NEW PROJECT – CAPTIVATING KAILI – ENDING POVERTY FOR 450 FAMILIES
This month has seen Captivating International enter into an historic partnership arrangement with the world famous Heifer International. Together, we have started working to end poverty for hundreds of minority group families in one of China’s poorest locations. This project, scheduled to conclude in 6 years, “brings hope and a poverty-free future to 450 families” with family incomes expected to more than double in real terms. In addition, over 1,000 more families will be impacted with access to improved farming methods and experience being passed on to them from this initiative. TO ACHIEVE THIS, WE NEED YOUR HELP. Whether great or small, everyone can play an important part of this program to permanently improve the lives of families and children.
Pictured left is the Pan Chenghui family. Husband, wife, and 3 year old girl and 4 year old son. Until recently Pan and his wife worked in temporary and inconsistent jobs in the city, leaving their children at home with his father. But, a short time ago his father passed away. Returning to the village to bury his father, Pan had no choice but to make the decision to leave his wife and children in the village and return to the city for work. However, thanks to this initiative the Pan Chenghui family will now remain together in the village living with the hope of creating sustainable income from their soon-to-commence animal husbandry business – a business that will generate ongoing and consistent income for them. Pan told us that his children don’t know the taste of meat with their only protein coming from an egg they have once a week. Life is about to change, and with it a greater hope Pan and his wife will see their two children complete high-school and live poverty-free lives. They’re now all smiles.
THE NEED 
- Guizhou Province has long been considered one of China’s poorest provinces and poverty amongst rural farmers and households is still a significant issue. In remote rural poor locations weak instrastructure, mountainous land mass, a lack of training and guidance to try something new, a concern about taking risks, and no seed-funding to get things started together make progress difficult.
- Duoji and Daxi villages are neighbors and part of the Kaili County. All villagers are Miao m inority with a third of the population needing to become migrant workers to survive (meaning they leave the village to find heavy laboring work in the cities). In most cases, this means waiting on the side of the road in a city hoping that a van comes past looking for laborers for that day. It is not reliable work. For most families, what they earn away from the village is the only cash the family receives with everything else being barter based. The average total income (including migrant earnings) is RMB: 1700- per person annually (US/A$285 per year), much les s than the standard dollar-a-day per person poverty benchmark.
THE SOLUTION 
- We at Captivating want all children to have the opportunity to achieve their dreams and their potential. Not being able to finish school is a major road-block to that vision. These villages have the perfect opportunity of addressing this problem permanently by building the capacity of these families to increase their family in come – ending poverty for this generation and all those that follow it.
- Heifer International (world experts in rural village development) and Captivating International have partnered together to do this. Heifer providing the expertise, Captivating International providing the funding. The solutions are focused on having the families fully involved in their decisions, retaining cultural and ethnic customs, caring for the environment and new skills that last a lifetime.
- Six Self-help Groups (SHGs) have been established and trained by on-the-ground Heifer experts. These SHG’s have received start-up funds from Captivating International and are now responsible for running a village bank – providing both expertise and small business loans to families wanting to improve their income position. The focus of solutions will be animal-rearing and agricultural improvement. Other community development activities will also be incorporated as seen fit by the SHG’s.
- The project will start by assisting an initial 150 families in two villages. The solutions will vary depending on family physical circumstances but it is expected that many will opt to receive pigs or chickens in accordance with local circumstances, preferences and customs. A further 300 families will be assisted through recipient families agreeing to pass-on-their-gift (POG) as a key part of the program requirement. For example, those who receive aid at the beginning of the project will pass equal-valued livestock to new approved families in 2 or 3 years, with these new recipient families doing likewise a few years later. The whole project will be finished within 6 years with the total families helped reaching 450.
WE REALLY NEED YOUR HELP! Will you partner with us?
We need a combination of start-up funding partners (people who can give once-only donations of US$1,000, US$2,500 or US$5,000+) as well as people who are able to become ongoing family sponsors.
Will you become a PROJECT PARTNER?
You would be responsible for ensuring we get this project off to a great start. We need help through our first year of this project – buying us time to engage family sponsors. By far the first year is our highest year of financial commitment with much of the livestock being supplied to the initial 150 families. We will recognize all donations above US$1,000 as a project partner on our website as well as give you a 6 monthly update on the project. For more information, please email andrewc@captivating.org
Will you SPONSOR A FAMILY?
We want to match 150 sponsor families with each of the village families taking part in this project. Each year we’ll keep you updated on how your family is progressing throughout the 6 year life of this project, including pictures of other families that benefit from your family passing-on-their-gift. In effect, over the 6 year period of your sponsorship, not just one but three families will see the end of poverty because of your support. Sponsorship is US/A$40 a month or US/A$480 a year. Your contribution for the full six years will also enable us to prepare for the next village development initiative. For more information, please email andrewc@captivating.org
Will you become a CAPTIVATING ADVOCATE and promote this project to your network?
You might not be in a position to personally donate money, but you have a voice and friends and family. Can you help to spread the word? Please email andrewc@captivating.org for more details. We’ll be with you all the way. Xie Xie Ni (thank-you).
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 21, 2012
Captivating and Heifer International (China) join forces
This month marks the beginning of a new six year village development initiative that will see 450 impoverished families step up and out of poverty. Captivating is thrilled to be partnering with Heifer International (China) and will be working directly with two of the poorest villages we can find in the challenging mountainous province of Guizhou.
