World AIDS Day didn’t go unnoticed in Tianjin. Tianjin Hai He, together with China Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Sisters of Charity of Tianjin Cathedral went out to the streets of Tianjin on November 30 and December 1 to help promote AIDS awareness among Tianjin citizens. The volunteers went to Hongqiao area, Hebei University of Technology area and the Tianjin Cathedral to distribute pamphlets and hold awareness seminars to people who were willing to listen. Continue Reading »
Although we have already closed the Earthquake Appeal (Brick 7), your donations are still continuing to help numerous victims of the May 12 Earthquake. Your generosity and kindness not only enabled us to help with the relief and rebuilding efforts through Jinde Charities, but also paved the way to help a small community rebuild a very needed water tank. Bricks is also helping another earthquake related project in Sichuan, this time in assisting an organization to build a therapy center for earthquake victims.
In response to the aftermath of 512 earthquake, the Chinese Association of Analytical Psychology (CAAP), together with the associations of psychoanalysis from Guandong, South China Normal University and Fudan University, set up the “The Garden of Heart and Soul” to help the the victims deal with the stress and grief of losing their homes and their loved ones through counseling and therapy. It is not uncommon for victims of natural disasters to experience post traumatic stress syndrome. Continue Reading »
Brick 8’s Song Shu Bio Gas Project has already started with a pilot scheme of 14 biogas digesters, which have been tested and already distributed to 14 families in Song Shu Village, all thanks to the generosity of Brick 8’s donors.
As the coming winter season approaches, the need for a cheaper source of supplementary energy source for heating and cooking increases. Song Shu Parish is planning to build another 40 digesters for 40 families in Song Shu Village. They are hoping to have these digesters distributed before Christmas.
With your help and support, the families of Song Shu Village will have sustainable, efficient and cost effective source of energy.
If you are interested in helping this project, please go this link.
Bricks recently visited Jilin Province and caught up with Dr. Zang of Zhen Guan Ai AIDS Center. Right now, the project is already closed still the good doctor and his patients would like to extend their gratitude to the generous donors of Brick 3. This time we were able to video tape our conversation with Dr. Zang. See the video for more details.
The members of Tianjin Hai He had 3 good reasons to celebrate the Mid Autumn Festival - their T-cells are good, their group is going strong and growing and they have a new office. The new office will allow the members of the support group them to meet regularly.
Tianjin Hai He extends its feepest gratitude to its generous donors.
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Yinning Home has been recently hard up for funding but through your generous donations, Bricks t is supporting 9 senior residents this year. The support that Bricks is giving covers the living expenses of the 9 senior residents. Moreover, the home decided to initiate income generating measures like building their own vegetable garden, raising livestock and poultry to minimize the cost of food in the home and to also give the senior residents an important role in the upkeep of the home. They are also trying their luck with local government agencies with the hopes of helping them improve their facilities and operations. A coal mining company has already pledged support for the home during the harsh winter months.
Yinning Home extends is heart felt gratitude to all the people who have donated to Brick 4.
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Hou Dong Yu is in an idyllic setting nest to a reservoir and is unusually mountainous for HebeiProvince. 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.
