The Amity Foundation

Clinics project approved by the Clinton Global Initiative

The Amity Foundation has committed to the building of 100 clinics in rural Guizhou Province as part of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). This commitment is designed to improve the level of health services offered in villages in the Chinese countryside. Guizhou is one of the poorest provinces of China. 100 clinics will be constructed through a public-private partnership arrangement. Amity hopes that the clinics will serve as a model for the state to consider for replication.

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Mianzhu Church since the earthquake

When the Sichuan earthquake on May 12 shook the old Protestant church of Mianzhu, with parts of the roof and the facade falling off, Pastor Gu probably did not imagine that the congregation would grow fourfold in the following seven months. But it did. Since May, the number of people attending Sunday services has grown from around 180 to up to 1000 worshipers in December 2008.

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Amity teacher receives Sichuan award

Connie Wieck received the Jinding Award

Amity teacher Connie Wieck is one of the recipients of the Sichuan Jinding Award. This award was established by the government of Sichuan Province to thank and commend foreign experts for their contributions and dedication to the training of Chinese personnel. These professionals, from a wide variety of fields, have contributed to Sichuan’s social development, economic, scientific, technological, educational and cultural construction. It is the province’s highest honor for foreign experts. Connie Wieck was chosen along with six other foreign experts of various fields to receive the award for the year 2007.

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Rebuilding houses in the earthquake area

The rebuilding of houses has finally started in Woyun, the village in Sichuan on which the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts of the Amity Foundation have been focused. Also, villagers have formed a post-disaster reconstruction committee, whose job it is to coordinate the reconstruction efforts in Woyun.

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Reflections on Amity

Theresa Carino

Dr. Theresa Carino retired as leader of Amity’s Hong Kong Office this autumn. Anthony Tong Kai Hong took over as Executive Director in November. Theresa will be missed by Amity staff both in Nanjing and in Hong Kong, as well as by Amity’s many partners and friends in China and abroad. They are happy, though, that she has agreed to go on working as a consultant for Amity for at least another year. Below are her reflections on the organisation:

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Fulbright teaching assistants at colleges with Amity teachers

The Amity Foundation has facilitated the placement of Fulbright English Teaching Assistants at two colleges in mainland China. The Fulbright Program awards grants to U.S. students; its English Teaching Assistantships are one type of these. English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) can choose between a number of different countries in Asia, but mainland China is not on the list. Some ETAs are based in Hong Kong for a year, teaching at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. In order for them to experience the Chinese education system, eight of these ETAs and their supervisor recently spent a week at Luzhou Vocational and Technical College in Sichuan, while eight more went to a college in Gansu Province. Additional information is available on Amity teacher Connie Wieck’s website.

“Friends of Amity” Christmas Bazaar held in Shanghai

Zhu Xuelian, of the Friends of Amity, was the main organiser of the bazaar.

More than 200 people took part in a charitable bazaar held by the “Friends of Amity” in Shanghai on 14 December. CNY 400,500 (ca. US$ 58,600) were raised at the occasion; the proceeds will go to Amity’s “Action e 10,000“, whose aim it is to support 10,000 orphans in China’s rural areas. The items on sale at the bazaar were donated by members of the Shanghai-based “Friends of Amity” organisation, the CEIBS Alumni Association and people from all walks of life who support Amity’s cause of helping the poor and marginalised in China.

The funds raised at the event will be enough to cover the living expenses and study costs of 270 orphans in the Chinese countryside – these children are receiving a truly valuable Christmas present this year.

Clinics project approved by the Clinton Global Initiative

The commitment of Amity’s Hong Kong office to build 100 clinics in the countryside of Guizhou Province has been approved by the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Asia. Amity’s general secretary, Qiu Zhonghui, was one of the delegates to the CGI meeting in Hong Kong earlier this month. Representatives of governments, private businesses and NGOs discussed how to improve healthcare, education, poverty relief and environmental protection in Asia during the three-day meeting.

Additional information is available here:

• Providing medical care in Guizhou.
• Former President Clinton Concludes CGI Asia Meeting and Announces Impact of Commitments.

Medical volunteers return from the earthquake region

Our volunteers are back.

The volunteers sent by Amity to the earthquake zone in September have returned to Nanjing after 3 months of service. The volunteers are doctors and specially qualified medical staff from Nanjing Ruihaibo Rehabilitation Hospital. Amity’s associate general secretary, He Wen, and the director of the Rehabilitation Hospital, Li Shuiyan, welcomed them back at the airport. They served at the People’s Hospital in Mianzhu, Sichuan, helping to rehabilitate more than 400 people who had been severely injured during the devastating 12 May earthquake.

General Secretary Qiu “National Outstanding Charity Worker”

Qiu Zhonghui, the secretary general of the Amity Foundation, has been awarded the honour of “National Outstanding Charity Worker” by the General Assembly of Charities in Beijing, which is sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs. The General Assembly met in Beijing on 5 December to announce the winners of the 2008 China Charity Awards.

Mr. Qiu also attended the China Charity Forum the same afternoon.

In 2006, the Amity Foundation received the China Poverty Eradication Award from the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA), a government-backed charity.