In the past few days, our local partner Sichuan Guanghan Church was busy to find out more about the situation and needs of the victims in Lushan County and Tianquan County of Yaan City, Sichuan.
CEDAR supported Guanghan Church and Yaan Church to deliver the rice to the victims in the quake-affected villages in Tianquan County on 28 April.
CEDAR’s China programme officers will go to different affected regions on 2 May to do an in depth post-disaster assessment for planning the next phase of our relief work.
Relief Donation
Cheque payable to ‘CEDAR FUND’
Deposit to HSBC A/C No. 600-385678-001, enclosing with the Pay-in slip
[1] CEDAR is an approved charitable institutions and trusts of a public character under section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance. Please click Inland Revenue Department website to check for details. [2] Donations over $100 are tax deductible in Hong Kong with our receipts. [3] Please DO NOT fax any donation information.
Contact Method
Tel>23819627 Fax>23922777 Email>sharing@cedarfund.org Add>G.P.O. Box 3212Hong Kong
Lushan County, Yaan City of Sichuan, China was hit by a powerful earthquake in the early morning of 20th April causing over ten-thousand injured and over 100,000 homeless. After the quake, Sichuan Province Christian Council immediate sent workers to the quake zone to survey the damage. Since then CEDAR Fund is in close contact with local pastors in Sichuan to learn to latest situation and needs.
One of our local church contacts is the Sichuan Guanghan Church who had previously work in close partnership with CEDAR to respond to the Sichuan Quake in 2008. Together with several church members, the church pastor immediately purchased bottled water to deliver to earthquake affected area. However due to collapsed roads and traffic control, their vehicle could not proceed further. At this emergency rescue stage, only trucks with official permit can enter the seriously affected regions in Lushan County. All relief materials are gathered at an official distribution centre waiting to transport to Lushan. Yaan is a mountainous region with frequent low temperature in the night therefore warm blankets and tents are urgently needed. Other emergency items identified are clean drinking water, food items, baby food and sanitary materials for women.
In partnership with local churches and Christian partners, CEDAR will deploy staff to Yaan after the rescue stage to carry out assessment and to develop recovery plan to implement post-disaster rehabilitation activities.
The latest relief update will be released through:
Relief Donation HSBC 600-385678-001 (Please mark “Sichuan Yaan Earthquake Relief”)
About CEDAR CEDAR Fund is an independent Christian relief and development organisation found in Hong Kong in 1991. We work ‘From Church, Through Church’ and serve the impoverished communities in Asia and Africa in partnership with churches and Christian organisations worldwide, together to build a just and compassionate world in Christ.
Contact Method Tel>23819627 Fax>23922777 Email>sharing@cedarfund.org Add>G.P.O. Box 3212Hong Kong
The setting up of farmers’ cooperatives in Gansu last year was an important achievement of our ministry in China. The transformation of farmers from being voiceless and helpless to participating actively, and even initiating organisation, is one main indicator of community development. In Sichuan, we have contacted many churches serving the communities actively. In Yunnan, we also have developed close partnership with the Yunnan Provincial Christian Council and been mobilising and supporting local churches to be concerned with responses to their community needs. We are happy to see that local churches are willing to go out and serve their communities and the achievement they got in past few years.
Prospect in the Coming Year
Hubei was the first province where we started community development in China with the most experienced team. Last year, our Hubei team started an organic farm project run as social enterprise. This year, they have just started a new project on labour empowerment, aiming to build up the awareness of labour rights and supporting network among villagers who are going to leave their homeland for work.
CEDAR has been implementing development projects in China over ten years. It is time for us to gather past experience on project implementation, church mobilization, community development and to put these experiences together to develop a set of teaching materials to strengthen church education and training works in Sichuan and Yunnan as well as to support local churches to better respond to needs of impoverished communities by walking with the poor and disadvantaged.
Pui Si’s Sharing
‘China is changing. Two decades ago, she was still one of the main countries helped by the international society. But now she has developed as an economic giant and has accumulated rich knowledge and experience in the field of poverty alleviation. Even though there are still many poverty issues have yet to be settled in China, I believe it is time to conclude the community development work in China and share the experience on alleviating poverty with other resource poor nations.’
After the exposure monitoring trips and discussions in the past two years, according to a series of measurement, such as the human development index (HDI), Gini coefficient, political and social stability, uniqueness and the possibility of monitoring project, we have finally chosen Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, India, Nepal, Myanmar and China to be the focus countries for our projects.
Have you thought you can actually TASTE the fruit of CEDAR’s development work?
CEDAR, in partnership with churches in China, serves local communities in Hubei, Yunnan, Gasu and Sichuan, through community development and disaster prevention programmes. We also support local churches to work more on social concern ministry. We cordially invite you to join “CEDAR in China” Sharing Gathering on October 20, 2012. We would like to share with you our stories of responding to the need of the poor and disadvantaged communities in China. You can also taste our Hubei organic products, listen to the sharing of latest development of our projects in China and have a wonderful time of fellowship with other CEDAR friends and staff.
Details
Date> 20 October 2012 (Sat) Time> 2.30pm-3.45pm / 4.15pm-5.30pm (Please choose one) Venue> KUC Space, Kowloon Union Church (4 Jordan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Jordan MTR Station B2 Exit) Activity> Sharing by our experienced programme supervisor, tasting organic vegetables, etc. Registration and Enquiry> contact Ms Lam/Mr Choi at 2381 9627 or sharing@cedarfund.org
When earthquake hit Wenchuan in 2008, many teachers and students died while they were in classes. The poor quality of construction which made the buildings vulnerable to earthquakes was undoubtedly one of the reasons of the casualties; another would be the lack of knowledge in disaster prevention and emergency evacuation skills amongst teachers and students. The government has demanded all schools to conduct disaster prevention classes to pass on the knowledge of disaster prevention and response to students. Without proper training, teachers found it difficult to teach even with teaching material provided. In addition, some schools are very dilapidated and lack basic safety facilities like emergency lighting system or basic fire prevention equipment. Though the principals and teachers worry about the safety of their students, they do not know what they can do.
From 2011, CEDAR started to work with schools in Xuanhan county of Sichuan province to organize disaster prevention and basic health and sanitation workshop and training. It is aimed to assist the teachers to identify risks in their schools and communities, plan emergency evacuation drills and effectively pass on the disaster prevention knowledge. The project also subsidizes a number of schools to improve their safety facilities. CEDAR plans to promote training to 10 more schools in the next 2 years.
Teachers were inspired by the workshop. One of the teachers shared that she has learnt to pass on the message of disaster prevention through real life scenarios, ‘The water level in the river rises in the rainy days, which becomes a risk to the students. I would ask the students to discuss what they need to be aware of before they go home. In this case, the students can remember clearly and know how to apply the knowledge!’ Moreover, her school has started regular emergency evacuation drills after the workshop. Because of such drills, the students know what to do when disaster comes!