Alicia Zheng from Captivating’s Shenzhen office has spearheaded this initiative with due diligence over the past 5 months and we are thrilled to be moving ahead with it. This project is focused on helping families to at least double their income earning potential and, in the process, ensure they can afford to keep their kids in school and, importantly, progressing through to high-school.
We will have many stories to tell about home businesses being established, animal husbandry, water treatment solutions, environmental improvement, and vegetation/crop developments.
A key part of this initiative is a family’s responsibility to “pass-on-the-gift”. This will see another family benefiting from this program every two to three years.
HOW YOU CAN HELP: We will be using family sponsorship as the key financing vehicle for this project. Our work will initially commence with 150 families. You can sponsor one of these families for US$40 a month/$480 a year and we will keep you updated on their progress. Not only that, if you continue your support from year to year, you will also start to see other recipient families who start to benefit from your support thanks to the passing-on-of-the-gift program. Please contact us directly on sponsorship@captivating.org if you would like to sponsor a family. Family details will be available soon on our website www.captivating.org
February 17, 2012
Our Sapling Project – Sichuan and Gansu Provinces
Since 2008 we have been planting Plum and Walnut Saplings in rural mountainous locations of Sichuan and Gansu Provinces. Participant families receive up to 100 high yielding, specially grafted saplings, along with several years of technical training and support to see these trees mature over a period of up to 5 years. To date in excess of 50,000 trees have been planted. With the exception of one group of trees that were planted at altitude’s too high for good growth, results have been mostly positive. Some saplings planted in 2008 died through an unfortunate combination of planting too high in altitude followed by an extremely harsh winter. Otherwise, success rates are above 85% which is above our planned expectations. Our thanks to everyone who supported these initiatives.
(pictured: A boy looking forward to a secure and safe future education; Mr Lai providing technical training to village recipients in Sichuan Province; A villager planting a new sapling in Gansu province where 50 families took part in a pilot planting program; A village leader showing off his saplings after one year of growth. These are on target to produce their first marketable yield in 2014).
December 8, 2011
Sichuan Sapling project- Village Development
Since 2008, Captivating has started sapling projects in three villages of Sichuan and Gansu province.Recent inspection of our second village – Qingchuan County, Sichuan – showed better than expected results. We are excited about this wonderful progress. In this village, 107 families received a total of 13,000 high quality grafted walnut trees planted in March 2009. Results show that more than 85% of the trees have survived their first winter (a high-risk period for new saplings – we budget on 70% surviving). These young trees are growing well and are expected to yield their first marketable fruit on-schedule in 2015.
Most of the families in this village lost their homes during the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Since then, their homes have been rebuilt thanks to a partnership between the Chinese Government and World Vision International. Captivating’s role is to help these families create sustainable farm-generated income that will help end poverty for them and their reliance on working as migrants in city locations – a decision that separates family units. At this current moment, more than 90% of the village families rely on income from a father or mother (or both) who move to the cities in search of work. Most of the children are living with grandparents or single parents.
Thank you for all of your generous support of this project.
(Pictured: Two of the children now living with hope of a better tomorrow; The village leader standing next to a Captivating Sapling on track for maturation in 2015).
September 19, 2011
Captivating loves DISNEY Hong Kong
(Pictured: Gina with other VoluntEAR friends from Disney. Gina is the one standing at the back with her arm around an old friend from the local retirement home they have been helping).
Volunteerism and commitment to community service are an important part of Disney’s culture. Both through the Disney VoluntEARS program and on their own time, Disney employees selflessly give of their time to make communities healthier and the world a better place. Through the ‘EARS To You’ program, Disney employees are given the opportunity to apply for a grant for their favorite charity. The amount of the grant is based on the number of volunteer hours served throughout the year, starting from US$100 up to US$1000 every calendar year.
For the past few years, Gina Lee has worked tirelessly to ensure she earns the maximum Disney grant and nominates CAPTIVATING INTERNATIONAL as her charity of choice. Specifically, she supports our work helping remote villages in rural China break the poverty cycle, and her money has been used to buy plum and walnut saplings for families who need help to get started. Thanks to people like Gina, children of these families now live with hope for a better tomorrow. Thanks Gina, and thanks for great program DISNEY.
August 30, 2011
Our Captivating Village Development Program
March saw the commencement of our 2011 Village Development program. With a focus on introducing high quality grafted Walnut saplings as a sustainable village development initiative, multiple families in Southern Gansu put their hands up to be the first to pilot this initiative. Critical to the success of the walnuts is a successful transition from nursery to the mountainside. Already it is evident that almost all of the saplings survived the transition and we expect many more families will benefit from this program and its training support in the coming months.
In addition, we are excited to announce that discussions have started to establish Captivating as a partner with county governments in Guizhou Province (considered the poorest Province in China). This initiative will evolve our current program into a three year development initiative helping village’s double their income capacity in three years (ending poverty in the process for every village family). The solutions will cover a wider variety of options from orchards, walnuts, animal husbandry and agricultural development. Thank you everyone for supporting our village development initiatives and bringing hope to what is becoming hundreds of families and their children.
August 29, 2011
Sichuan Sapling-Thank you Shenzhen
Our local community here in Shenzhen, China is amazing. In addition to the charity auction, here are some additional highlights.
( Pictured: The European Union Chamber of Commerce (China) held two events in support of Captivating: a fund raising dinner and a family fun-run; Huge thanks to Greg from Amrosia Global Sourcing & Inspection who organized a midnight 10km run in aid of the Sapling Program. SIMPLY AWESOME; The Nan Hai Hotel, as well as the Maillen Club of Shekou are holding quarterly events for their menbers and supporting Captivating in the process. )
