On 3 August, 6.5-magnitude earthquake hit Ludian County in Zhaotong, resulting in over 380 death and 1,800 injured. It is the highest scale of earthquake hitting Yunnan in the past 18 years. Tens of hundreds of houses collapsed, included several schools.
CEDAR’s Yunnan office contacted Yunnan Christian Council (YNCC) and Zhaotong City Christian Council (ZTCCC) immediately after the quake to find out the updated situation. Staff from Zhaotong Church told us that the quake affected areas are still restricted from access. A heavy rain in the first night after the quake caused serious landslide. Relief materials such as shelters, quilts, dried food, drinking water and medicines are the most needed. In the coming week, CEDAR’s staff will head to the quake affected region to assess the situation and map out a concrete relief and rehabilitation response plan.
There are many ethnic minority groups, such as Huis (the Muslim) and Miao, living in Zhaotong, Yunnan. Most of them live by farming under desperate condition. In 2012, CEDAR worked with Yunnan Christian Council to deliver one-month food supply to 6,000 families in Yiliang County, Zhaotong, (a 5.7-magnitude quake hit this area on 7 September 2012).
Please earnestly pray for the situation in Zhaotong, Yunnan:
Pray that the trapped victims will be rescued very soon;
Pray that God will heal the injured and comfort those who lost their beloved one;
Pray for the safety of relief workers and for smooth operation of the first stage of rescue and relief work;
Pray for God’s guidance on the communication and cooperation between CEDAR, YNCC and ZTCCC. Also pray that those churches located near the affected areas will take part in the coming relief response.
Emergency and Relief Donation
Please make cheque payable to ‘CEDAR FUND’
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 3212 Hong Kong
The word ‘poverty’ seems to carry with it contrasts between rich and poor, strong and weak, high and low, and between give and take. However, when we are in the transformation context, we often realize the so-called ‘poor people’ can actually be the vessels through which God transforms life and community.
“For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.” (1 Cor. 1:26-29)
When you get to know the poor, you will realise that they have many “treasures” in them waiting to be discovered and appreciated, to be turned into opportunities of transformation. Close-up contact and genuine care are vital to such discoveries. For frontline workers ministering in an impoverished community, home visits are a crucial link in practising “care”.
Change through acceptance by the community
In Yunnan, South West China, CEDAR has been working with the local church to mobilise their leaders, seminary students and believers to walk in the midst of the community, visit and express loving care for neglected and impoverished families, amongst which are people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), drug addicts and ex-convicts, all of whom nobody normally would draw near to.
Changes in lives, families and even in the community are strong evidence that change IS possible, and these changes are brought about when impoverished families themselves discover and utilise their own “treasures” or innate abilities.
In a Yunnan village, there lives a father with his son. When the father remarried, the step-mother would not accept the son because he had been taking drugs for many years and was HIV positive. He had also committed numerous criminal offences and was in and out of labour camps. The father had to abandon him. In the eyes of many people, the son seemed beyond help.
Change in a broken life
Ms. Wu, Head of Fu-Kang (Rehabilitation) Home in Dali
When the staff of Fu-Kang (Rehabilitation) Home set up under the Dali Prefecture Christian Council (Social Service) heard this, they took an initiative to visit this helpless middle-aged man in the hospital with several church leaders and seminary students. The staff of Fu-Kang (Rehabilitation) Home says, “His family members never visited him because they were afraid. We visited him again the following day, and every day thereafter, until he was discharged.” Through the loving care of believers, church leaders and seminary students, this family underwent transformation.
One day thereafter, the son came to Fu-Kang (Rehabilitation) Home with some of Dali’s specialty cheeses. He was sent by his father who now has great trust with the church; The father called Ms. Wu (a co-worker in Fu-Kang (Rehabilitation) Home) and said, “I now commit my son into your care.” He is very willing to let the church continuing this pastoral journey for his son.
