Habitat for Humanity China
China -- Habitat for Humanity Int'l 1
Rapid economic growth has greatly reduced abject poverty. However, the World Bank estimates that in 2005, the latest figures available, China still had 254 million people living on less than US$1.25 a day. Many of these poorest people live in remote mountainous regions or are members of minority communities.
Many of the poor lack access to affordable housing, shut out by soaring land and house prices, and the inadequate supply of low-cost accommodation.
Habitat for Humanity China was established in 2000. It began operations in mainland China in 2002 in Kunming, capital of Yunnan, one of China’s poorest provinces. In 2004, offices were opened in neighboring Guangxi and Guangdong provinces. The former, based in the provincial capital Nanning, is the result of a strategic partnership with the Guangxi Poverty Alleviation Development Office and the Guangxi Disabled Persons’ Federation. Initial projects in Guangxi involved working with leprosy-affected people in to improve their homes in a partnership that linked with The Leprosy Mission International. The Guangdong office, based in the provincial capital Guangzhou, was set up as a result of a partnership with the Guangdong Disabled Persons’ Federation.
In January 2006, Habitat merged its operations in Hong Kong and China into a single entity. The move leverages on the resources and business acumen of Asia’s premier international city to promote Habitat’s mission. Hong Kong concentrates on raising funds and recruiting teams of volunteers. To provide a build experience within Hong Kong, and to help disadvantaged elderly residents, the office has an on-going restoration project in a local fishing village. The office has played a leading role in raising both in response to natural disasters both within China and overseas.
The devastating May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan produced an outpouring of resources and volunteers. HFH China opened an office in the provincial capital Chengdu to coordinate its rebuilding work in outlying communities — and later to oversee Habitat activities across southwestern China. To date, HFH China has built homes and assisted nearly 1,000 families in half a dozen Sichuan communities. Earlier, HFH China assisted families to reconstruct their houses in Chushui county, Yunnan, after a snow storm in early 2008, and families affected by the June 2007 earthquake in nearby Pu’er city. In Guangdong, HFH China rebuilt homes for a flood-affected community.
In 2009, Habitat opened an office in Shanghai to take advantage of opportunities in the country’s commercial and financial capital. The office develops and funds projects in the Yangzi river delta region and supports Habitat’s work elsewhere in China. This office has established a rehabilitation project for local elderly citizens to showcase Habitat’s work to locally-based donors and officials.
Most Habitat projects are in rural areas where homes are often made of unsafe structures. Residents commonly rely on communal wells for water. Decent sanitation facilities are not widely available. A typical Habitat home measures about 70 sq. m. in size, and is constructed with red bricks, stone, compressed earth blocks or wood supplemented with a tiled roof. (Government regulations meant homes rebuilt after the Sichuan earthquake were larger.) A flat roof design is preferred as home partners can use the space both for drying grain and for collecting rainwater. Home partners also have the flexibility to build a second story if they have the financial means.
The China-leg of the November 2009 Carter Work Project was held in a periurban setting in Qionglai city, Sichuan. Former US president Jimmy Carter visited volunteers working on apartments as part of an urban initiative by the city government to provide low-cost rental housing units to families in need.
China is an increasingly popular destination for locally-based and overseas Habitat volunteer build teams. Habitat has hosted volunteer teams from 12 overseas countries including from the American International School of Guangzhou, International School of Beijing and Shanghai American School as well as teams from South Korea and the United States.
HABITAT HIGHLIGHTS
• The Singapore Red Cross, Singapore-headquartered electronics maker Flextronics, Hong Kong Christian Council were among those funding post-earthquake rebuilding initiative in three communities in Xiaoyudong and Cifeng townships, Pengzhou, Sichuan.
COUNTRY FACTS
Population: 1,330,141,295 (est. July 2010)
Capital: Beijing
Area: 9,596,960 sq. km.
Ethnic groups: Han Chinese 91.5%, Zhuang, Manchu, Hui, Miao, Uyghur, Tujia, Yi, Mongol, Tibetan, Buyi, Dong, Yao, Korean, and other nationalities 8.5% (2000 census)
Languages: Standard Chinese (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages
Religions: Daoist (Taoist), Buddhist, Christian 3%-4%, Muslim 1%-2%. Officially atheist. (est. 2002)
Literacy: 93.7% (2008)
Urbanization: 43% (2008)
Population Living on US$1.25 a Day: 16% (2005)
Access to Improved Water Sources: 89% (2009)
Access to Improved Sanitation Facilities: 55% (2009)
Sources: CIA World Factbook, World Bank
Updated January 2011