Region: China
Author: ECOLOGIA (Vermont & Chengdu, China) and Rabbit King, Sichuan Province
Consortium Member: Virtual Foundation Director (ECOLOGIA)
Status: Needs Funding
Budget: $90000
Collected: $40118
Needs: $49882
Goal: ECOLOGIA's base of operations in China is Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Our project site is in the mountains west of Chengdu, where the earthquake damage is greatest. We currently have a micro-finance project in this mountainous region and will use this on-the-ground capacity to deliver post emergency relief aid to earthquake survivors. They need support for rebuilding and repairing damaged homes and village infrastructure.
Comment: Our goal is to encourage villagers to engage in reconstruction that will be more earthquake resistant and also more environmentally friendly. We will try to avoid some of the problems of post-Katrina and post-tsunami construction where people rebuilt the same kinds of inappropriate dwellings. In addition, we will use this opportunity to seed the creation of community funds. Reconstruction and repair loans will be repaid to the community trust fund that will then be used to promote environmentally and socially sustainable development.
Donors: Anonymous [Colorado, Massachusetts, California, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Mexico, Kentucky, Vermont, Kansas, Virginia]; MacKenzie Roebuck-Walsh, Japan; Gen A Izutsu, New Hampshire; Vu Tran, Maryland; Maria Myra Palmero, New York; Daniel Knowlton, New Hampshire; Nancy Henjum, Colorado; Church Communities Foundation, New York; Benjamin Young, Colorado; Christina Winker, Massachusetts; Zachary Chen; Hugo Lara, Connecticut; Jamie Kyra Fuchs, Connecticut; Sara Grantstrom, Vermont; Jennifer Finn, Colorado; AP, Massachusetts; Amanda Rose McCreight, Nanjing CHINA; Kaylie Brianne Ferguson, Alberta CANADA; Kim Gormley, Massachusetts; Joe and JoAnne Henjum, Colorado; Ellie Coriell, Colorado; Jodi Zhang; Vernon and Shirley Mollan, Minnesota; Michelle and Chris Hair, Colorado; Jane Detwiler, Massachusetts, Jackie Hurwitz; Patty and Andy Leyland; Randy Kritkausky, Vermont; Judith A.Nolan and Elizabeth Wiernasz, Connecticut; Mike and Nancy Maday, Colorado; Liza Levy, Kentucky; Chris Bohjalian, Vermont; Hugo Lara; Richard Bennett, Utah; Jamie Henn, California; Guy Scarborough, Colorado; Catherine Donnell; Westwood Hills Congregational Church, California; Ann L. Hanson, Ohio; Caitlin Matthews, Oregon; Middlebury College 5K Fun Run (for Burma/Myanmar and China disaster relief) May 22, Vermont; Robin Young, Pennsylvania; May Chan, Paris FRANCE; Xuefeng Liao, Vermont; Jordan Brener, Vermont; Elizabeth Engelman, California; St. Paul Central High School Roots and Shoots, Minnesota; Chris Carlson and Marty Wolf, Colorado; Zachary Zimmerman, New Hampshire; First Congregational Church of Colorado Springs; Springs Mountain Sangha, Colorado; Brian Siegele, Colorado Springs; David and Jane Chaplin, Alabama; Summer Solstice Celebration of First Congregational Church in Colorado Springs; Church Communities - UK
Budget: Ongoing - the more donations we receive, the more villages and families we will be able to serve.
At this time in China's development, we have the opportunity to contribute international resources, including money for loans to villages to rebuild homes and infrastructure such as bridges. These resources can be used effectively when on-the-ground partnerships exist (as they do in our case) and when governmental agencies are open to cooperation to assist in reconstruction (as they are in Sichuan province, and in China as a whole). Because of ECOLOGIA's local roots and contacts in the earthquake-affected region, we are able to deliver assistance, in the form of loans to villagers, along with guidance on sustainable choices of materials and structural design.
Our partners in Dayi, Sichuan Province (100 kilometers west of Chengdu)are Ren Xuping and Zhang Shuping, (the "Rabbit King and Queen"). They have survived the earthquake, are in communication with us, and are committed to contributing their resources and knowledge of local conditions to implement the Earthquake Relief project.
We are drawing on existing expertise and on-the-ground resources, including:
UPDATE MAY 29: Coverage in the China Daily describes the loans to residents of Qili Village:
Randy Kritkausky (left) and Wang Yu, a Qili villager who got a micro-loan from the former's organization, in Qili village near Chengdu yesterday. Jiang Dong
DAYI, Sichuan: No dazzling lights, no props. The temporary stage was no more than a small shed in the front yard of a farmer's house. Covered only by colorful waterproof cloth, the 5-sq-m shed was so low that people had to bow their heads to get in.
Inside were being played Western pop songs: the first music to be heard in Qili village after the earthquake.
The humble shed is the most beautiful place he has seen in Sichuan, Randy Kritkausky said. He is overwhelmed by the hospitality and warmth the villagers have extended to him.
