to help support them with many of the mental and some financial burdens that afflict these groups of the community for lack of work and/or family support. Although most of Tian Ji’s staff carry out all of this valuable work for free, it’s the training, transport and facilities needed that have resulted in costs the centre has found difficult to cover. Their efficiency is the backbone to the professional quality of care provided all over the city and so it is vital that they find the financial support needed to continue.
Tian Ji has also been offering stipends to see some of the local communities’ most underprivileged students through various stages of education. The annual fee of 3000 RMB (€360/£300/$440) can send one student to high school (6th form college) with greatly increased job prospects. This not only has a significant impact on the life of the child but also on the future of their families’ well-being.
BRICKS supports the vast and important work carried out by Tian Ji Social Services Centre and would like to see its network of care continue to make a difference on so many of its local communities. In the near future BRICKS would like to see Tian Ji raise the 54000 RMB necessary to cover 18 children through Chinese high school and thus make a lasting change to their lives.
Thank you for your support
Xin Yue Center
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010Xin Yue Center
“There is no such thing as a student who cannot learn, only a teacher who cannot teach” asserts Ge Xiaoping, often frustrated by the daily challenges of caring for the 35 mentally disabled students at the Xinyue Special Education Centre. Isolated from the proper access to training and support frequently taken for granted in the West, Xiaoping laments that her and her colleagues need more expertise to better attend to the demands of their students. The reality is, Xiaoping and her colleagues are already doing everything in their capacity to give the children the proper therapy they need, but over time and with a lack of permanent teaching staff, the burdens can weigh them down.
The training and support she seeks are actually already available in the form of open days coordinated for special needs teachers from all over Shanxi province. There they not only have the opportunity to share experiences and methodologies used but also take a break from their often emotionally demanding and stressful roles. But getting Xiaoping and her colleagues to attend involves expenses beyond the resources of such chronically under-funded NGOs. Furthermore, as a church run NGO, Xinyue Special Education Centre is at a particular disadvantage like so many others.
BRICKS believes that these open days are invaluable to the healthy minds the staff at Xinyue require to really play a greater role in the development of the students they teach. To allow one of the 7 teachers to attend this open day costs 548RMB (GBP£50/US$80/ €58). BRICKS hopes they can raise the 13700RMB (GBP£1255/US$2000/€1450) necessary to send not just the teachers but also the 15 full-time nuns and 3 indispensable volunteers of the school, and invites you to make a real difference to the care of Xinyue’s children.
Thank you for your support.
Yong Qing AIDS Center
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010This project page is under construction please call back soon for details
Tian Ai, Handan
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010“To be honest with you, I don’t think we’re going to be able to build the ward for babies born with disabilities,” began Sr. Zhai’s letter to us a couple of months back “or even provide them with a temporary shelter. The room that we currently have for the children we take care of is falling apart and the window frames have been covered up with plastic bags. Needless to say the situation is untenable and the plastic doesn’t hold against the storms that sometimes poor into the children’s bedroom. We also have a problem with space in that the rooms are not only too small but we often have to squeeze more than one child into a single bed. We have received generous donations of bed sheets and clothes, but in the wintertime these thin lairs just aren’t enough to keep the children warm. When it comes to feeding the youngest we don’t always have powdered milk for them and have resorted to feeding them a congee made of wheat flower mixed with sesame oil and salt. For the older children we feed them noodles 3 times a day not having anything else to offer them. In total we are currently caring for 33 children at this centre and we need help.”
Sr. Zhai and her team at Tian Ai had hoped to expand their cradle of care for local orphans, but faced with the harsh realities they portrayed to us above they became aware of the need to take things step by step. They went on to tell us how they not only covered 33 children in their own care on a daily basis, but recently had also successfully carried out 2 broadly based community projects; one involved teaching mothers how they could support the educational needs of their children attending high school, and the other recruited local university students to help in community outreach such as care for the elderly. For a budding organisation this level managerial skill is impressive and something that BRICKS can help them build upon – which is exactly why they wrote to us.
Constrained by their office costs, staff fees and religious status in a closely watched environment, their growth (or even stability) is a challenge. To build upon the love and care with which they already carry out their work, these sisters are looking for a level of training that would benefit their current model. Over the coming months we will be discussing with them on a regular basis the best ways to improve their current systems of practice so as to better serve the children in their care. We also want to see them further develop their community outreach projects whilst maintaining monetary stability in their organisation.
