Earthquake May Lead to New Future for Private Civic Groups, Charities in China
Friday, June 27th, 2008Courtesy : VOA
Thousands of volunteers and private groups rushed to help victims of the earthquake that devastated China’s Sichuan Province in May. Now many people wonder whether the freedom they have had in the disaster area will carry over into broader rights for civic groups in the future. Jamila Trindle recently visited the town of Mianyang in Sichuan Province and has this report.
Teacher Shao Ling is helping out in a tent kindergarten that just opened in the community of Mianzhu. She says because of the big earthquake, her school has started its summer vacation, so while houses are being built she came here to volunteer, to try to help out.
She now works in a kindergarten built by the You Cheng Foundation for Poverty Reduction, from Beijing. Foundation member Wang Yi Bing says the earthquake has given non-governmental organizations and charities a chance to prove what they can do.
“The government allows all kinds of NGOs - if you want to go you can go, so I think it’s a good opportunity both for the NGO and for the government to review,” he says. (more…)