World Ark Magazine - March/April 2009 - (Page 29) –spirit– of Help, Hope Sichuan quake victims immediately began helping one another by sharing food and other scarce resources. in Butuo county, one of the poorest areas in china where even rice remains a luxury, participants already involved in heifer projects began collecting money to help those suffering most. about 234 families from 14 community groups in surrounding villages made a donation of 6,048 yuan, or the equivalent of $889, with some donating as much as several months of family income to help care for those whose lives were shattered in the disaster, said cheng peilin, heifer china’s senior program manager-support. “Some donated 10 yuan, 20 yuan, even up to 100 to 200 yuan. To the resource-poor villages, this is enormous,” cheng said, noting people in the county live on per capita income of 300 to 400 yuan, or $44 to $59 a year. “This made us feel so blessed and inspired. The inner strength of these people will keep us moving forward.” heifer community groups from other areas also gave money and helped in efforts to save crops and repair damaged property. in order to reconnect the road from Baichao Town to luo Jiaba community near guangyuan in Sichuan province, rescue workers from Zhejiang province worked continuously for 40 days to allow relief delivery to rural villagers. deeply moved by this, villagers organized to walk two miles around the damaged road to carry the relief supplies on their backs as the repair work continued. project partners also returned with local food for the rescue workers, saying, “we have nothing else to express our gratitude, please do receive these simple things.” That willingness to help others as well as themselves is at the heart of heifer’s plans to shore up a ravaged community and its farm and animal businesses. heifer officials estimate that the direct loss of animal husbandry in Sichuan province alone is $2.6 billion with 43.5 million heads of livestock dead. as a large province with agriculture and livestock production as its pillar industry, Sichuan suffered enormously. Small farmers in the disaster area are in great need of help restoring crops and animal production because of food shortages and lack of income after the earthquake. The chinese government provides temporary shelter and subsidies for families, while heifer china works jointly with government partners to help families with community development, income generation, livestock distribution and technical training. china’s fast-growing economy and enormous trade power have enabled the government to seek membership in the world Trade organization and loan money to other capitalist powers such as the United States. Yet the gap between rich and poor in china remains very big and the need for assistance remains, said heifer china director chen. “china’s economic development mostly benefited the coastal and urban areas,” chen said. “The money loaned to the U.S. comes from a foreign currency reserve, which mostly belongs to rich business groups. There are still about 300 million people, 23 percent of the total population, who live with less than one U.S. dollar a day, and 23 million people who live with about 27 U.S. cents a day. The earthquake area is very mountainous and most of the affected counties are national and/or provincial designated poverty counties.” chinese government and nongovernmental organizations are helping these counties with poverty alleviation projects. The rural areas hit by the quake have historically been good for animal and agricultural production. heifer china’s project supports people who have the ability and confidence to restore their livelihoods through group Villagers receive food at a camp in the quake-devastated town of Majingxiang in Sichuan province in June 2008. PHOTO By DAvID GRAy/REUTERS/LANDOv. Willingness to Help otHers as well as themselves is at the heart of Heifer’s plans to shore up a ravaged community and its farm and animal businesses. w w w. h e i f e r. o r g march/apri l 2009 | worl d ark 29
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