The ECOLOGIA president and three other local members of the organization think yesterday's show will encourage the villagers to focus on reconstruction. They have given out small loans to nine families of Dayi county, 40 minute's drive from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan.
A cooperative venture between the American NGO and Sichuan Xuping Rabbit Industry Co, the micro-finance project has given 1,000 yuan ($143) each to nine families, who have one year to pay back the amount.
"Our goal is to make the devastated farmers capable enough to help themselves. That's why we don't give them money directly," Kritkausky said. "The money they repay will go to the local community to create more facilities."
About 80 percent of the houses in the 250-family Qili village were damaged or destroyed in the quake. But only one elderly villager died because most of the villagers were working in fields when the quake struck.
Xie Bo couldn't hide his excitement after getting the loan. The 28-year-old even sang My Chinese heart at the ceremony, accompanied by his little daughter's dance. "The money is not much, but it's meaningful," he said. "Even some plain dumplings can make a hungry man happy."
Wang Yu was among the first batch of eight applications to get a loan to develop his rabbit-raising venture two months ago. Now, the 18-year-old is the cashier of the village project. The procedure to get a loan is simple, Wang said. Three families have to form a unit and submit an application to him to get a loan. After that, project staff will visit the town to check the veracity of their claims. "The loan will be given in the village rather than a bank, which is convenient for the farmers who always find it difficult to handle paper work," he said.
Eight-year-old Chen Yanping, is the youngest to sign a loan contract. The little girl's father works in the Tibet autonomous region and her grandparents are illiterate, so she had to sign the contract for them. She does not know how the loan came about, but she does know that her family needed it urgently. Though she is yet to overcome the shock of the quake, she was smiling while playing with other children at the ceremony.
"The world is watching China after the quake, and we saw a great deal of tragedy through the Western media. But what I have discovered here is hope. People smile and even sing what strong character they've got," Kritkausky said. "I think China's most remarkable event in 2008 should not be just the Beijing Olympic Games, but also the earthquake that has shown the strength and warmth of the Chinese people."
(China Daily 05/29/2008 page3) "Small Loan is Big Help" China Daily
UPDATE MAY 16: From Du Heng, ECOLOGIA's Chinese Program Director, Chengdu:
"Dear all,
Thank you so much for working day and night with all of Chinese in this difficult time, I'm very proud to be with all of you!
After reading your emails, and with all the information I've collected, a more clear picture shaped up, and I will try to put it together as below:
1. The situation:
The rescue has been progressed steadily, a lot of people have been evacuated from destroyed houses, but they are in great need to clean water, medicine, and food. Phisicians and medicine are greatly needed.
2. Ren and Zhang's [Note: Ren and Zhang Xuping, our partners in Dayi (100 kilometers / 70 miles west of Chengdu) the "Rabbit King and Queen"] situation:
Their old farm and new farm has been badly damaged during the shock, lots of rabbits run away, their staff and students have no place to live because the building is dangerous to stay, which is the biggest problem they are facing now. The government provided them 4 tents, but that's far from enough.
Now they've divided themselves into 3 groups, one group will be responsible for rebuilding the farm and factory, continue the production; another group goes to the project sites to evaluate the losses of our project farmers. (according to their feedback, our project farmers in Qili Village, most of their houses are moderate damaged, but still can live, their rabbits are fine, comparing with other villages, Qili village farmers are very lucky, no losses of lives.) Ren and Zhang are the 3rd group, they worked with other entrepreneurs and Government officials to the most earthquake-striken areas to deliver water, food and medicine. I met them in person yesterday, they were tired physically, but have very high morale.
3. CSR network:
Ren and Zhang have been discussing with me about how to help needy people more efficiently, how to integrate more resources. The Sichuan Entreprenure Network (I used to mentioned this organization with you before) would like to work with RKPARC - [Rabbit King Poverty Alleviation Research Center] to take initiative to organize SREs together to help more people, they also would like to cooperate with foreign experts and donors for more guidance and inputs.
4. Volunteer:
We belive the volunteer and physician you have found will greatly help our work for the coming weeks. The volunteer [who is fluent in Mandarin, Sichuan dialect, and English] can provide 1st hand information back to US as you suggested, the physician can serve as trainer for the volunteers who will be dispatched to different striken areas organized by Sichuan Youth League, which Ren and Zhang has strong connection with.
5. Randy's visit [Randy Kritkausky, President of ECOLOGIA]:
Now our government started to accept international aid like from Japan and Singapore, we think there will be no problem for Randy's coming. Also Ren has special lisence(pass entrance), he and Zhang can take Randy around to see the true story, they've promised to me they both will take care of Randy when you come. I think it is a great idea for Randy come back to Chengdu and get the freshest news from field back to US people and potential donors. If you feel ready, you can start work on your flight schedule. Pls make sure you will not be stressed out for the long trip in such a short period of time.
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