Rebuilding Sichuan
Yangping Village - a place few would have ever noticed - one more peasant town in the most populous country in the world. Then, May 12, 2008, the earth shook, rippled, quaked. Yangping was right there, in the middle of a story seen around the world.
Then when the smoke cleared, the rubble settled - no more bodies to be found, no more emergency response to be had, what's left?
Loss -- Family, Friends, Homes, A way of life
What's next? That's the question many were left asking.
 |
Take Fan Wenbing. He had worked as driver - transport work for the local mining operator, taking metals from the earth to fuel the economic drive of China. The earthquake took care of that - no more mine to pull metals from, no more work for Fan Wenbing.
What now?
It was into this desperation that Heifer began its work in Sichuan. As in most Heifer projects participants were organized into Self-Help Groups, groups that would learn together, save together, care and organize and rebuild together.
In Yangping, Heifer began its project with goats - black, easy to feed, hardy. The families in Yangping hadn't raised goats before, but they were ready to learn. They had little choice. As Fan Wenbing said, "After the earthquake, the mine is closing and there is no other good way to make money but raising animals."
 |
Even so, there was some skepticism at first about all of the training Heifer required to receive the goats. Pass on the Gift, Cornerstones - these were abstract concepts, but as the project participants began to go through training they began to understand the concepts Heifer introduced - that the aim wasn't only to help create a new source of income but to create a value system that would enable them to pull themselves out of poverty permanently. As one community member, Yang Xinghua said, "We made a living by all the mountains here, cutting down a tree and gaining about RMB 30, then we just had that RMB 30. We could not even feed ourselves; how we can talk about opening minds and improving our personal quality. But Heifer is different from all the others...Heifer brings us animals and techniques on which we can really depend and develop on our own."
Now this community that was devastated, with what little they had destroyed, are planning for the future. In addition to their goat operation they are talking about developing agricultural tourism - a place where people from the city can come and enjoy the countryside. They are also beginning to discuss how they might raise organic vegetables together - diversifying their farms and income. Most importantly, following the Heifer Cornerstones of Passing on the Gift and Sharing and Caring, the members of this Self-Help Group is hoping to help others and spawn new Self-Help Groups.
In a world where disasters hurt the most poor and vulnerable, Heifer's work in Yangping is an example of our work to create sustainable relief. Our aim is not to meet the short term needs after a disaster, but rather to rehabilitate communities for long term sustainability - whatever comes their way.
Once communities become more prosperous and self-reliant, they become more resilient to future disasters. We have seen this time and time again in our projects around the world. One recent example is the drought affecting certain regions of China. One project participant wrote that, "although we are terribly stricken by the drought this year with no harvest from our field, we have the Heifer project. Comparing ourselves with those no-project families, we are stronger to get over the disaster."