China Ministry Highlight

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[Annual Report 2011-2012] Focus Countries

china

Review of 2011 to 2012

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.

Update of Quake Relief in Yiliang, Yunnan

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The residents in Yiliang are poor. Many elderly villagers were moved to tears as they hold the food aid in their hands.

(For more photos, please click here)

Over a month after the quake happened in Yiliang, Yunnan in early September, where 700 thousand people were affected, many quake victims are still staying under rough shelters and even some of them have yet to receive any relief assistance. CEDAR has received the grant of 2.4 million from the HKSAR’s Disaster Relief Fund to support the quake affected victims. On 25 October, CEDAR team and Yunnan Christian Council sent a relief team to Yiliang, Zhaotong region to deliver the one-month food aid to 6,000 quake affected households in 15 villages.

CEDAR staff Alice, who has been helping facilitate the quake relief work, said, ‘Lots of houses have collapsed after the quake and the villagers are still staying under rough shelters. The blankets they received from emergency relief are soaked with rainwater. The victims are now facing the challenge of cold weather.’

In the first week of the relief operation, staff and volunteers finished 40% of the food aid distribution. This is the first time volunteers from Yiliang Church take part in relief operation. However, after the briefing and practice on the first day, they have been familiarised with the operation. In the third day, our relief team was even able to deliver food packages to 300 more households within less than three hours work. Praise the Lord!

Local staff and volunteers are now delivering the rest of the relief materials to other quake affected villages. The relief operation will be finished in early November. We are glad to see that not only have the needs of the quake victims have been matched, but also the capability of the Yiliang Church in responding to disaster has also been built up.

‘The residents in Yiliang are poor’ Fountain, a programme officer from CEDAR who has taken part in the quake relief work, shared, ‘many elderly villagers were moved to tears as they hold the food aid in their hands.’ Most of the people there are lived by farming. However, in recent years, the livelihood of villagers has become more and more difficult by the climate change. ‘They are used to growing grape, tangerine and Sichuan pepper. However, the fruits in recent years have rotten before they have time to ripen.’ Landslides caused by the quake and the loosen soil caused by rainwater have worsened the condition of the damaged houses, making them more susceptible to collapse. The only school in the village has been closed till next April.

‘Last Sunday, we passed through the most affected region. Seeing with my own eyes the quake-shattered cement plant, the boulders and remnant of landslides left on the road and the scene after serious landslides, I can’t imagine how horrible it must have been when the quake hit.’ said Alice. ‘It has happened over a month since the Yiliang quake, but there are still some victims staying in tents far away from the road with very little assistance. If we were in their shoes, I am sure we would agree that they definitely need our continual care and support.’

Fountain said, ‘Most of the Miao people there belong to the Hua Miao group. Christianity has had deep impact on their culture and way of life 100 years ago. I really hope that through the participation of local churches, China’s government could have more concern on the special need of Miao minority in the after quake rehabilitation.’

Pray for the quake relief and rehabilitation in Yiliang, Yunnan:

  • Pray that the quake victims will have sufficient relief materials for facing the challenge of cold weather;
  • Pray that local government will confirm the plan of rehabilitation shortly and the resettlement of quake victims will be efficiently implemented and finished;
  • Pray that God will give strength to the staff and volunteers from the Yunnan churches to finished the rest of the food aid delivery;
  • Please remember the next phase of rehabilitation work. Pray that we can collect more donations to support the long-term post-disaster recovery and development in Yiliang, Yunnan.

Act now to support the quake-affected people through financial assistance:

  • By cheque: Please make cheque payable to ‘CEDAR FUND’ and mark ‘Yunnan Earthquake Relief’ on your cheque, and then have it sent to G.P.O. Box 3212 Hong Kong.
  • By ATM:  Please make deposit directly into our bank account for emergency relief (HSBC 600-385678-003). Please mark ‘Yunnan Earthquake Relief’ on your pay-in-slip, and then have it sent to G.P.O. Box 3212Hong Kong.
  • Online Payment: You can also transfer your donations to our HSBC account for emergency relief through online banking services. For online banking transfers, please send the online transfer confirmation to sharing@cedarfund.org with the subject ‘Yunnan Earthquake Relief’.
  • Download donation form

For enquiry: 

Please contact our staff Alice Kwan and Jojo Poon at 2381 9627.

Come, Taste and See—CEDAR in China

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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

Challenges and Breakthroughs in Development Work | LEE Po Ki, Kate

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[ “SHARE” Sept-Oct 2012 – An Eye-Opening Experience of Poverty ]　CEDAR’S BLOGGER

Author> LEE Po Ki, Kate, Project Supervisor (Disaster Management & Risk Reduction)

The happiest thing about engaging in development work is witnessing lives being changed. The Brazilian educationist Paulo Freire pointed out that education is the way to individual and social construction. Similarly, development work challenges the existing thinking of society and individuals, including the development workers themselves.

