Growing up in Heilongjiang
“I am doing the home visit of two students whose home is far away from school, but the road is not open yet, so every day they need to walk around 40 minutes to get to their school. The school teacher and I visit their family’s’ small home. Today I will talk about one of the boys named Zihe. Zihe lives with his Dad in a house belonging to his aunt, the house is not large, and it is made of brick which is painted. When you first get into the house, there is a kitchen which uses a fire to cook and the kitchen is also a storage room. Except the Kang (a coal heated brick bed) for sleeping, there are only 1.5 meters wide left. Inside the house there is only an old wardrobe, and it doesn’t have any electricity. Zihe’s father went out for an injection because of serious paralysis. His aunt came by and I learned from her that the only income of Zihe’s home is the low monthly premiums (this is what the government gives to the poorest homes). For the cost of his Dad’s injections and medicine, the government will help with the cost, but his aunt and other three siblings cover the rest and subsidize his family. Before, Zihe’s relatives could let him live in school. But now , because of his father’s sickness, Zihe has to live at home, as the cost of living at school is too much for them. There I saw Zihe is very close to his aunt, like mother and son. He behaves like a little adult in front of his aunt, and tries to show that he is very mature. But when he is outside of the house, he became a little mischievous; whenever I tried to take photos of him, he always hid behind the teacher and sometimes he ran and hid behind the coals. So we see the two sides of this child and realize that while he wants to be mature to help his Father and Aunt in these difficult circumstances, at heart he is still an innocent child, like every other boy of his age around the world, who wants to run and play and have a little fun.”
This article was written by Pheonix, our field staff in Heilongjiang province. Pheonix co-ordinates the progress reports from the 150 children we support in various schools in this region and part of her job is to visit the families of the children in our program. Because of the severe weather conditions there (frozen 7 mths of the year), she has to wait until the roads are clear of snow to carry out the family visits. The boy she writes about, (Zi He) is in our program because his father was not able to make enough money to support the two of them, he often borrowed from relatives for food and Zi He would go to school with an empty stomach. We are happy to report that thanks to his kind sponsor, he is doing well at school, his academic achievements are very good and he would like to be a badminton player when he is older.
We have many children in poor circumstances in Heilongjiang who need sponsors. If you would to find out more, please go to our web page: http://www.captivating.org/project/details/2
(pictured: Top, Zihe with his aunt; Bottom left and middle, On the way to Zihe’s home; Bottom right, Zihe with his dad).
March 28, 2012
THANK YOU to our volunteer translators…
This month, we would like to say a big THANK YOU to all of our volunteer translators. This group of generous people have offered their time, skills and devotion to our projects by translating many many documents from Chinese to English.
The majority of the documents needing translation are annual child progress reports and family progress reports, which we receive from our on the ground field staff at the various locations around China. Once these reports are translated and proofed, they are sent to the sponsor(s) of each child and family, in order for them to receive an update on how they are progressing.
Over 400 progress reports will be translated this year and these volunteers give so many hours of their personal time to this. They are consistently so obliging in taking on this work and no job is ever too big for them. We can’t thank you enough for the huge contribution you make to being that bridge between our sponsors and children. So – Suji, Bobo, Becky, Jenny, Daisy, Angel, Kyle, Daniela, Emily, Anna and Lisa – a HUGE thankyou from us to you. We think your all amazing.
多谢! (Many Thanks)
(pictured: Our longest serving translators, Suji and Bobo).
February 1, 2012
Heilongjiang Project 200 – mushrooms anyone
Project 200 is about bringing hope to the poorest children we can find in this Northern China community. We are partnered with government schools to support these kids so they can remain in school and progress through their education. This past six months we have also been busy experimenting with some poverty reduction programs. This has been a difficult challenge for us as many of the children we support live with aging grandparents having been abandoned by parents or who have lost their parents through mining accidents or divorce. Poverty reduction strategies are therefore limited. As introduced in the last update, we have now successfully completed our trial of mushroom growing as a poverty reduction program. The final result for our pilot study was an estimated 73% return on investment. This solution will now be rolled-out to other families who have the land and physical capability to make this a success. Over time these families can expand their capacity through reinvesting some of the profits. Thanks again to a family in Australia who has funded this mushroom program and also to all those who sponsor these children from around the world. Your support not only keeps your child in school, but has enabled several other children to do the same also.
