shimenkan--English

             China Now Community Project

  Investigator: Zhou Zhongming   English:Cammie Brennan


 

Stone Gateway Village

Population: 15, 176

Families: 3, 630

Minority population: 4,056

Average income per family: 30-100 dollars a year

         This spring, due to the winter storm disaster, Stone Gateway suffered great loss. Two volunteers sponsored by our sister-organization Shimenkan Connection, Mr. Zhou and Dennis Xu, both went to bring relief items, assess the damage, and research possible solutions for short and long-term relief as well as options for community rebuilding.

         The following is a photo account of Mr. Zhou and Mr. Xu’s trip to Stone Gate. To get to this remote village they went first to Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province, then six hours by train to Zhaotang, and finally one hour by bus to Zhongshui to meet a truck, bus or SUV to Stone Gateway (a three to six hour drive, depending on the conditions.)

         As of February 5th of this year, the snowstorm had already affected 352,000 people, causing architectural, agricultural and natural damages in excess of 2

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zzm007  Villagers walking back to Shimenkan with goods collected from Sichuan

 

zzm001  Volunteer’s shoe stuck in the mud due to the terrible road conditions

 

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zzm023   Mr. Zhou and Mr. Xu arrive at a village between Guiyang and Zhaotang

 

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zzm026  Bus ticket and bus from Zhaotang to Zhangshui

 

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zzm033  City of Zhoutangi; at this altitude, the weather was relatively mild and there was little damage from the snow, though it is just hours from Stone Gate Village.

 

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zzm046   A local volunteer waited in Zhaotang while Mr. Zhou and MR. Xu went directly to the community church to retrieve 6,660 pounds of winter clothes.  These clothes, donated by Chinese citizens nationwide through the Shimenkan Connection clothes drive, were ready for delivery to Stone Gate.

 

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The Shimenkan Connection volunteers visited an elderly woman, once a Stone Gate Village resident, who now lives in Zhaotang and collects garbage and recyclables in order to survive.   Mr. Zhou paid half a year of her rent and gave her some of the donated warm clothing.

 

zzm050   Zhaotang local volunteer Mr. Yang, Miao minority, enjoys meeting with Shimenkan Connection volunteers Mr. Zhou and Mr. Xu.  As a Miao script expert, Mr. Yang provides Shimenkan Connection and CNCP with invaluable information concerning Miao resources, such as the book of traditional Miao songs, writings and documents below.
 

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zzm064   6,660 pounds of winter clothes donated by citizens from all over China through the Shimenkan Connection clothes drive, waiting in Zhaotang for delivery to Stone Gate.  Mr. Xu and Mr. Zhou arrive late from Zhongzhui with the load of donated clothing.
 

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zzm070   The next morning, Mr. Xu and Mr. Zhou prepare the rented truck for the trip to Stone Gate Village.

 

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zzm076   Volunteers leave Zhongzhui, which was relatively undamaged from the snow storm, for the long trip to Stone Gate Village.

 

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zzm086    En route to Stone Gate Village, the weather conditions continue to deteriorate as the elevation increases.  It became necessary to stop several times to clear the road and salt the windshield.
  

zzm091The volunteers finally arrive in Shimenkan around 9:00 pm after an arduous 6-hour trip; Mrs. Ma, a local leader in the community, is waiting for them.  The weather is noticeably worse here with snow on the ground and ice on the windows of unheated homes.

 

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zzm094  The Village of Stone Gate as seen from the path to the leprosy colony.

 

zzm105   Lighting a fire under this truck warmed it enough for the engine to start the next morning. 

 

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zzm111   The village lost 80% of their trees, causing three homes to collapse.  In addition, a large portion of their walnut trees were lost, all but decimating next year’s production of this valuable export crop.

 

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zzm128  The volunteers met with the governor of Stone Gate Village before they went shopping for 17 quilts with money donated from Shimenkan Connection.  In order to find enough quilts, the two volunteers had to visit every shop in the village.

zzm120  Once the quilts had been bought and organized, Mr. Zhou and Mr. Xu, along with several Stone Gate volunteers, made the treacherous 3-hour climb to Stone Gate Village’s leprosy colony.
 

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zzm135   Leprosy Colony as seen from afar.

 

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zzm137   Volunteers arrive at the Leprosy Colony and meet the local leaders and leprosy patients, as well as their families and fellow residents.

 

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zzm139   Mrs. Ma arranges the quilts and residents for distribution.

 

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zzm141   Patients, families and residents receive their donated quilts.

 

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zzm150   Entrance to Stone Gate Village on the return path from the leprosy colony.

 

zzm152  Stone Gate Village homes.

 

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zzm154   Stone Gate Village church

 

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zzm141   Volunteers take the path to Mrs. Ma’s home village, Xinzai, a suburb of Stone Gate Village

 

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zzm139   要下到谷底再翻越对面的大山

 

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zzm149   大山终于被我们踩在脚下,新寨快到了

 

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zzm155   Mrs. Ma’s house in Xinzai (suburb of Stone Gate Village)

 

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Each family in Xinzai has approximately 2.5 mu, (1 mu=675 square meters, or less than half an acre) of land on which they grow walnuts and tobacco for export.  The corn and potatoes grown on the remainder of the land serves as fodder for the animals, the seed crop for next year, and a year’s supply of food for a family of four.  If there is anything left the family can attempt to sell some to make a little profit.