To achieve these goals fundraising will become a huge part of their work and BRICKS will draw from its experiences to give them the know-how needed to raise its funds. For this reason, we appeal to you and anyone you know would be interested in supporting the orphanage and Sr. Zhai’s work to make a donation. Not only will this give better living conditions to the children of Tian Ai, but it will also encourage the sisters to see the great value of internet based fundraising techniques.
Thank you
Tian Yuan Project
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
Mentally handicapped children in China face many problems. In 2007 the Tian Yuan Yizhui Service Centre opened in Shandong Province and has taken 21 students on board since then. The day centre applies care and dedicated therapy to provide its students with the essential knowledge needed for them to transfer back into free, state education and ultimately integrate into local society where possible. The centre already boasts two success stories of students re-entering the state school system.
Sadly the realities of rural poverty mean that the cost of such therapy is beyond the means of most parents. About half the families who attend the Tian Yuan Centre can afford a reduced fee of about US$50/€30 per month while the remainder pay even less or are taken in for free. However, two children have already had to drop out of the programme because the Centre could not afford more children without some support. The shortfall in income further translates into higher pupil-teacher ratios, less equipment and poor maintenance of the building.
BRICKS has been working with Tian Yuan for some time to get a real picture of the needs of the children and the Centre. In that time we have helped them put in place a scholarship programme to cover 5 children’s total expenses at the Centre every year. To fully fund a child at Tian Yuan Centre for one month costs 700 RMB or US$50/€30. BRICKS’ Goal is to raise the US$3,000 which will cover these children for a whole year. With your help, this will ensure the students of Tianyuan are given the opportunities they deserve right from the start.
Thank you for your support.
Hou Dong Yu Elderly Care Services
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010Hou Dong Yu Home Care
Bringing quality Services
to China’s Rural Poor
Care of the Elderly “Family style”
Fr. Paul Xi is a caring person, not satisfied simply to minister spiritually to the people in his parish, he has been for a long time attending to their social needs as well, aided by parishioners who have been inspired by his can do attitude to the needs of the poor.
In 2003 he started a home for the elderly on the admirable principle that, with local contributions, elderly farmers without relatives to care for them could themselves live better together than on their own. The seemingly simple “commune” concept foundered on the problems of modern China, too many people in need and too little support for the elderly at the home as they became less sprightly and unable to “do for themselves” as originally envisaged.
Never one to be upset by such matters, he realized that there were never going to be enough places to offer the growing number of elderly in need. Government statistics support his intuition. People over the age of 60 total 160 million, and 3-5 million more are added every year. Chinese people still think of themselves as being very caring of the elderly and in general they are, but the assumption that “their family will take care of them” fails to appreciate that urbanization and the one child policy have turned such expectations on their head. 1% of the elderly have no relatives, a figure exacerbated by those who live far from their children.. Many villages are now home to only the elderly, while the children have left for the city for work. Elderly villagers may, technically, have families to take care of them, but in effect they too are alone in their old age.
Fr. Xi has set up what is a radically new model of elderly care for rural China, even if it is well known in the West. Home based care has become an integral part of elderly care services abroad, but the model is still in its infancy here, with no welfare system to support its implementation for those without means to buy in such services. Add to the mix rural conservatism and the barriers to implementation become serious. Fr. Xi is rising to the challenge and has begun to offer the service to an initial group of 85 seniors scattered across Eastern Xingtai County in Hebei, China. The existing home, is part of the programme offering holidays to the elderly in the picturesque setting of the elderly home, by rotation through the year.
This model of elderly care has much greater sustainability than does the original approach, as well as being able to offer support services to a much greater number of elderly. On present estimates (the programme is in its infancy) they expect that it will cost about 100 rmb a month to care for one elderly person (compared to three times that in even the most basic home). Volunteers take up much of the effort, and local donors have bought him a van. Some costs are unavoidable however, and without a welfare system, they depend on donations to provide the service. Currently 20% of those donations are raised locally.
BRICKS is committed to working with Fr Xi and his team, building their capacity to offer this kind of service. Western countries are very familiar with this approach, but for rural Hebei, there are no models of best practice to assist them. BRICKS will bring those models nearer to them though training programmes with other partners. Part of the commitment is to help them raise the funds to offer this service. We hope that you will want to help China’s rural poor have a more dignified old age by contributing to this service.
€11 euro, (US$15, GB£10) will guarantee home care service to one shut-in for one month and also show that this model of home care is not a pipe dream suited only to western countries, but that even in rural China it is possible to offer quality elderly care “family style”.