What happens is, when a group of Christians were willing to care for this family, the relationship between the father and son slowly but steadily improved. With people’s acceptance and support, a life that was once ruined by drugs and sin underwent transformation. “The father wanted to love and care for the son but he did not know how. We did not tell the father how to show care, we just demonstrated it by action. The father exhibited change as well, and the two are now reconciled.” The son is now a security guard at Xianguan, the best local hotel, and lives a more stable life.
Change by repaying care
It was a great comfort to see that the son can now look after himself and is reconciled with his father. There was a further unexpected outcome. “The son referred three [drug-taking] of his friends to our church. Besides, after this practical caring experience, many pastors and seminary students have changed their view on social ministries, affirming the staff’s work,” say Fu-Kang (Rehabilitation) Home staff thankfully.
The staff also realize that the church, individuals, families, neighbours and the community are closely linked in the change process. “The story began with pastors and staff caring a HIV infected person; the story ended with active caring being continued and more people receiving care. It is easier to provide material things, it may not seem difficult to tell others to change, but it is more important to inspire others to initiate change themselves. We are not doing a job or organizing event, and we are not even playing heroes to effect change on others, but progressively facilitating change to take place. Our home visits promote changes, and changes develop further – this is the fruit of our facilitation and we see the community’s corresponding response.”
Lorraine from CEDAR Fund visited a beneficiary’s family with a Fu-Kang (Rehabilitation) Home member and a church member
Change of perception
Tenacity, wisdom and the most basic interpersonal loving care and concern do exist in even the impoverished families. Church leaders and believers in Yunnan had reflections and underwent a mindset change after going through training in the past few years on how to serve the community practically and to walk alongside the needy.
The leader of a church’s social ministry department says, “In the past I was not convinced of the impact of home visits, but after visiting people myself, I see the need for continuing the ministry. Reflection after each visit and analysis of the cases are very useful, convincing us that we are in the right direction, and I feel I now have a much lighter burden to carry.”
A brother in the same church also says, “Doing home visits can be difficult, but they are all worth it. I am very excited to see the outcome; we serve wholeheartedly and are extremely grateful for the encouragement and support received from other people.”
A person’s value is not measured by his status, and we should not label or look down on people. Yes, impoverished families might be the church’s targeted beneficiaries but it does not mean that they are totally weak, useless and helpless. Honest and genuine connection, caring, appreciation and support enable the poor families to utilise their potentials and resources, and God will transform neighbours and communities through them. What a discovery !
Related information
CEDAR encourages churches to use the S-A-L-T model in home visits to discover the strengths of those being visited and their community, thereby building their self-confidence and mobilising community transformation.
‘S’ stands for ‘stimulate’ and ‘support’
‘A’ stands for ‘appreciate’ and ‘affirm’
‘L’ stands for ‘listen and ‘learn’
‘T’ stands for ‘transfer’ and ‘team’
The biggest goal of S-A-L-T is to discover and appreciate a community’s efforts and participation in development and transformation. When we listen to people and affirm their strengths, we support them in continuing and expanding their actions. In the process we also learn from the community.
The AIDS-affected need love and acceptance but AIDS is a taboo in China, so sufferers face rejection and isolation, and are under indescribable pressure.
CEDAR supports Fu-Kang (Rehabilitation) Home under the Dali Prefecture Christian Council (Social Service) who ministers to AIDS-affected families through:
Building a sharing network for PLWHA
Holding bible studies and worship, facilitating Christians to care for one another and to know God
Visiting PLWHA and their families regularly
Helping PLWHA to apply for social security and to handle community affairs
Raising community awareness of HIV/AIDS
After suffering HIV/AIDS for many years, a woman at Fu-Kang (Rehabilitation) Home finally picked up the courage to tell her family and got support from her brother and mother. Her brother says, “If Fu-Kang (Rehabilitation) Home and outsiders accept you, why can’t we?” She is very touched.
Caring for the marginalised and to walk alongside with them is to follow Jesus’ example of having compassion on the forsaken. We hope that PWLHA will see hope in their lives and receive help and support from their community.
