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 »
The May 12 earthquake did not only affect Sichuan but also many of its neighboring provinces like Gansu in North West China. Song Shu, a small village in Gansu was not spared of this. The earthquake damaged the water tank and is not in full use since May 12. Barely 20% of the tank is being filled for fear of collapse. The provincial inspectors filed a report that the tank is unfit for operation and is need of major repair. Should the tank be left in its current state, the parish will be forced to close the tank. The parish asked for help from the government but they were denied of funding as its currently focusing on other matters (problems) that arose as a result of the May 12 earthquake.
Gansu Province is located in the Northwestern parts of China. It has a very arid and dry topography. Water is scarce in Gansu and is often considered as a precious commodity. A lot of places and communities in Gansu are in need of water for farming, livestock and consumption. One such place is Song Shu.
Song Shu is a quaint little town just outside Wu Wei. Even though water is scarce, most families in Song Shu live through farming. Water for irrigation is rationed by the government, but drinking water in Song Shu, like in many places in rural Gansu, is a precious commodity. In most cases, water for human consumption is bought. For the past ten years, the local parish in Song Shu has addressed this problem. In 1998, the parish applied for rights to dig for water and build a tank that would supply 2000+ families free drinking water in Song Shu (only half of these families are Catholic). Before the tank, they get their drinking water by collecting rain water through makeshift wells.
Through the local parish’s initiatives with the help of the Lanzhou Archdiocese, the Song Shu community decided to take matters into their own hands and sought for ways to repair the water tank. Bricks has agreed to provide 40% of the repair costs from the funds raised (thanks to your generous donations) for the Wenchuan Earthquake Appeal. With your help, the 2000 people in Song Shu will again be assured of free and safe drinking water. Our promise is that 100% of your donations will go directly to the project.
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.
This video produced by Beichuan County contrasts the situation of Beichuan before and after the disaster. Though in Chinese, it visually captures the situation very well. A contrast between a school sports day on the 11th and the same school the next day is especially poignant.
Mr. Wang was looking intently the screensaver, which I thought a little odd. It was an image of “Beautiful Beichuan” viewed from the surrounding hills. Perhaps a little super saturated to heighten the impact of what was clearly a tourist promotional image, but as Mr Wang was on the Beichuan Mayor’s staff, the choice of image was understandable. What made the scene more poignant is that the Beichuan mayor’s “office” is a tent in Anxian, a totally different county, and the city of Beichuanno longer exists. Mr. Wang showed us pictures of the city as it is now, and skewed buildings and reconfigured hills tell the earthquake story all too graphically. Mr. Wang and the rest of the staff seemed to be going about their work rather mechanically with no particular haste, but then it was Sunday afternoon. They had time and seemed willing for us to view the images from their files. Image after gruesome image rolled across the screen. When we finished watching the slide “show”, Mr. Wang showed us a seven minute presentation of the disaster’s impact on the city. The story line was simple and brought together a propaganda video of happy villagers dancing in a tourist paradise with footage of the immediate aftermath of the earthquake. If that were not enough, the presentation concluded with a contrast between the easy laughter of a schools sports day at the local high school on the 11th, with scenes of overwhelming grief of the same school only one day later. I found it hard to watch but felt I owed to our hosts not to turn away from the affecting images.
In time, my colleagues moved on to business and the minutiae of relief work, all attended to, to this observer’s impression, with frankness and efficiency. I tuned in and out of the conversation as the general direction was obvious, and my role in proceedings marginal.Continue Reading »
Last Saturday involved an unusual flurry of social activity linked to the GAA All China Games (Irish Rules Football, to those who don’t know these things). It was enjoyable to be in the company of so many people from home, even though watching paint drying is, for this observer at least, more enjoyable than being a spectator at any team sport. I became ever more irritated with myself for my willingness to, ever so nonchalantly, drop my imminent departure for Chengdu into various conversations during the course of the evening. Without ever being so crass as to actually say so directly, my throw away reference to the disaster zone’s capital allowed an image of self-effacing, heroic action among the rubble to hover over the discussion of my day job, when in fact the reality is to date, far more prosaic. I was annoyed with my willingness to drop the “C” word into conversation, but enjoyed the admiration it evoked rather too much to actually stop.
Chengdu, in fact, is proving to be something different from my carefully constructed image of acts of mercy among the rubble. The city is without obvious signs of the disaster on its doorstep. No toppled buildings, no displaced people and, were one to judge only from the appearance of the people, one would imagine that the capital of Sichuan was nothing more than another city enjoying the opulent fruits of 30 years of “reform and opening up”.Continue Reading »
Today we are closing the Brick 7 Wenchuan Earthquake Appeal and will no longer be taking general donations for this terrible disaster. The emergency phase has been completed and now begins the long and difficult task of reconstruction. There will inevitably be projects related to this phase in the future, but they will be considered as distinct “Bricks” Already one is in the planning stage “Brick 8” and we imagine there will be more in the months ahead.
Thank you for your generosity and we will be giving a full report on how the funds were assigned later in the year. In the meantime to follow how Jinde Charities is responding to the Disaster, please see http://www.chinacatholic.org/english/more.asp?ttt=6 for details.
As of today, 10th June, the donations stand as €71,313.31 of which €61,795.85, have already been transferred to Jinde Charities. There are some sums still to arrive in our accounts, and once they have done so the remainder will be transferred also. Thank you for your generosity to this appeal, and please remember the ongoing plight of the people of Sichuanin your prayers.
It sounds rather pious perhaps, but saying the Rosary does help. Right now life seems rather fraught, even in the remote fastness of head office, when most of the “action” is taking place in the earthquake recovery zone. Responding to a disaster on this scale is a real challenge for our fledging NGO. On the surface, the prayerful routines with which a group of priests begin the day go on as usual, but, in me at least, it has been overtaken by a kind of claustrophobia that makes sitting before the Body of Christ somewhat difficult. Instead I start my day with a walk in the seminary grounds, the wooden beads of my rosary playing though my fingers. This seems to set me up better for the day at a time when I find it ever harder to keep focused.Continue Reading »
