Apr / May 2013 No. 115

31st May 2013

4.20 Lushan Earthquake

As a charity that has practiced in Yaan city for many year, DORS made an immediate response by purchasing two trucks of relief goods in Hanyuan county including tents, quilts, tent cloth, foods, drinking water, and had them delivered to the designated site by Yaan Civil affairs Bureau. The relief goods cost a total of RMB64089.

It's been two months since the quake, we hope the people affected can resume normal life as soon as possible.

Hengshan Village Grinder Project

As the rural area of Sichuan Province lacks small-scale machines to increase farm work efficiency, the purpose of the grinder project is to provide a grinder for villagers to process the maize and potatoes for their daily food thereby releasing people from work, essentially. The project is taking place in Hengshan village according to the needs of the local people. Villagers used to walk 2-3 hours to downtown to process the maize and potatoes, which is time consuming and costs a lot. During wet weather, it is very difficult to walk on the mountainous road.

In May, DORS staff discussed the project implementation with the village leaders. Project requirements, villagers’ motivation, skills and maintenance have been discussed in detail. Together with all participants, we drew up the project scheme, funding standard, regulations and established a management team.

• Funding Standard: DORS provided a ceiling fund of RMB 9800 and the fund for each machine should not be over 70% of the price.
• Management Team: Members are responsible for price enquiry, organising meeting to establish maintenance regulation and discuss all problems occurred during the project implementation and management.
• Participants: Every participant needs to provide a guarantee deposit of RMB 100, and RMB 460 to supplement the grinder cost. Participants should take care of and maintain the machine while using, the guarantee money will be returned to households only when the machine is working properly after a year.

Huodi Village Hamlet 5 Household Paths and Courtyards Project Evaluation

In May, together with village cadres and participants, DORS conducted an evaluation for the household paths and courtyards project. All villagers were satisfied with the new built paths and courtyards and told us,

‘We can easily walk along the village in the evening now after the building up of the cement paths.’ The cement paths and courtyards also bring them a lot more convenience on their daily work and life. Project Method: DORS provided project materials (which have to be purchased from market) and technical support. Villagers were responsible for sand (including collection and transport), and for providing labour required. Management team participated the project from the beginning to end.

• DORS Funding: RMB 20,731
• Cement Purchased: 38.25 tons
• Scale of Project Evaluated: 313m of paths, 873m²of courtyards
• Beneficiaries:  78 villagers of 21 households

Education Project

School Fee Assistance

The College Admission Examination (CAE) will be held in early June. However, tuition fees and other private costs of schooling are viewed as a barrier for many children to complete primary education and access to higher education. They are especially burdensome in the underprivileged families. In order for students from grade 12 to be relieved from pressure and have good grades in the exam, DORS decided to give the school fees to 7 students of grade 12 in advance in May, we also sent blessings to them to have a good future.

Celebrate The Children’s Day with Schools

The Children’s Day is established to promote mutual exchange and understanding among children and to initiate action to benefit and promote the welfare of the world's children. There are many children left behind in rural Sichuan due to their parents have gone to city to work. Therefore, DORS decided to initiative a celebration during the Children’s Day in order to get all children together to enjoy their life in the school.

In May,  DORS had a discussion with principals from three primary schools of Pianma Township, Nimei Township and Wanping village about organising activities in schools to celebrate the Children’s Day. With the funds of RMB 9,000 from DORS, all children from these three schools had a wonderful celebration.

On 31st May, DORS joined one of the school celebrations in Nimei Township. Some pictures illustrate the happiness of the children as below.

Learning/Exchanging/Connection/Visit

DORS Visited Poverty Alleviation and Immigration Bureau of Sichuan (PAIBS)

On 16th May,  Rose (DORS director) and Guo Yumei (DORS deputy director) visited PAIBS in Chengdu, had a fruitful meeting with the secretary & leader Mr. Zhanggu and deputy leader Mr. Liu Weijia from PAIBS, and director Mr. Wang Sitie from Foreign Funding Management Centre. Mr. Zhanggu presented their mission and work have done and been conducting in Sichuan Province. He also expressed his appreciation to Rose and DORS for their efforts for rural Sichuan development over the last 17 years.

Rose briefly introduced DORS members to Mr. Zhanggu and other officials. Guo Yumei and Li Maohui (chief administrator and project officer) gave a detailed introduction to PAIBS about DORS’ mission, methodologies, projects, experiences and impacts.

The two institutes had agreed to deepen further cooperation and increase practical exchange in future rural development.

Poverty Alleviation and Development Association of Sichuan (PADAS) Visited DORS

On 17th May, Li Hongren (director of PADAS ) together with other staff visited DORS office and held a meeting with Rose Acock, Guo Yumei and Li Maohui in the office of Poverty Alleviation and Immigration Bureau of Hanyuan, PADAS and DORS signed an agreement for future cooperation on poverty alleviation and rural development .

Wang Chaoying, Deputy Director of the Civil Affairs Bureau of Yaan City, Visited DORS:

On 25th May, Wang Chaoying visited DORS in Hanyuan and had a discussion with Rose and DORS staff. As the Ya’an City was severely hit in the 4•20 Lushan earthquake, she sincerely hope that DORS can work on the post earthquake re-construction projects. She also provided some practical suggestions on the possible reconstruction sites and tasks that DORS can work on.

We hereby express our sincere thanks to every community and friend who has for a long time stood with us and offered support, guidance and suggestions.

Donation Information

Book Donation:

In May, DORS received an email from Mr. Luo who wanted to offer some extra-curricular books from Shanghai to those children affected by the 4.20 Lushan earthquake.

Nimei township was the most seriously affected by the earthquake within Hanyuan county according to our investigation. Therefore we replied to Mr. Luo and recommended all of 268 students from Nimei Township Central Primary School to receive the books. Mr. Luo bought 382 books and sent them to DORS office.

At end of May, DORS staff carried the books and gave them to the students. We do hope this will help the students enrich their knowledge and broaden their views.

Donation from a Hanyuan couple:

On 26th April, a local couple came to DORS office, they had been affected by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and received assistance from DORS to help them to go through the difficult time. Now they wanted to pay back to the society and to help those who were affected by the Lushan earthquake which happened on 20th April in Ya’an city. They expressed their thanks to DORS and donated RMB 1000.

Rose Visits

Rose Acock, director of DORS revisited Hanyuan County, drew up DORS strategy plan and visited some project villages.

Rose visited Hanyuan in mid May, it is her first visit in 7 years. During her stay in China, Rose paid visits to some provincial, municipal and county officials, and her friends.

She also had a three-day meeting with DORS staff to conclude the DORS works and discuss how to lead DORS in the coming future. A strategic plan for 2013-2016 has been drawn up.

Although the schedule was tight, Rose managed to visit some previous project villages, seeing villagers and listening their views on current life. Rose said that the changes are considerable, ‘I almost do not recognise the place’ she said.. Rose returned to UK at end of May.

P.S. DORS staff and their families had a wonderful barbecue picnic during Rose’s stay in Hanyuan, see the picture above.

News and Information
With summer coming, various fruits become ripe. Hanyuan county is famous for cherry, loquat, plum and peach. All of our friends from all places are welcome to Hanyuan to enjoy the fruits, we also wish everyone a happy dragon boat festival  - a Chinese traditional holiday!