What is our plan?

The 5-12 Earthquake that struck Sichuan has caused tremendous loss of human lives and damage to properties. The OYCF responded quickly by first encouraging members and friends to contribute to the relief efforts, and then by setting up its own Earthquake Education Relief Fund.  Promoting education has always been one of OYCF’s focuses, and we pride ourselves for having supported overseas scholars to teach within China for the past nine years.  So consensus was made quickly that education would be the focus of our relief efforts.

Why supporting a school from Shifang?  Some OYCF members have families in Sichuan.  One member’s hometown is among the hardest hit: As a city of 430,000 people, Shifang lost over 6,000 lives to the Earthquake.  All of the 94 public schools in Shifang were damaged to different degrees.  The Shifang City plans to have 62 public schools in the future after the rebuilding, including 39 elementary schools. A suggestion was made to help rebuild one elementary school in Shifang, and Ma Jing Xin Hua Elementary School in the town of Ma Jing has emerged as the natural candidate. The cost estimate for rebuilding Ma Jing Xin Hua Elementary School is approximately 3 million RMB (about $440,000), including 2.7 million on school buildings and 0.3 million on ancillary facilities.  The Chinese government will provide for all equipment needs in the school. The City’s Education Bureau has applied for and expects to get 1.5 million RMB from the Red Cross in Sichuan province for the rebuilding effort, but the rest will need to come from other donors.

OYCF then discussed the matter with SERF, New Horizon, THAAHK and CICC. These four organizations had already started their own fundraising efforts for the Earthquake relief. The five organizations share the same preference of being closely involved in a specific project over making general donations. We quickly reached the agreement to work together towards the goal of raising 1.5 million RMB ($220,000) to fill the gap needed for rebuilding Ma Jing Xin Hua Elementary School.

我们的计划

四川5.12大地震对灾区造成了巨大的人员伤亡和财产损失。我们三个组织都在第一时间利用各自的资源发起了不同形式的募捐活动，并着手策划、参与力所能及的、有效的赈灾项目。

在这个过程中，海外中国青年论坛的一位成员告知他的家乡什邡就是一个重灾区，全市死亡人数达到6,000，全部94所公立学校都受到不同程度的破坏。这位成员在当地政府部门有较深的人际关系，他了解到什邡市计划重建62所学校，其中包括39所小学。什邡市马井新华小学的重建费用预算为三百万人民币，其中一百五十万将来自于四川红十字会，另外一半需要自筹 （政府提供全部教学用品）。在进一步的接触后，我们认为此小学是一个较合适的资助对象。

海外中国青年论坛与旅美四川地震赈灾基金会、新地平线、香港清华同学会和中国国际金融有限公司四个组织商议以后认为这正是我们共同感兴趣的资助项目，于是五方达成协议，决定共同募集资金，帮助解决什邡市马井新华小学重建所需的另一半资金，共计人民币一百五十万元。