In recent years I have been working in projects in Gansu, China, and have seen the changes in the women there. These women are seldom in control of family wealth and possessions. They are illiterate and stay in their home-village all their lives. Their talents are buried by the social culture of male superiority. What we do is to nurture the women’s talents and build their self-confidence. After many years of unrelenting effort through literacy classes, leadership training, small loans, and health & hygiene education, the women have grown in their capabilities and self-confidence. They have even represented the village in negotiations with the government, successfully set up farmers’ cooperatives.

‘A year does not pass without some disaster’, many villagers used to say. A few years ago I met a minister from Nujiang, Yunnan, at a disaster prevention project. He felt it impossible for his poor minority community to deal with natural disasters. The disaster management workshop changed his thinking–-he recognised that they suffer mostly from fires and rainstorms which occur at particular times of the year. Further, he learned to make use of community resources for disaster prevention, e.g. during the dry season, volunteer mountain rangers watch out for forest fires; in rainy season, villagers who understand Putonghua will relay news of impending rainstorms. He told us, ‘Disasters can actually be prevented by enhancing disaster combat ability and eliminating the weak links.’

As a development worker, I can also be restricted by my own presumptions. The destitute households in Chinese villages are mostly aged and diseased, and I naturally thought that the most we could do for them was to give them rice and cooking oil during Chinese New Year. But workers at the Gansu project site showed me otherwise. They specially invited these destitute householders to be the changemakers to learn and then demonstrate how to corral sheep. An elderly couple told us, ‘We are the demonstration unit, so naturally we are to lead the villagers in corralling.’ They do not see themselves as receiving help but being a part of facilitating development. Their empowerment makes me understand that it is not the projects that build ability but we already have it in ourselves, and it can be applied to change for good if we give it space and opportunity.

I thank the women, the ethnic minority groups and the rural destitute householders for opening my eyes to their development. I hope to continue learning to challenge the old in me and in society, and that I will walk with the poor more appropriately.

CEDAR’S BLOGGER allows members of CEDAR staff to talk about their work, life and reflections.

Pray for Yunnan Earthquake Victims

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On September 7, a pair of earthquakes measuring 5.7 and 5.6 on the Richter scale with multiple aftershocks hit Zhaotong, Zhenxiong, Yiliang area of China’s Yunnan province, causing at least 80 dead and 700 injured. The quakes leveled or damaged over 20,000 houses, with over 700,000 people affected. Landslides have been triggered in the affected areas. Communication disruptions, damages to major roads, water supply and power facilities have been reported.

CEDAR and the local church in Yunnan are making arrangements to travel to the affected areas and assess the situation. CEDAR will bring you the latest update from the ground with arrangement for emergency relief.  Please stay tuned for our next update.

Please pray earnestly that:

  1. God will protect the earthquake victims and relief workers in the midst of continual aftershocks
  2. God will comfort those who have lost their homes and family or are still desperately searching for their loved ones.
  3. God will mobilize pastors and organisations partnering with CEDAR to assess the situation of the affected areas, to plan and implement relief work.

About CEDAR

CEDAR Fund is an independent Christian relief and development organisation founded in Hong Kong in 1991.  Our mission is to partner with Christians around the world to care for the poor and disadvantaged people, to facilitate the transformation of lives and communities, and to advocate and practice social justice. We seek to build a just and compassionate world in Christ.

CEDAR’s HSBC Account for Emergency Relief: 600-385678-003

China Yunnan HIV/AIDS Prevention and Church Mobilisation

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Yunnan province of China is an area that contains a high number of HIV/AIDS cases. In the past years, CEDAR has mobilized many local church leaders to recognize the importance of integral mission. They became more aware of their responsibility to care for the poor in the community, including those living with HIV/AIDS and their families. CEDAR works with the local church so that the church leaders, seminary students and Christians will not only learn about integral mission, but also understand more about HIV/AIDS, enabling them to be able to express and demonstrate their love for the poor and needy in the community. In addition, the project includes opportunities to work with HIV/AIDS victims and their families in income generation activities, in hope they would escape from the bonds of poverty through increasing their income.

A widow and her two children live in a village in Yunnan. When the villagers discovered that her husband had died from AIDS, they began trying to force the family to move out of the village. After receiving news about this particular case, the local church pastor, who had taken part in CEDAR’s integral mission and HIV/AIDS training, visited the widow and her children with a few other brothers and sisters from the church. Their visit brought great joy to the family. Afterwards, the pastors not only corrected the villagers’ inadequate knowledge of the ways of HIV/AIDS transmission, but also, along with the church body, put their preaching into practice, paying frequent visits to that family – eating with them, helping them farm their land – and overall creating a wonderful testimony. As a result, the villagers gradually accepted the widow and her children. In addition, the pastors also assisted the family in seeking help from the local women group, receiving monthly subsistent funding to relieve them from poverty, and most importantly, allowing them to carry on living in the village with dignity.