GlobalGiving.org: Reconstruct a School in China Post-Earthquake

Chujiang School Rebuilding Completed

Andrew T. Strott — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:12:24 GMT

December 2, 2009

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We at ISG Capital Management are happy to announce that the reconstruction of Chujiang School has been fully completed!

On behalf of the children and students of Chujiang School and on behalf of the people of Dayi County and Sichuan Province, we thank you for your tremendous support and generosity to help see this project through.

Since the initial earthquake in May 2008, ISG mobilized its team and its established network in the area of the earthquake and all over China to identify and accomplish this rebuilding project. Through a very difficult fundraising environment we persevered in raising the money needed to rebuild this school on time. Again, we thank you for your support during the entire process.

There will be an official ceremony in March of 2010, and, we will keep you informed when we find out the exact date.

This is truly a success story of many people from all over the world coming together to help those in need.

Sincerely,

Andrew T. Strott Managing Partner ISG Capital Management, Ltd

Chujiang School nearing completion

Andy Strott — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:18:04 GMT

Hello, everyone! As we near the end of the summer and the beginning of the school year in China, we are glad to announce that the Chujiang school reconstruction is on schedule to be completed on August 28th. The students will move in right away for classes to begin on September 1st.

The classrooms are scheduled to be completed on August 25th, the dormitories will be completed on August 20th, the cafeteria will be completed on August 24th and the washrooms and drainage will be completed on August 30th.

The exterior landscaping will be finished in mid-September.

At that time, the local government will hold the official Opening Ceremony, which will be attended by various donors, volunteers, and media.

New pictures of the school are being downloaded as we speak, and, you should be able to access them on the Global Giving website on Wednesday, August 18th.

Thank you again for all of your support and donations. This is truly a success story where kind people around the world came together to help the suffering and displaced in Sichuan, China after the devastating earthquake in May 2008.

Visit to Chujiang School, Sichuan

Clare Rutz — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:55:02 GMT

A year has passed since the devastating earthquake in the Sichuan Province of China with a death count of more than 68,000 lives, while an additional 17,921 people are listed as missing. On the one-year anniversary I was exploring Chengdu, the closest major city to the epicenter of the quake, and I could feel the remembered loss shared by everyone.

During the quake, 7,000 classrooms and dormitory rooms collapsed, one of which I revisited. It felt appropriate to visit the Chengdu Education Foundation the day after the anniversary as we look ahead and concentrate on the reconstruction. After an hour and half of driving away from Chengdu my translator and I arrived at the Chujiang Nine-Year Compulsory School to what seemed to be a welcome from the entire school staff with hopeful smiles. The construction, they said, was moving quickly and they plan on finishing by August of this year. The new buildings would include classrooms that would allow an additional 200 students to enroll and dormitories that would allow 50% of the students to reside on school grounds compared to the 5% there’s room for today. The dormitories that are available now are only temporary that can last a maximum of four years. Because the 200 additional students will be coming from the countryside where it is often hard to travel to, the dormitories are necessary because the commute to and from school each day would be too difficult.

Currently, the one remaining building that made it through the earthquake holds 1,200 students, but the need for more facilities is clear. The financial crisis has made it difficult for the major investor, Shenji Investment and Consultancy Company, to give what they had initially planned on, but I was assured that the construction would be completed before the start of the next school year. Because of the possible shortcoming of funds, outside donations are even more vital than previously thought. Without the proper funding, basic school appliances, such as desks, teacher supplies, and computers will be lacking.

The director of the Chujiang School was clearly excited about the swift improvements and construction of the school, but each time he finished telling me about plans for growth he finished with, “but there’s the problem of funding.” With great destruction, comes the need for reconstruction, and the global recession isn’t making it easy. To make a donation to the Chendgu Education Fund you can visit their GlobalGiving page at: http://www.globalgiving.com/2149. To learn more about the other projects that are responding to the earthquake in China visit http://www.globalgiving.org/chinaoneyearlater/

Update of Chujiang School Reconstruction

Andrew Strott — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:25:03 GMT

Reconstruction:

The construction team is working around the clock in 2 shifts daily.

The classroom building that was damaged in the earthquake has been entirely cleaned up.

On May 7th the plinth (base or platform upon which the building structure rests) will be finished, and the basic piling caps will be constructed on May 9th.

Since the results of the site investigation showed that the soil is unstable and weak due to the earthquake, a pile foundation will be used. This is a special type of foundation that enables a structure to be supported by a layer of soil found at any depth below the ground surface. The pile and pile cap configuration has provided the basic design solution to the difficult problem of obtaining deep foundation support below areas where poor soil conditions prevail. At the same time, the dormitory stone and sand are being prepared, and the dead-load (consisting of the weight of the materials composing the structure) exercise will be finished on May 9th. In addition, the foundation construction is being prepared.

The temporary facilities for the construction area have been built.

The construction plant has been vacated, and, the rare earth around the foundation ditch has also been cleaned.

The reinforcing steel bar, cement and steelwork have been installed in the plant successively.

The construction is on schedule to be completed by August 20th 2009, in preparation for the new school year beginning September 1st, 2009.

Fundraising: We now have approximately $170,000 in received donations toward the project, including donations from the Malaysian Government, Taoist Tai Chi Society of Canada, China Children and Teacher's Fund (CCTF), and from individual donors.

By the end of May, the construction costs that will be incurred on the site will be more than $500,000, and the total capital needed remains approximately $4mm.