(Pictured: One of the grandmas proudly harvesting her mushrooms. These are then dried and taken to market; Our Captivating Field representative, Phoenix, visiting one of the families to inspect progress of a sponsored child and the project.).
August 30, 2011
Captivating MUSHROOMS – an update on our Pilot program
We are part way through our Captivating Mushroom program being piloted just below Russia in Heilongjiang Province. Several of our poorest-of-the-poor families in our Heilongjiang Project 200 initiative are testing to see whether this is a sustainable income generating solution for them. Thanks to the volunteer expertise of one of the local retired school-masters, initial results are positive. The program concludes in October at which point we will know whether it has achieved profitable success. If so, it will be replicated to more families.
Lin Zhi Wei and his family were one of the recipients. They are currently working their 1,250 “bags” of mushrooms supplied by Captivating. The father of this family was badly burned several years ago and has struggled to earn sufficient income ever since. He was extremely motivated to be part of this initial pilot program and the whole family are so enthusiastic about it implementing it to the exact specifications of the training provided. Each bag provides three yields of mushrooms over a two to three month period. The mushrooms are dried by the families then purchased by a mushroom packaging company (or sold by the family at market should they choose).
This pilot program was able to move ahead thanks to a generous Australian family who has underwritten this project and our work in Heilongjiang Province. You too can get involved with Project 200. At this present time we have over 100 children in this program who are still in need of a sponsor. You can see these children at http://captivating.org/selection/sponsor. You can also read our blog on this project and watch a video about Project 200 by clicking here http://www.captivating.org/blog/category/heilongjiang-p200/
(Pictured: Above – Jianjun Bi, Captivating Project Director who oversees this Heilongjiang initiative and is responsible for the pilot project. Right – Phoenix, our on-the-ground support person, oversees this project. Below – sponsored children Hao Yuan Yuan and Li Jia Wei who’s families are also part of the mushrooms program).
June 20, 2011
Old People’s Home – Northern China
One of our first programs in China was the establishment of a foster family village in Northern China – a program helping orphaned street children. This was originally called the Beautiful Life Family Center (BLFC). Although this program was concluded in 2009, the building and infrastructure have, as agreed, continued to be used for the benefit of this local community based just below Russia. Today over 50 old people reside in the center who are unable to care for themselves or afford other care alternatives. They are attended to by dedicated center staff (some of who were previous house parents for us) and supported by proceeds from the profitable pig farm we established a few years earlier. We receive monthly reports on the performance of the pig farm, and are pleased to report our current pig herd is at maximum capacity of 500 pigs (thanks to the dedicated work of 50 sows/moms and 2 boars named ‘Kan Du Kenny’, and ‘Here By Choice’). We are pleased to know that our efforts are meeting the needs of the poor in this community.
(pictured: staff feeding residents of the center; pigs enjoying a growth spurt – FYI, a sow produces 2.3 litters of piglets a year, with an average of 20 piglets per year).
April 20, 2011
We need child sponsors for kids just below Russia
GOT 3 MINUTES? Check out our latest CAPTIVATING INTERNATIONAL dvd about our work with poorest-of-the-poor children living just below Russia. We have kids here who are desperate for a sponsor. We’d love you to join our Captivating Kids Sponsorship program (if you haven’t already). Click the link at the end of the video for more details, or go straight to our child sponsorship section by going to http://www.captivating.org/selection/sponsor
October 29, 2010
Why we love being a Captivating Child sponsor
– by Anthony, Fiona & Trinity James
We have been involved behind the scenes with Captivating from day one – but had never taken the step of sponsoring a child. Trinity (pictured) started school this year. They learn Mandarin from kindergarten. As a family we thought there was no better way for her to connect to the language, culture and people than to sponsor a Captivating Child – but what we ended up getting actually feels more like another child in our family.
Trinity summed it up best in her latest letter to Fang “I am very happy to have you as my Chinese sister – I show everyone your picture. I hope that you will write to me and maybe one day we can play together. Big kiss and cuddle – Trinity”.
The joy and excitement of exchanging letters and photos has been a wonderful experience for our 5 year old – Fang has been the subject of several “news days” with other girls at school asking when Fang is coming to visit!
It's great having a sponsor
Trinity with her new sister
Fang writing to Trinity