News
Hong Kong Architects and Planners Visit Sichuan
In order to bring Hong Kong expertise to bear on our rebuilding project in Sichuan, the Amity Hong Kong Office invited some representatives of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects and the Hong Kong Institute of Planners to visit Woyun Village from 6 to 8 September 2008.
Together, they spent their time discussing the challenges of how the Hong Kong group could provide assistance under the present circumstances. “We were warmly greeted by the village leaders, who have by now developed a most cordial relationship with Amity workers after months of living amongst them in cardboard houses, and working together in relief operation,” says Anthony Tong from Amity’s Hong Kong Office, who accompanied the group. The architects and planners listened to farmers’ views, inspected and measured what was left of the fallen structures to form a clear picture of local building traditions. Of interest was also the temporary water delivery system which was rigged after 15 out of the 16 water towers had fallen during the quake. Especially conspicuous to the group was that farmers lacked funds. They were rendered broke after 95% of them lost their houses and prized possessions in the quake. Even with the government subsidy of 16,000 – 22,000 RMB, many of them could not afford to rebuild the homes to their former standards of living.
Since the Sichuan earthquake, Amity has been actively working with the Sichuan government in identifying villages which are in need of assistance in rebuilding their houses and infrastructures. After some initial fact-finding and on the recommendation of the Mianzhu government, Woyun Village has been identified as a needy site for assistance. “The hopeful sign is,” says Anthony Tong, “that people are going about their way with some degree of optimism now that they know their plights have not gone unnoticed and help is on the way.”
Summer English Program: “No Picinic”
Forty-five volunteers from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom took part in this year’s Summer English Program (SEP). Between July 7th and August 4th volunteers spent four weeks of their summer vacation to join the 12 teaching teams which were assigned to seven provinces. The program is meant to be a cross-cultural dialogue which gives English-speaking volunteers a chance to work with rural primary and middle school Chinese teachers of English to develop their listening and speaking skills. The SEP includes an orientation program in Nanjing and a debriefing conference in Shanghai.
“Participation in the SEP is no holiday and no picnic,” says Stephen Sidebotham from the UK, who taught this summer in Shandong Province, “it is hard work, but deeply rewarding and satisfying.” The SEP is always much more than yet another training course in spoken English. As Claire Gibbs from the U.S. says: “The welcoming handshakes from our hosts, shared laughter over a meal, the wide-eyed curious looks from children, our teacher-students’ eager smiles – the SEP was all of this, and more.”
The Strongs Leave for North Carolina
The Strongs in front of their new home
This summer, the Hong Kong office had to say goodbye to Kim and John Strong, who have worked there for more than five years. Before coming to Hong Kong, Kim and John worked as Amity teachers in Nanjing where their son Benjamin was born. In Hong Kong, Kim supported the teachers program as an educational consultant. John was responsible for the annual report, the website and the Amity teachers’ internal magazine “The Amity Echo”. The Strongs now live in North Carolina (picture). They are greatly missed by everybody.
New Responsibilities
Elisa Nousiainen, the editor of the Amity News Service (ANS), left the Amity Hong Kong Office at the end of 2007 to assume new responsibilities at the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission (FELM) in Hong Kong. Fortunately, Elisa will continue to serve Amity as a board director. Theresa Carino is now in charge of editing the ANS.