The structural damage that the earthquake had on the earth under the site has increased the difficulty of the project, and many architects and technical department specialists are working hard on the ground to resolve this issue. As a result, the whole construction moved 6 meters away from the original site. This, in turn, has increased the cost of the overall project. We are going to have a fund raising party in Shanghai on May 12th, the anniversary of the earthquake. And, one of the most famous singers in Shanghai is willing to help us by accepting sponsors for a concert they will give, with full sponsor money to be donated to the Chujiang High School. We are also working on multiple fundraising initiatives within China for 2009:

1. An artist Mr. Liu Deli has donated 120 pieces of his art work for our school reconstruction.

2. The World Croquet Federation in UK will help to raise funds to build the playground and will install English Croquet for the school kids for free.

3. We have over 100 volunteers in Europe and US who are willing to donate their time and skill to teach for the school students long into the future.

4. We have been working with English Education Ltd., who has formed an exchange program with Chujiang school students, and will publish our flyer in their magazine in April 2009.

5. Our school flyer is going to be also published by British Chamber of Commerce, who will also put our school project on their website.

6. TOTO has graciously donated all sanitary facilities for the school. We are still working on more companies and charity funds to contribute to the teaching building which cost over $1MM and the school canteen which cost a little over $1MM.

And, finally, we are organizing a students working trip to the site to help to raise funds.

Chujiang School Reconstruction UPDATE

Andrew Strott — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:34:44 GMT

Respected donors and volunteers:

Thank you for your gracious support of the Chujiang High School reconstruction project in Sichuan Province, China.

We are continuing our efforts to raise reconstruction money for this school.

Work on the project is continuing and is on schedule.

We are organizing 100 students to volunteer to work at the school in May.

We and the children of Chujiang School thank you for your kind assistance and generosity.

More updates soon!

Chujiang School fundraising update

Andrew Strott — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:27:48 GMT

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Respected donors and volunteers:

Thank you for your gracious help with the Chujiang High School reconstruction project in Sichuan Province, China.

As we mentioned in our update two days ago, on Feb 8, 2009, the grand opening ceremony took place, marking the official start of reconstruction, although the construction work formally started at the end of last year.

Over 500 people, including Chujiang high school teachers, students, parents, town folks, workers and government leaders from Chengdu City Education Bureau, Chengdu Education Foundation and DaYi County, attended the ceremony.

It was very touching to see so many people this project has influenced.

Although we have made important progress, we still have important tasks to accomplish:

Primarily, we need to raise more funds. The reconstruction work will be finished on August 20th 2009. The workers are now striving to complete it on time for students to move out of their poor temporary classrooms and dormitories.

However, we still need to raise an additional $1.5MM of reconstruction capital in order to make sure the reconstruction work does not cease because of the capital shortage.

We hope you can make every effort to raise funds in the most urgent manner.

We and the children of Chujiang School thank you for your kind assistance and generosity.

Chujiang School Update Feb. 9, 2009

Andrew Strott — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:16:22 GMT

This past weekend, February 7-8 was the official opening ceremony for the reconstruction of Chujiang School.

Yesterday’s technical transfer between four parties, architect, construction technicians, inspection specialists and our local project manager went on very efficiently and well.

More than 500 people attended the opening ceremony, including the Chendu Education Bureau, CEF, Dayi County Mayor, business leaders, people’s congress representatives, local Education Bureau, students representatives, and their parents, town folks and construction workers, etc.

The actual reconstruction actually started last month, and we will post new pictures soon.

The school has expanded its size which made the school more spacious. The local Government invested in a kinder garden beside our high school, which extended the school all the way to the foot of the beautiful mountain.

Our team, together with Chendu Education Foundation and the education bureau had a final contract review and signing meeting at Sichuan Xinshu Construction company. It is a leading local construction company. The negotiation went on smoothly.

Thank you again for all of your continued support!

Chujiang School Reconstruction Project-Sichuan, China

Andrew Strott — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:48:48 GMT

The effort to rebuild Chujiang School in Dayi County , Sichuan , China is progressing well.

We now have approximately USD150,000 in committed donations toward the project, including donations from the an Asian Government, and other private corporate donations and donations from non-profits in and out of China.

Our China team is currently in negotiations with the contractor regarding the payment schedule for the project. We are working with the local Chamber of Commerce and other professionals to assist in our negotiations so we can keep our initial payments as low as possible, so that we can at least commence construction as soon as possible.

In talks with the contractor, he has told us that the minimum amount of time they need for the construction is 9 months. Students return to school on Sept. 1, so, we are working very hard to get the project kicked off.

The children are still studying in temporary schools and hope to be in Chujiang School by next school year.

Habitat for Humanity (H4H) has confirmed their interest in our project. As soon as building commences we will start getting volunteers to sign up to our project.

We are also working on multiple fundraising initiatives within China for 2009:

1. An artist has donated 120 pieces of his art work for our school reconstruction auction

2. The World Crocquet Federation in UK will help to raise fund to build the playground and put English Crocquet for the school kids for free.

3. We have over 100 volunteers in Europe and US who are willing to donate their time and skill to teach for the school students long into the future.

4. We have English Education Ltd formed exchange program with Chujiang school students, and will publish our flyer in their magazine in April 2009.

5. Our school flyer is going to be published by British Chamber of Commerce put our school in their website:

6. China real estate association, presidents magazine will all advertise our school information at different ways.

We are still working on more companies and charity funds to contribute to the teaching building which cost over $1MM and the school canteen which cost a little over $1MM.

Please let us know what you think of this update by providing feedback on our comments section!