BRICKS Blog

Sisters Act for orphans and Elderly care receives a boost

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 03:51:33 +0000

There was a beautiful story in China Daily last Sunday on the great work the the Sisters are doing in Hubei province helping care for the orphans in the area. Read the full story here.

Rural elderly care is back in the news as the State registers the changing demographics. China is getting old and it will hit rural China hard.

Mothers day update

admin — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:29:30 +0000

Before Mass we gave a presentation about our participation in Lanzhou Marathon, our purpose and motivation. We then invited people to donate to our cause and raised 2173 rmb (€ 270). One of the sons of an elderly gentlemen generously donated 800 rmb, whilst a second local businessman donated 500 rmb. As of yesterday our total raised through donations is 3473 rmb (€432).

Pictures taken on Mother’s Day

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-05-15

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:30:00 +0000

I posted a new photo to Facebook http://t.co/IsLlQ73O #
The BRICKS office is getting busy with the upcoming events.
Running on an Egg is fast approaching, just one week… http://t.co/UWlJx5yo #
Just completed a 6.08 km run with @RunKeeper. Check it out! http://t.co/A7FZ0O4u #RunKeeper #
Just completed a 18.82 km run with @RunKeeper. Check it out! http://t.co/xURyq9z4 #RunKeeper #

Red cross and school meals

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 07:22:59 +0000

Red Cross to Expand Mission

Officials retool Lunch Program

Delegation to Handan

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 06:59:36 +0000

The delegation

On May the 6th, BRICKS’ representative Peter accompanied by Dandy Labity of Beunan Foundation (Taiwan) made the 4 hourtrain journey to dusty Handan, Hebei province.

Fr. Sun Peter and Teddy

The aims were two fold; to gain first hand understanding of the progress the home visiting group had made since November and to introduce Dandy to the kind of projects we are working with.

The day

Come Ye My People is a non-profit organisation established 3 years previous, a group of well minded local volunteers who primarily serve the elderly lacking support living in rural areas surrounding Handan. The group was set up with a mind to encouraging local Catholics to support poverty alleviation programs by volunteering to assist the local elderly do their laundry, cook, general assistance and support their material and spiritual needs.

Peter and Dandy were met off the early train by the groups founder and coordinator, Fr Sun and several other volunteers. The first destination was an area of land about 9.6 acres in size, bought with the intention of building an Old Peoples home to care for those elderly unable to continue living in their homes, a place to live out their twilight years.

At this future Old Peoples home Peter and Dandy were able to ask Fr. Sun about the project and it’s development, he replied: “In order to better serve the elderly people we care for, often we organise volunteers to work with other agencies working in the same are so through practice and observation they can develop their own skills and use it in the work we do”. There are currently around 30 volunteers who tirelessly to carry out this mission.
Back in the makeshift office Fr. Sun went on: “But to develop further we urgently need training, how to better expand our services, personal training in caring for elderly and how to run an organisation. And importantly we need to find an office to work out from”.

Peter and Teddy with the organisation's managers

The group cares for just over 30 elderly in the area doing so only with the very generous support of the local parishioners. At present this is the organisation’s sole income, but Fr. Sun is well aware that to develop further they must expand this donor base.

A day out in Jilin

admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 06:28:46 +0000

jilin may

5 Photos

Jilin 2012

6 Photos

Movement in Handan

admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 04:04:05 +0000

Reporting on Peter’s trip to Handan.

We have news that the project, Come ye my people, is expanding. They have taken on a new volunteer as project manager, Chen Shupo, a recent graduate. This is good news for the project as having someone on the management team under the age of 50 will hopefully add a hitherto underused youthful drive to extend the project’s capacity and develop the project in new ways.

Keep an eye out for updates as they come in.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-05-08

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:30:00 +0000

Just completed a 17.73 km run with @RunKeeper. Check it out! http://t.co/ub5LXVpb #RunKeeper #

The Hou Dong Yu 5

admin — Sat, 05 May 2012 04:58:42 +0000

We are happy to say that with the support of the British Ladies Club, and after 2 years of hard work the project to support 5 Elderly People staying at the Houdong Yu Elderly Care Home is now complete.

There is a great if terrifying beauty in appreciating the stark contrast of the past and present lives of these 5 elderly.

Deep in the mountains and nestled above a reservoir, the Elderly Home exists as a reflection of hope. Three meals a day, a roof over one’s head, solid walls built from concrete, a community to pass the time of day and there to support you when times get hard, things we take for granted but a rare commodity when passing beyond the outer limits of China’s economic miracle.

This economic miracle had barely touched the past lives of these 5 elderly. Dust in the big cities is a problem, but less of one when you can escape into insulated apartments and travel by car. On the dusty plains around Xingtai where the houses are built of mud brick and cars are still only for the well-off, escaping the dust and pollution is but a dream, and insulation forgotten as primary needs like food and clothing take the fore. This severely impacts on their health. Taken together with bad diet and living spaces often choked with charcoal dust for cooking and warmt
h, seniors like the 5 we have been supporting often grow old young. Loss of hearing, going dumb and crippled by disabilities they cannot afford to have checked, results in their quality of life deteriorate rapidly.

For those facing these challenges on a daily account, the Elderly Care Home is the miracle that is otherwise passing them by.

The relationship that BRICKS The Great Wall Appeal has been developing with the Vincentian Fraternal Family (the Charity behind the Elderly Care Home) has been two fold. On one hand is the above project, a simple process of supporting the group financially, with simple and quantifiable outcomes. On the other hand we have been offering our own consultancy service, advising on development strategy and management structures. The success has been clear; the organization’s home visiting capability has grown dramatically, now reaching close to 300 elderly on both the plains and in the mountains, an area roughly 200 square kilometres in size. The Elderly Care Home in the mountains has also grown, now caring for 12 Elderly all year round. And what is of great interest is the way that the Vincentian Fraternal Family has been able to adapt as it grows. Localized semi-autonomous management groups have developed to handle local issues leaving the core group of organizers free to plan. This truly is the forefront of rural home care in China.

With the generous support of the British Ladies Club and other smaller donations, we have been able to offer this “miracle” to 5 elderly over a period of 2 years.

As we at BRICKS close the final pages on this project, we are already involved with a new and exciting project. On the 19th of May we will go “Running on an Egg” with the aim of fundraising so that 100 of the elderly the Vincentian Fraternal Family care for can eat an egg every day for a year.

As always support is greatly appreciated in helping us build a Great Wall of Charity in China – Brick by Brick

A Day of Fun at Kouqian Village

Lucy — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:52:24 +0000

On April 11th, we organized a special event for a group of 37 people living with AIDS in Kouqian Village, Jilin Province.

They played fun games and did some meditation. They bounded well with one another and were at peace by the end of the day.