To safeguard privacy, CEDAR rarely publishes the photos and sharing related to AIDS-affected individuals, but service towards them has never ceased. The HIV/AIDS-affected in China really need acceptance and help, and we ask that you will encourage them by love and action, and support CEDAR’s community care in China.
[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.
[ePrayer – Pray for the ministry in Gengma, Yunnan]
Deputy Director of Yunnan Provincial Bureau of Health expressed his appreciation to the staff of Gengma County Christian Council (Social Service) after attending the training session, commenting it’s practical and “down-to-earth” HIV/AIDS prevention training.
A grandfather residing in the rural village of Gengma, Yunnan lost his wife last year, leaving him and his little granddaughter alone. All these years his life is troubled by problems causing by his drug-addicted son, and now, he has an additional worry if he can raise his little granddaughter till she is grown-up. ‘I can no longer cut down the sugar cane by myself. I obtain some income from renting out my farm to others and also from being a watchman in an orange grove. I also plant some maze and rear chicken for living.’
Since 2007, CEDAR has organized ‘Integral Mission’ training for the Yunnan churches, encouraging them to walk with the poor and respond to the need of the impoverished people. Many churches then started to set up their “social service team” and regularly paid visits to the poor, orphan and widows, and the elderly in the communities. A lot of these marginalised families suffer from drug addict and HIV/AIDS problem. The grandfather mentioned above is among those that the Gengma church visit regularly. They listen to him, share his burdens and provide emotional and spiritual support. The church even arranges him to join a training on rearing chicken and hope such techniques can help him to earn a better living.
Besides visiting the impoverished households, CEDAR’s partner “Christian Council (Social Service) of Gengma Dai & Va Nationality Autonomous County” also organise HIV/AIDS prevention training at different churches and provide support for the youth migrant workers.
Pray for the ministry in Gengma, Yunnan:
Thank God for the meaningful service by the Gengma churches, that through them many impoverished people and marginalised families receive care and support;
Pray for the work in supporting the HIV/AIDS affected families and youth migrant workers, and that a lot more impoverished families will be blessed though the services of the local churches.
[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.
Kalapara lies in the southernmost part of Bangladesh, where each rainy season causes great concern to its inhabitants. Memories of past typhoons and floods bring fear: lives, crops and houses may not survive the coming ones.
‘Our villagers are mostly illiterate and have no knowledge of disaster prevention, so any natural hazard would result in heavy casualties and property loss.’ High-school girl Mitu told CEDAR’s partner World Concern Bangladesh about her village. Last May the whole village was anxious about surviving the coming storms but the fight against the latest level-10 cyclone rewrote the villagers’ fatalistic attitude to facing disasters.
From help-less to self-help
It was a frightening event when cyclone Mahasen directly hit Kalapara with winds of 90 km/h, flattening houses along the coast. Yet after the cyclone, residents were nonetheless thankful, and the community volunteers felt greatly encouraged. The disaster prevention and mitigation measures learnt from World Concern Bangladesh over the past three years have come into good use.
When the Bangladesh Meteorological Department forecasted that the tropical cyclone along Bangladesh’s southeast coastline had intensified to a hurricane-strength storm and was heading towards the southern coastal regions of Bangladesh, World Concern Bangladesh immediately contacted the area’s Community based Disaster Management Committees (CDMCs), launched emergency responses including issuing flag-warning and broadcasting, and summoned volunteer rescue and first aid teams, as well as preparing several shelters to be used.
‘One single flag hoisted by the village volunteer signifies that a natural disaster is coming, two flags warn people to look for a safe shelter nearby, and the highest warning of three flags means people should hide their possessions and dry foods under the floorboards and then hurry to a safe place immediately to save their lives.’ Mitu is one of those who learned this flag-warning mechanism and this helps illiterate villagers to identify different levels of disaster and respond accordingly.
