Income Gap

Gucci Store

Village home in Yunnan

An article published on MSNBC.com entitled "China's Wealth Gap Strains Social Fabric" discusses the income gap between China's urban rich and its rural impoverished population.

On the one hand, the author describes how wealthy Chinese people are purchasing designer brands (Gucci, Prada, Armani, etc) like candy.  Their buying power is tremendous, and their wealth has increased exponentially over the past ten years.  A Gucci store employee is quoted as saying that many people in their urban area will spend USD$10,000 during one shopping trip.

If the recent wealth experienced by millions of people on the east coast, urban regions isn't staggering enough, the poverty of the rural areas is even more shocking.  The author states, "for all the money flowing to China's new middle class and wealthy elite, much of the population still lives in or near poverty."  A typical rural family lives on less than $2 a day (China Data Center).  

Chinese government officials acknowledge that a huge income gap exists in the country; they have made it a point of discussion and a high priority.  But their ability to change it won't be easy.  Lu Kang, deputy director general at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of North American and Oceanic Affairs, states, "In 10 years, China will still be a developing country."  He notes that the overall standards of living in China will continue to improve (mostly in urban areas), however, he cuts right to the core of the issue as he states, "The rural areas are totally different.  That's (the income gap and rural poverty) not something we can solve in the next decade."

Forgotten and ignored, many rural villagers in Yunnan struggle daily under the constraints of poverty.  They are without drinking water, without basic knowledge of health and hygiene, without any assistance to rise above the suffocating poverty.  They can't wait a decade for help!

CWEF is working in China to serve these people - the impoverished rural poor.  By implementing fresh water systems in the villages, CWEF empowers the villagers to escape from poverty.  The number of animals villagers can raise is no longer limited to the amount of water they can carry to feed them; the women are able to work and raise the children, rather than spending 5 to 6 hours a day hauling water.  Additionally, CWEF health and hygiene training improves the quality of life and the general health in the villages.  In the same way, CWEF's community development projects (i.e. biogas projects, animal gift projects, micro-credit loans), aid and assist the people in rural Yunnan.  (For more information on CWEF's projects visit our website: www.cwef.org.hk).  These projects make a significant impact in the villages.

So regardless of the number of new designer stores built in China's cities, the buying power of its upper class, or the continuous news of China's growing economy, the facts still remain -- China faces an enormous income gap, the government's ability to change it is greatly limited, and most rural Chinese families who live on less than $2 a day need help!  The impoverished rural poor need assistance to get out of poverty, making CWEF's work here so crucial.

Access MSNBC's Article at:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39546204/ns/business-world_business/

CWEF Brings Water to Another Village

CWEF staff hard at work

Last week 25 high school students from Concordia International School Shanghai (CISS) traveled to Yunnan to implement a water project in a rural village.  We spent the week digging trenches, living amongst the villagers, and serving them. 

The water project we built will profoundly impact the villagers.  No longer will the women have to make 6 to 7 trips a day hauling water; no longer will the farmers be limited in the number of livestock they can own because they can't provide water for them all; no longer will bathing and hygiene be limited due to a lack of water.  The village now has fresh water!  In partnership with our friends at CISS, CWEF has brought a sustainable fresh water system to another rural village in Yunnan.

Cute

A home in the village

Students digging trenches for the water project

Village girl - always smiling

How the village women carried water before the CWEF water system was built: a jar is filled with water and then carried in a basket on their back.  Notice a rope is attached to the basket that applies the weight to her forehead.

Villager who helped us dig.

 

Rain rain GO AWAY!  Ready to work in the rain.

The girls SOAKED after digging in the rain

 The boys' makeshift laundry room - hanging their clothes to dry after working in the rain all morning

Elderly village women wear turbans.  I sat and "chatted" (difficult because they speak a dialect) with these women for a few minutes. They were SO adorable and kept wanting to touching my arms and my hair.  The woman who is covering her mouth in the picture kept reaching forward and pinching my cheeks.  She would pinch both of my cheeks, then lean back and giggle.  And then she would say something to her friends, and she would reach forward and touch my face again.  So sweet.

 Students with the family they interviewed

Boys observing the foreigners

 

Ready for action! Got my hat, my gloves, the first aid kit and my friendship watch.

The service team was so generous to donate books and toys to the village children. This little girl was so excited to get her very own copy of the Berenstain Bears in Chinese!

  

The villages always have beautiful scenery

High school students making balloon animals for the village children.  Such a hit!

Grandpa holding the baby and smoking his pipe.

Playing with their new balloons

 Village woman also enjoying her pipe

Service team washing dishes after dinner

 The village leader's daughter was married while we were in the village.  Presenting the bride with a gift.

Just keep digging...

Boys posing for the camera 

...and more digging

Presenting our government partners with a tie

Teaching how to tie a tie.  Priceless.

Official goodbye with our government partners 

World Bank: "China is Developing Country"

In both the economic and political spheres, China’s role has significantly changed in the last thirty years.  Today, China constantly makes headlines across the world about its booming economy and increasing global presence. China recently surpassed Japan as the world’s second largest economy, showing its economic significance.  And as one of the permanent members of the United Nation’s Security Council, China has an important voice in international affairs.  There is no arguing that China is on the rise and has experienced tremendous success in recent years.

