Post-Earthquake Support

FCC raised over £7000 in response to our appeal following the devastating earthquake in May 2008 which affected Sichuan and neighbouring provinces. The money we raised was sent to the Amity Foundation, the Jinde Charities and the China Christian Council's Social Service Department. Our donations contributed both to initial relief efforts such as the provision of tents, food and drinking water, and to long-term rehabilitation projects, such as the equipping of schools now held in temporary buildings and an integrated reconstruction project in one village, where over 90% of homes collapsed. Distinctively also, counsellors have been trained to provide much-needed long-term psycho-social services and in addition, assistance has been given to local congregations, both Protestant and Catholic, where churches, offices and centres were amongst buildings hit by the quake.

For updated stories on rehabilitation projects, such as the new 'wells of happiness' for Woyun village, and for an overview of Amity's post-earthquake work in the year since the event, please go to Amity's website at www.amityfoundation.org.  A recent visit by FCC members to Woyun village, the site of Amity's reconstruction and rehabilitation work, was encouraging and heartwarming ( see Events page).

Kindergarten

Thanks to the fantastic efforts of one of our members, a significant sum of money was also recently donated to the Amity Foundation and is being used to assist the work of a church-run kindergarten in Hunan province, which cares for 50 children 'left behind' when their parents moved to the cities as migrant workers. Often these children are left in the care of grandparents, who may not be able to provide for them properly and so some of the children live in the kindergarten - where at the moment, they all sleep on one huge adobe bed! As well as chairs and desks, bunk-beds will be purchased and our funds will also provide staff training. Watch this space for more details!

Childrens Home

Another children's project assisted recently has been a home for the children of prisoners, near Xi'an in NW China. This was the first of a very small number of such projects across the country, set up to help children who would otherwise fall through the support network. Winter clothing and bedding was needed for the 42 children in the Home, as was fuel for the heating system, which they couldn't afford to use! One of our FCC Study Visits had visited the Home and we were able to send a donation for these and other important items.

Orphan Support

FCC has supported a number of projects in China over the years, sometimes ones run by the Amity Foundation (see www.amityfoundation.org), the Catholic Jinde Charities (www.jinde.org) and sometimes local independent projects. Usually, we have a 'focus' project, for which we encourage donations from local groups and individuals. Currently, that 'focus project' is the Amity Foundation's Rural Orphans Fostering Programme. Many children in China may be looked after by their grandparents or other, often elderly, relatives - as a result of the child's parents having died, or being left behind after the death of one parent, when the other re-marries. A significant number of the deaths are a result of HIV/AIDS infection, which has had a severe impact on many local communities, particularly in central China. As there is often little income coming into these households, children are in need of food and clothing and support to remain in school; they may otherwise need to go and work in the fields from a very early age.

Support can be offered to a child for only about £130 a year! FCC has assisted 40 children in this way, for about a 6-year period and we have this year taken on a new group of 20 children, who we will guarantee to support for at least a 3-year period. Annual reports give us some idea of their progress and it is heartening to see their development!

A recent FCC Study Visit group which travelled to China was able to visit villages affected by this problem and learn first-hand from the families involved: we were very moved by their stories.  We welcome support for this ongoing project.

FCC does not consider fund-raising as a major element of its activities, but we do contribute financially to a limited number of projects, as a tangible expression of our partnership with friends in China.