The Amity Foundation

Piano recital in commemoration of the earthquake

Cai Yixuan at the piano

A piano recital was held to commemorate the 100th day after the Sichuan earthquake of 12 May. It took place on 22 August at the Nanjing Centre for Culture and Arts and was initiated by Cai Yixuan and other students from the Nanjing Foreign Language School. At the event, which was hosted by both Amity and the school, more than 400 people were present – among them Amity’s general secretary Qiu Zhonghui and several high-ranking government officials.

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Report on Amity’s Relief Work in Sichuan Earthquake

It is now over 100 days since the worst earthquake in a century devastated parts of Sichuan on May 12, 2008. For quake survivors, it is only the beginning of a painfully long journey of healing and recovery for which they will need our continuing empathy and support.

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Summer Training Program being held

The new teachers taking part in the Amity Teachers Program and young volunteers of the Young Adult Program arrived in Yangzhou on August 8th. Their training program started the next day. They will take different courses such as orientation, teaching workshops, teaching practice, etc. A few mini-courses will be also provided, e.g. cooking, Chinese calligraphy and Taiji.

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Summer English Program 2008 completed

SEP volunteers shared their experiences

The debriefing conference of the 2008 Summer English Program was held in Shanghai, August 2-4.

All the teams finished the 3-week teaching on Friday August 1st and went to Shanghai in the evening of August 1st or on August 2nd. On August 3rd, they went to Shanghai Grace Church (Huai En Church) for the Sunday worship, enjoyed about half a day of free time downtown and later attended the conference, which started at 4:30 pm at Shanghai Jinming Hotel.

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Photos and stories from Sichuan’s disaster area

talking to earthquake victims in Woyun

Reconstruction work in Sichuan is underway and Amity has started to assist schools, churches and villages. Beate Engelen from Amity’s Hong Kong office went on a trip in June – together with Nanjing staffers Li Yang, Huang Qingrui, Gong Sheng and Tan Hua – to Woyun Cun, a village near Mianzhu (one of the hard-hit disaster areas in Sichuan), as well as Xiyu and Hongyan near Pengzhou. Talking to victims and officials, the group was able to gather information on how to help people put their lives back together.

Photos, descriptions and people’s stories are available here:

• Woyun Village
• Xiyu Village
• Hongyan Village

From disaster relief to integrated reconstruction work

What we have reached so far: Until the end of July, the Amity Foundation had purchased and safely distributed disaster relief material worth over CNY 5 million, including 80,160 bottles of water, 28,800 boxes of noodles, 27,200 packages of processed meat, 35.2 tons of cooking oil, 374 tons of rice, 13,800 blankets, and 22,350 rainproof sheets. In addition, Amity distributed goods donated by other non-governmental organizations and corporations, including cosmetics, baby products, tents, medicines, as well as other necessities, to more than one thousand beneficiaries in over ten districts.

What will come next: Amity is launching a post-disaster reconstruction project in order to help rebuild and redevelop communities affected by the earthquake and enable victims to resume a normal life.

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