Before Mahasen hit, the CDMCs managed to evacuate 4,000 villagers in time and no life was lost. This experience made the Kalapara residents see how they do not have to be helpless and resign themselves in face of a disaster – casualties can be prevented through communication, organisation and collaboration.
From disaster relief to disaster prevention
India faces as many disasters as Bangladesh. In July 2004, India’s Bihar State had the worst flooding in 50 years, affecting nearly 10,000 villages and 21 million people. Years of flooding have made Bihar State one of the poorest provinces in India.
CEDAR’s partner EFICOR has over 40 years of disaster relief experience and knows well that many rural communities of Bihar State have for a long time suffered in the vicious circle between disaster and poverty. EFICOR realises from experience that mere provision of disaster relief cannot deliver the affected communities out of their dire straits.
Since 2003, EFICOR has tried to promote community-based disaster management, setting up CDMCs made up of 7-10 resident representatives. They then liaise with the local government to relay the villages’ disaster prevention needs as well as assist in planning the regional disaster prevention strategies. Further, young villagers are organised into five special teams of warning, rescue, first aid, shelter management and relief management. The communities’ disaster prevention and resistance ability is raised through training and regular drills.
Residents of Bihar State at a rescue drill
Facing relentless disasters, the villagers no longer just look after themselves and are not passive victims anymore. Through disaster management and mitigation training, the villagers not only learn to effectively prevent and fight against disasters, they also learn to work with each other and consider other people’s needs. ‘Instead of each person thinking about his/her own needs, the villagers now think about how the community as a whole might benefit. For instance, instead of installing hand-pumps in front of every door-step, villagers now consider installing the hand-pumps in strategic locations realizing that this would help more people during the floods.’ An EFICOR worker says.
From sighing to collective planning
Since 2009, CEDAR has directly started disaster mitigation and management programmes in China’s Yunnan, Hubei and Sichuan etc., giving disaster prevention training to the local communities, churches and schools. Villagers there who had witnessed many disasters often told us, ‘There is not a year without a disaster.’ This shows how they strongly believed that they could not resist disasters coming their way.
Disaster mitigation training aims to break this age-old thinking. During the training the people will usually find possibilities and resources within their own community and assess their potential disaster resistance ability; at the same time they review recent disasters and plot the months and types of frequent occurrences thereby working out feasible disaster prevention strategies.
A Yunnan pastor who attended the training told us, ‘In the workshop we found out that fire hazards were the most frequent in our community and happened a lot at a certain time. So during the dry season we have voluntary rangers watching out for forest fires. Further, since some villagers can only speak local dialects, special volunteers are appointed who would listen to the radio broadcasts during the rainy season and then give early warning of flooding.’
Disasters may be relentless but there is a bond amongst people. We are emotionally touched when we learn of disasters far or near and are often ready to help with relief. But prevention is better than cure, so let us walk with potential victims by taking the earlier step of disaster prevention and mitigation.
Joy at receiving aid, but the fight does not end here.
Related information
Hazard is something natural or manmade that can cause danger, loss or casualty, such as earthquake, flooding, storm, epidemic, war and economic crisis. A hazard itself does not form a disaster; a disaster is caused when hazard is coupled with environmental vulnerability.
Vulnerability is the inability of people to forecast or resist hazards and recover from them due to potential factors which can be economical (unstable livelihood / lack of credit facility), natural (deficiency in natural resources), constructional (flaws in construction designs / building on unstable slopes), personal (illiteracy / marginalised groups / chronic illnesses) and social (social unrest / bad leadership).
Disaster management includes a series of interrelated disaster risk reduction programs: disaster prevention and resistance, post-disaster rescue and recovery, and disaster mitigation. Disaster mitigation composes of long-term actions taken to reduce immediate and potential hazards and vulnerabilities so as to mitigate the impacts of disasters upon the community and the environment; actions include promoting disaster resistance education, improving social and environmental planning and advocating disaster resistance strategies.