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Mrs. Ma’s husband shows the volunteers around his village.  Due to the extended cold weather and isolated location he has developed chronic rheumatism, which is now affecting his heart.

 

zzm130   Mrs. Ma’s family in front of their family home with Mr. Xu and their oldest son.

 

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zzm133   Homes in the Stone Gate region have one coal-fueled stove used for heat, cooking , and preparing food for the livestock.

 

zzm131   Mrs. Ma and her husband discuss conditions with the Shimenkan Connection volunteers.
 

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zzm160   In the Stone Gate region 80% of last year’s potato crop has frozen due to the storm.  This leaves only 20% for food, fodder for the animals, and spring time planting.  By this time (March) the tobacco crop should already be harvested and the potato seeds should be in the ground.  Due to the weather conditions neither of these have been accomplished.  While the villagers have enough to eat for the time being, the late planting season will cause a drastic shortage of food and money in the coming months. The bus that shuttles villagers from the suburbs to Stone Gate Village on market day is still able to run, due to chain-snow tires, but there is little other transportation that can transverse the muddy and deteriorating roads.  Consequently in the village inflation has sky-rocketed; the cost of meat, rice, vegetables and coal has more than doubled since January, leaving many villagers hungry and destitute.
 

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zzm198   These rotten potatoes cooked into fodder for the livestock is inedible even for the pigs and oxen.  Between Xinzai’s eighty families, eight oxen and 70-80 pigs have already died due to weather conditions and malnutrition.  Each family only raises one to two pigs for slaughter and meat each year.  The oxen are used to farm the land. With livestock dying and the price of meat continuing to double, villagers are facing a serious meat shortage, not just for the time being but in the coming years.



zzm400   Frigid weather and snow continue to plague the residents and volunteers in the Stone Gate region.
 

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zzm401   Mr. Xu collects water from the Ma family’s well, which was built by Oxfam in 1996.
 

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zzm405    他终于把水打上来、提回去了——他这次到国内来确实经历了很多他一生中的第一次……

 

zzm485   Despite the poor weather conditions, Mr. Xu and Mr. Zhou, along with Mrs. Ma, decide to visit an extremely isolated suburb of Xinzai called Tongjie to assess the damage and deliver relief supplies.  Tongjie is one of the poorest villages in the region and one that even Mrs. Ma has never visited.

 

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zzm539   Mrs. Ma leads the volunteers through forest and mountain paths to reach nearby villages.  The path is nearly impassable due to the downed tress, poor road conditions and adverse weather.

 

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zzm486   新合五组到了

 

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zzm522  随后,我们又到了新合四组

 

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zzm554  All potatoes in the household are frozen.

 

zzm456    Children playing in the snow.

 

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zzm532   This family consists of two children whose parents have both died and their elderly grandparents.  Last year they sold 10,000 potatoes for 20 dollars to buy farm chemicals for this year’s crop.  Now 90% of their potatoes have frozen, leaving no food, fodder or seeds for this year’s planting season.

 

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zzm472    Mrs. Ma and the volunteers continue to visit other neighboring villages and give them rice.
 

 

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zzm465   Mrs. Ma and the volunteers continue to visit other homes and give them rice.
 

 

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Mrs. Ma and the volunteers prepare to distribute donated warm clothing to Xinzai and other villagers. Some people walked 3-4 hours in order to receive the donation.

 

zzm409   Mrs. Ma and the volunteers arranged the clothing into piles; villagers picked lottery numbers and could pick one pile of clothes.  Exchanging them for the right size was up to the villagers.

 

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zzm437   Villagers trek back home with the donated clothing.

 

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zzm445   Mrs. Ma records the data of the donated clothing and catalogs the villagers who received assistance.

 

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zzm452  Mrs. Ma collects her own share of the donated clothing, though the volunteers noted she gave the three best sweaters to fellow villagers.


 

zzm301   Mrs. Ma leads the Shimenkan Connection volunteers to the poorest village in the Stone Gate Village, Tongjie, a village she herself hasn’t yet visited due to it remoteness.

 

zzm302   下第一道深谷

 

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zzm306   A Tongjie villager met them halfway, but she had no galoshes or socks.  Mrs. Ma lent the villager her boots so they could cross the icy stream.

 

zzm307   过河后开始爬山

 

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zzm313   Path to Tongjie.

 

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zzm315   团结村一组到了,正好遇到二组的村民组长,他愿意带我们去在更高山上的二组。我们没有停留,继续向更远处的二组前进
 

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zzm323   The altitude and stress of the hike often drove Mrs. Ma to her knees to take a rest.
 

zzm324   休息一下后爬起来继续向上攀爬

 

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zzm327   路上遇到的当地汉子

 

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The Tongjie primary school suffers from serious deterioration.  The teacher that scores lowest on the certification exam is sent to remote Tongjie to teach.

 

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zzm359    The villagers themselves created the working electricity network by siphoning power from Stone Gate Village. To get water, however, villagers have to walk 2 miles to get water for cooking, drinking, and watering livestock.

 

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zzm380    Mrs. Ma and the volunteers head back to Xinzai.

 

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Shimenkan Connection: shimenkan@gmail.com

China Now Community Project :cammiebrennan@gmail.com
 

shimenkan--English--China Now Community Project