 |  | Our outreach projects to China involve both medical/dental/surgical and other projects for the benefit of a small rural underserved Chinese minority and several orphanages in the Gansu Province (NW/Central China -- one of China’s poorest regions). Our teams have assisted with a crop restoration program, and have provided direct medical, surgical and dental care for over 3000 people (including orphan children). This year, we are expanding these efforts, and we hope to open a representative office in the city of Xi’an.
THE GANSU PROVINCE
The Gansu Province is located in the NW Central region of China, and is one of the poorest areas in China. Its rugged, barren terrain consists mostly of mountains and deserts, and has long been considered a “forgotten backwater” only loosely controlled by Beijing. Nonetheless, it has played an important role in Chinese history. The historic Silk Road threads its way through the Gansu Province. Travelers and merchants from as far as the Roman Empire entered the Middle Kingdom via the Silk Road using a string of oasis towns as stepping-stones through the barren landscape. The Great Wall extended to here, but much of it has crumbled in this region. This province is the home to a considerable variety of Chinese minority groups, including the Hui, Mongols, Tibetans, Kazaks and the Dongxiang.
THE DONGXIANG PEOPLE
Our base of operations is in the city of Linxia, which is the regional center for the Dongxiang minority. The Dongxiang are one of China’s official minority groups. There are at least 500,000 Dongxiang people, and nearly all of them are located in one isolated valley in the southwestern part of the Gansu Province. The Dongxiang region is a desolate, arid place, with landscape similar to Arizona. The Dongxiang speak a Mongolian-type language, but currently have no written language of their own. Approximately 12% of the Dongxiang are literate in the Chinese language.
The history of the Dongxiang is not certain. It is believed that, in the thirteenth century when China was subdued by the Mongols, Genghis Khan moved some of his garrisons into China. These soldiers intermarried and gradually developed into their own distinct ethnic group. Another theory is that when Kublia Khan invaded central Asia, the population of that invaded area migrated into the Dongxiang valley to avoid war, and they have since remained a distinct minority ethnic group. The Dongxiang are primarily farmers. Their main crops are potatoes, barley, wheat and corn.
ORPHANS OF THE GANSU PROVINCE
China is home to a vast numbers of orphans, mostly girls and disabled children. In the most poor regions, such as the Gansu Province, orphans sometimes are given low priority in decisions rationing the access of health care services. Our projects help provide direct medical and dental care to children of several community orphanages, and also to a private foster family and their eight orphan foster children.
COMMUNITY HEALTH DEVELOPMENT
Our outreach projects include setting up net houses for the potato crop in Dongxiang. These net houses have been instrumental in a crop restoration program. For approximately several years, the potato crop in Dongxiang (potatoes are the most prevalent crop in this area) has been experiencing blight. Our parter organization has set up a replacement program, which starts with culturing healthy seed from other areas, germinating the seed in a small lab, growing young plants in greenhouses, moving the plants to a large net house, and then moving healthy potato plants into the fields. Additional greenhouses and net houses also need to be built. In 2007, we plan to help build hygiene-efficient latrines for families in the region to help prevent diseases that are caused, in part, by unsanitary hygiene practices.
MEDICAL & DENTAL PROJECTS
Our medical projects focus on treating the medical needs of the Dongxiang minority. Depending upon the medical staff available, we offer primary medical care, dentistry, general surgery (e.g., gall bladder, hernia, hair lip, thyroid, tumor) and also hope to introduce eye care and eye surgery for those with cataracts and other eye problems. Direct health education is furnished to educate patients on handling a variety of conditions within the means of their own culture, including gastrointestinal problems, joint/muscle pain and female problems. |