HOWEVER, what we don't often hear of is the economic disparity that exists between the urban and rural areas in China.  Shanghai, Beijing, and other east coast cities in China are home to 64 of the worlds’ billionaires (1).  BUT in the Yunnan Province, there are villages without access to fresh drinking water.  In the cities, General Motors has sold more cars in one quarter in China than in America (2).  BUT in the villages of Yunnan, citizens don’t have bathrooms or sinks (rather, they go to the bathroom in the fields or animal pens, and they rarely wash their hands).

China’s new-found wealth and power does not extend to all four corners of the country – especially not the Southwest, mountain region of the Yunnan Province.  The rural areas of China are still suffering from immense poverty.  And the villagers – often illiterate – are cast into the shadows.  The world sees China as a rising global power, but in rural Yunnan we find villages without water, horrible hygiene and sanitation, and children without educational opportunities. 

In 2005, World Bank economists estimated that over 208 million rural Chinese be classified as “absolute poor” – making it the second largest population of absolute poor people after India.  For this reason, the World Bank recently reasserted its classification of China as a DEVELOPING COUNTRY.  Even as he praised China for its partnership and accomplishments over past years, the World Bank President stated last week, “there are still many people in China's poor rural areas that don't even have access to electricity (3).”

Thank you for looking past the headlines of the urban rich and partnering with CWEF to reach the otherwise forgotten rural poor people in China.  CWEF is working to decrease the 208 million absolute poor, by empowering the rural villagers in Yunnan through education and service.  And we are thankful that you are a part of it.

To read the World Bank Article published in the China Daily on 9 Sept 2010, please see the following link:   http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2010-09/08/content_11274679.htm

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(1) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8561433.stm

(2)http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/GM-says-China-sales-overtake-US-for-first-time/articleshow/6119729.cms

(3)  World Bank Article - 
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2010-09/08/content_11274679.htm

Summer English Program

For the past three weeks, CWEF’s 7 summer English teachers worked in China to fulfill our goal of teaching English and showing love to the people here.   In the process, our American teachers developed friendships with their students and with the various people He placed in their path.  It was incredible to watch the relationships they formed in their short three weeks here.  Whether meeting new people on the street or sitting and talking with people at our favorite local café, the teachers integrated into everyday life here and lived amongst the Chinese people.  

Teachers and students alike had so much fun in the Summer English Program.  One of our teachers planned a birthday party for her students; another teacher presented a culture lesson about American music and played a song from each decade on his guitar; and another class celebrated Christmas in July – complete with a Christmas tree, stockings, carols and the Christmas story. 

As the Program Coordinator, I was certainly blessed by the English Program.  Not only did I witness how much the students learned from our American teachers, but I also experienced how Our Father brought together 7 strangers and molded them into a team.  Each person was different - different personalities, different ages, different levels of teaching experience - but they all had one common trait: their desire to serve.  And this they did without reserve, wholeheartedly. 

They set a great example by serving their students and serving each other.  When one member was sick, the rest were always there to offer care and support; when a new grandson was born back home, the team celebrated together; and when a 40th Wedding Anniversary came and a team member was apart from his spouse for it, the team bought a cake and threw a surprise anniversary party.  It was amazing to witness how they loved and supported each other. 

The impact the teachers had in the classroom was just as significant.  Everyone had so much fun learning from each other while practicing their English.  And everyone involved in the program was impacted.

Two older women we met while walking down the street.

Dying easter eggs!

So fun

Ms. Susan: Great idea to dye easter eggs!

Cute

Teachers with the adult students

Surprise 40th Anniversary Party

What to order? So many choices but it's all in Chinese!

Ready for Halloween!

Watching a street-side restaurant make homemade noodles

Concentrating so hard!

Part of the team at a "Swing Restaurant"

Motorbikes everywhere - and, as always, an engineering feat to stack that many boxes on the back!

Study Study 

We love teaching!

A husband and wife who welcomed us into their home for tea

Showing off their color books

Helping the students

Soaking wet after a walk home in the rain

Why is this picture included?  WELL, our first day at the teaching site, the team and I went out to lunch together.  We were in a region where I had never been before, so many of the dishes at the restaurant were different than what we have in Yunnan.  My Chinese isn't very good, so I didn't understand what the waitress was saying or what dishes the restaurant had.  In my mind I was thinking, "Well Whitney, you have to order something, so just pick one and hope for the best!" As the waitress was telling me about one dish, I told her "Yes, I want that one" (Even though I wasn't sure what it was).  About 15 minutes later, the waitress comes to the table and brings a bowl of cut up and fried snakes (a little smaller than the ones in the picture).  No lie!  They were cut into like 1-inch sections, almost like the little hot dogs, all piled into a bowl.  The head and everything was sitting in the bowl.  The teachers looked at me with terror in their eyes.  Trying to downplay the situation, I immediately took a bite (inwardly cringing!) and was like "Oh it's good! This is just your first test to living in China"  Even though, the truth of the matter is that it was by TOTAL accident that I ordered it.  All I could think was, GREAT start to the program Whit, you ordered snake for these poor Americans! Like they weren't experiencing enough culture shock to begin with!  Luckily, the meals improved from there... I was just helping to set their standards extra low so things would have to get better, haha.  Definitely one of those situations where you have to laugh at yourself! : )