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I was talking to my friend Chen Li in China when the earthquake struck on Monday, May 12th. All of a sudden he frantically exclaimed, “What’s going on, the building’s shaking”. Then the phone line went dead. My wife is from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, less than 60 miles from the epicenter. It was after 4AM in the morning before we found out that her parents were fine. It was another intense week of finding out about our friends and the places we knew as the events unfolded and news slowly trickled in.
My wife and I donated money and talked about doing more, as we wanted to do something more substantial. My wife, who just finished her doctorate degree at Stanford University, grew-up in Sichuan. I run a mountaineering school over there and most of our programs were in the areas destroyed by the earthquake. I knew those places well and the people that lived there, places that no longer exist. It felt like our back yard.
We decided to help re-build schools. This has the most meaning for us and we believe it is one of the most important things that can be done to help with the post disaster efforts.
The earthquake particularly impacted the children of China. An astounding 7,000 school buildings collapsed, killing more than 20,000 children between the ages of 3 to 18. Many of the school structures were built at sub-standard level, such as using iron rearbar in place of steal. In Dujiangyan City, a middle school collapsed while all the other buildings surrounding the school remained standing. 800 students died in this one school alone. On a more personal level, we have a daughter who is almost two and we will be living in Chengdu from September 2008 onwards. Our empathy for the parent’s that lost their only child is without words.
Schools are a fundamental part of the post earthquake reconstruction. It is vital that the structures are build correctly this time. Ironically, the earthquake has given us an opportunity to make sure nothing like this happens again to the children of China. Many of the schools that need to be built are in remote areas where Tibetans, Qiang and Yi people live. These ethnic groups are under-represented and the government lacks money to build schools in these remote areas. Oversight can also be a problem, resulting in sub-standard structures.
One of the only schools to stay standing was built by a private party.
Involved Parties:
•Omprakash Foundation, a non-profit organization in the US, will be the marketing engine and fundraising face.
•BlueSheep Adventures will organize the climbs and be the company that works directly with the climbers.
•Media Ventures, http://www.adventure-video.com /
•Arête Alpine Instruction Center (AAIC) is the climbing school in China and will do two things. One is the ground operations for the climbs. The other is oversee the building of the schools.
•Local school building organization: We need a local organization and/or individuals on the ground who will do the day-to-day building of the school(s).
•Other Partners in this effort will involve like-minded organizations such as Mano-a-Mano, dZi Foundation, Kham Aid Foundation, and Media-Ventures.
