The Amity Foundation

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:

Reflections on Amity

As a Chinese organization, Amity is unique — it has a faith background and is very closely associated with the Chinese Protestant churches; it has developed an enviable reputation in China for its accountability and professionalism; it has established an extensive international network of friends and supporters that is difficult to match.

The vision and courage of Amity’s founding leaders, namely Bishop K. H. Ting and the late Dr. Han Wenzao, in setting up Amity is something we are always thankful for. They undertook a bold experiment to expand the social and political space for the church in China. At that time, Christianity was seen as opiate of the people, viewed with suspicion and, in some official and intellectual quarters, even with hostility. The church was considered conservative, anti-modern, anti-intellectual — not the most likely to contribute to China’s openness and modernization.

Yet in 20 years of hard work and sacrifice, Amity has become an organization recognized as one of the major home-grown NGOs in China, and possibly the largest.

Thinking globally and acting locally

Through constant interaction with partners in Hong Kong and overseas, who share funds, ideas, expertise and personnel, Amity has for 20 years been engaged with the global community but has acted in a local context. This has enabled Amity to engage in what is regarded as cutting-edge projects in China by taking global ideas and adapting them to local conditions. Examples include community-based rehabilitation for the visually impaired; bilingual education for the hearing impaired; a participatory approach to rural development; pioneering in HIV/AIDS education work, and supporting people living with AIDS, etc. In this sense, Amity has always been several steps ahead of other Chinese NGOs in terms of openness and the ability to face new challenges.

Church and social service

In a speech delivered in 1994 on “Christianity and Modernization in China”, Prof. Chen Zemin raised the question whether a church that is “young and conservative, foreign, small and backward, in danger of falling apart, not self-supporting, and lacking a theology to gird and equip herself to bear witness to the Christian gospel in a modernized China” can have the ability to relate Christianity with modernization. Amity has demonstrated that Christians and Christian organisations can make positive contributions to Chinese society by bringing together Christians and non-Christians, Chinese and non-Chinese, officials, intellectuals and common people.

Churches in China have changed tremendously in the last 20 years. Not only has their membership grown exponentially, the Chinese church in the last 10 years has moved considerably from being an inward-looking faith community towards a more outward-looking one, making advances in relating faith with social practice. With the establishment of the Social Service Department of the CCC/TSPM, Christian leaders have actively encouraged churches to become directly involved in social service. Christian leaders have expressed concern about the widening rich-poor gap in China and want affluent congregations in eastern coastal cities to contribute to poor rural communities. There will be an increasing concern for “justice” issues as churches work with migrant workers and on peace-related issues.

With its experience and scope, Amity provides a broad platform for Chinese Christians to express their faith and willingness to help. I hope that Amity can intensify its involvement with churches, providing viable models for churches that wish to become socially engaged.

Quality, not size

As Amity begins to mature as an organization, it has to redefine its niche in Chinese society. It began as one of the first few NGOs in China but Chinese NGOs have mushroomed since. Many are small but highly specialised. Additionally, more international NGOs are operating in China today. Amity finds itself having to compete for funds, local partners, personnel, among others. It has to demonstrate that it is still an organization that really “makes a difference” in people’s lives, and that it operates with a high degree of professionalism and accountability.

In my view, scaling up for Amity should not simply be a matter of size but — more important — an issue of quality. Amity has to deal with the serious question of developmental sustainability. China’s phenomenal economic growth has been achieved at enormous cost to the environment, especially in the countryside. People face critical water and air pollution and this year has seen “unnatural” disasters that have shattered the lives of millions. Its development paradigm has also spawned a host of socio-economic problems, among them the widening gap between rich and poor and problems of rural-urban migration. Social unrest and environmental degradation can undo the economic gains chalked up through decades. Relief work and the alleviation of suffering is important. But we also need to address the issues that contribute to disasters before they happen.

Through its projects, Amity has planted the seeds of local democracy, contributed to the development of women’s leadership at the grassroots, promoted gender equality and worked towards environmental preservation through alternative energy projects. These achievements should be expanded. Best practices need to be recorded and shared so that they can have a policy impact. This requires research that can provide a sharper analysis of Amity’s work and place it in a national and global context. Through this process, Amity can better share its experiences at a global level and add its voice to the development debate.

There is much more awareness of rights rather than just obligations in present-day China. Amity has quietly championed the rights of the disabled and the less privileged through its work. These rights have to be more clearly and explicitly articulated if Amity is to make contributions to the development of civil society in China.

As conditions ripen for philanthropy in China, Amity has to grow a constituency and a reliable support network in Chinese society through its fundraising efforts. After all, fundraising is really friend-raising and consciousness-raising. More youth, especially, have to be exposed to the poverty in the countryside and some of the socio-economic challenges faced by Chinese people.

The role of Hong Kong

The Amity Hong Kong Office remains an important asset to Amity’s work precisely because Hong Kong itself retains both Chinese and international characteristics and has developed its own unique blend of East and West. Despite the financial downturn, Hong Kong retains formidable human, technological and financial resources from which the mainland can benefit. In terms of ideas and perspectives, Hong Kong can be a vital training ground in capacity building for Amity and its local partners. To do this, the Amity Hong Kong Office has to strengthen its ties with churches, NGOs and schools in Hong Kong, not only with churches and partners overseas.

As it gets more difficult for overseas partners to provide funding and personnel for Amity’s publicity work, it will have to rely on technology. The role of information technology and the web has to be more fully explored for Amity’s outreach to the global community.

Having worked in the Philippines to promote south-south exchange with China for more than a decade in the 1980s and 90s, I still believe in the positive value of this for Amity. Personally, I hope that Amity can share its experiences and also learn from NGOs in other parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

At the personal level, I have enjoyed working with Amity and gained many friends in China and internationally. Visits to grassroots churches and communities have always been a high point for me, providing spiritual strength and inspiration. Working with Christian leaders, local officials and Amity colleagues has been a privilege. I may sound like a broken record, but being part of Amity has meant being part of a family whose bonds keep you eternally connected and from which it is difficult to tear away!

Dr. Theresa Carino, 15 December 2008