Ji Lanqing - not really a difficult boy.

One of the most inspiring things I get to do is to coordinate our cooperation with the rehabilitation centre for hearing impaired Children in ChangSha City in Hunan Province, China. It is very exciting to get to see how the school is making a big difference to these children and it is very admirable to see how keen the headmistress and teachers are on doing a good job to give these children a better future.

Over 100 hearing impaired children attend the Deaf Centre in ChangSha, central China. The school accepts children that many other schools refuse to give access. This is sometimes because they don’t have the money to pay the fees, sometimes because the child has multiple disabilities, sometimes because the child is perceived to be difficult.

Ji Lanqing is one of these children. Ji Lanqing is six years old, he is deaf and he has attention deficiency hyperactive disorder. When he first arrived at the school he couldn’t say a word. He screamed, was very angry and was difficult to control. Because of this, other rehabilitation schools had refused to accept him. Understandably, his mother was upset and desperately wanted to help her child. So soon after Ji Lanqing started to attend Qi Yin School she attended one of the parent training sessions. After that there was no turning back. She regularly attended training sessions, participating eagerly and, finally, started to assist at the school itself in an effort to help her child. Quickly, she mastered the basics of rehabilitation training and started to daily help her child in a one to one setting both at school and at home.

After only a few months Ji Lanqing has improved greatly. He can now speak sentences of 4 to 5 words in a go, he can communicate with those around him and he is no longer so frustrated. Ji Lanqing’s mother is very happy. She says that the school has given her and her son hope.

Unfortunately, the rehabilitation centre could not survive and help this many children without the support of NMS. If you are one of the people supporting this project, thank you! Perhaps you’d be interested in supporting this project? If so, click here.

This article is written by Marieke Rode-Christoffersen

Annual Report for the Yongshun Environmental Project 2010

We are very excited about the 110 biogas workers that have been trained in biogas utilization and maintenance in YongShun through this project! A total of 3,000 biogas users got on-site training and received brochures.

The onsite training for biogas users were combined with the construction of 680 new biogas systems. For literate farmers, the brochures are given to them so that they can learn how to best manage and follow up their biogas system. The families who are not able to come to the training site are visited in their homes by the biogas technicians who teach them biogas digester maintenance by showing them how to do it practically.

“Neighbor training”

“Peers training” or “neighbor training” has been very successful in this project. The project management invited local farmers who have used biogas digesters for several years to share their experiences with new users. The new biogas users found the information shared very practical and interesting. At the same time, training on health and hygiene were held for 3,050 farmers.

110 trained biogas technicians!

Through the training received, 110 biogas workers are now able to help with problem solving for the many new biogas users as well as those who previously had purchased biogas digesters. The training of biogas users greatly contribute to safe and continuous use of these biogas systems. This is critical to ensure that these digesters help these farmers and protect the environment.

Health & Sanitation Training

The training on health and hygiene helped the local farmers to understand the importance of hygiene and environmental protection. Adapting the toilet and pigsty is also an important part of this project which not only makes sure that the digester get all of the waste, but also makes the kitchen and pigsty much cleaner and more hygenic. The disease prevention and health care knowledge was also shared with local farmers during the health and hygiene training.

680 households got biogas digesters!

In 2010 total of 680 new biogas systems were built for 680 households in YongShun. At least 2,720 people benefited directly from these aside from the local natural environment etc. Every year, for each household, 3500 kg of wood will be saved and CNY 200 of chemical fertilizer will be saved in agriculture production per household. This amounts to roughly 4,800 CNY/RMB for per household.

A better life for the left behind

As the majority of young men in these communities leave home to seek employment in big cities during most of the year, the left behind population such as old people and women are left with the burden of getting firewood etc. Getting biogas digesters make a big difference to the women and elderly who are left in the countryside. The time saved as a result of getting biogas digesters are used on taking care of children, domestic animals, learn new skills and make handcrafts so as to generate more income for the family.