Fangzhou Welfare is a non-profit established in Hechi City, Guangxi, that encourages people to get involved in public service and respond to the needs of their communities.

 
I still remember the first time I heard of the organization Transparent Fish Fund. At that time, we were in the very early stages of developing our organization. I believed we were the right partner for the program, but didn't know if we could get past their rigorous application process.We uploaded our financial plan and program proposal to TFISH and waited patiently.

It was sometime May 2011 when I received a surprising phone call.  Mr. Chao called us directly from the US. He read through our application and believed in our work and wanted to help us improve our project management skill and achieve financial transparency. With his an encouragement we were able to grow into the organization we are today. 

Ark Welfare is a non-profit established in Hechi City, Guangxi, that encourages people to get involved in public service and respond to the needs of their communities.

At 10:00 AM on January 5, 2014, Xuanxiao and Shuli came to the office and took 9 warm bags. 2 bags were distributed by Xuanxiao, bringing the total distributed to 11. At 14:00, they finished distributing warm bags to 7 orphans and also gave one orphan money to support himself. Afterwards the volunteers continued to distribute warm bags to 4 orphans. By 18:00, they distributed warm bags to 11 children. 

Original article written by Jiaxing Li, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang

Ark Welfare is a non-profit established in Hechi City, Guangxi, that encourages people to get involved in public service and respond to the needs of their communities.

Time: 10:00 AM

Site: Baijiahui Supermarket

Event: Under the guidance of teachers and volunteers, 27 children came to the supermarket. They were teamed up with volunteers to purchase goods for a rural survey activity. 

Facing a wide variety of products, they felt lost, not knowing what to buy. But the volunteers accompanied them and helped them buy the things they wanted. They began to select actively and interact more with the volunteers. What impressed me most is that the children liked books. Xiao Jun is in Grade 4, and he said he wanted some history books when we asked him. He selected 5000 Years of History of China after he went into the supermarket. He read several stories at the bookshelf and then went to select stationery. The staff of the supermarket were supportive of our activity and prepared a little gift for each child. The children began to smile and be less reserved.  

Time: 12:00 at noon

Site: Diandu Hotel of Dahua 

Event: Dinner with 27 children

With all the rich dishes set before them, the children could not help being excited. They could not wait to begin eating. We believe they were very happy about dinner. 

Ark Welfare is a non-profit established in Hechi City, Guangxi, that encourages people to get involved in public service and respond to the needs of their communities. 

On August 27, 2013, volunteers from Ark Welfare distributed 113 relief bags to He County, a place that was stricken by the flood. Their goal was to ease the psychological damage inflicted on the children as a result of the flood. 

At 10:30 in the morning, the children and their parents were waiting at the village committee. Most of them came from the villages in the mountains. It was difficult to reach this place as the roads were destroyed by the flood.

The parents help their children to sign up for help. They were happy though the sun was scorching on their heads. The children live far away from each other, so it took more time to organize the distribution.

After taking their bags, the children could not wait to open them immediately. At 12:30 PM, the distribution was completed. They went back home happily with their bags.

Ark Welfare is a non-profit established in Hechi City, Guangxi, that encourages people to get involved in public service and respond to the needs of their communities.
 
1.  June 1, Dahua County of Hechi City, Guangxi province. 

Event: Celebrate Children’s Day at Longpai Primary School.

2.  June 2, Dahua County of Hechi City, Guangxi province.

Event: Visit the elderly people without families in Gongchuan township.

3.    June 16-19, Baoxing county of Ya’an City, Sichuan province.

Event: work was implemented at Baoxing county and One Playground Children Service Center was established on the 19th.

4.    June 19, Baoxing county of Ya’an City, Sichuan province.

Event: with the help of the Hezheng Charity Foundation of Guangxi province, a public welfare station was established in Baoxing county, which will guarantee logistical support for reconstruction.

Ark Welfare is a non-profit established in Hechi City, Guangxi, that encourages people to get involved in public service and respond to the needs of their communities. 

When we arrived at the Victory Primary School, the students were taking a nap. There are 2 small buildings in the school. With yellow walls, the colorful One Playground seemed striking in the sun. Looking into the classrooms on the 1st floor, some of the students were sleeping at their desks. But most of them had not fallen asleep and they looked at us. At the end of nap time, the children cheered up and ran out of their classrooms. They were running toward One Playground. Some of them were playing with the wheel and some of them were playing on the slide. Obviously, the children are fond of this small green playground.

We asked some questions about the management of the playground. There were some aspects that need to be improved. We reached an agreement for the management of the playground. Students were elected to help with the management. Class leaders from each class make up different groups and each group is responsible for supervision. Hopefully this method will promote self-management and self-monitoring among the students. Student supervision also means that One Playground can better accomplish its full potential.

Original article written by Xiaogang Fang, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang

Ark Welfare is a non-profit established in Hechi City, Guangxi, that encourages people to get involved in public service and respond to the needs of their communities. 

At 9:00 in the morning, volunteers prepared gifts of rice and oil for the elderly.The distribution of goods went well. When we arrived at a blind man’s home, he was having supper. We learned that he gets about 1200RMB a month from the government. He lives alone, so it covers almost all his expenses for a month. He is confident and optimistic about his life. The person we visited who lived the farthest away was Ban Jizhen. We had to walk 5 kilometers on a gravel road to reach her home. She was not at home so we put 2 bags of rice and 1 bottle of oil on her window. When we arrived it was lunch time and we were hungry so we ate some bread and cucumber. After lunch, we visited Meng Meilian. When we saw her, she had bare feet. She was not wearing the shoes we gave her last time. She said it was more comfortable to keep her feet bare. Then we visited 2 more people, but they were not at home, so we left the rice and oil at their neighbors’ houses. The last person we visited was Wei Baoyuan. He lives in an old house. He does not have any income, so he has to rely on his 300RMB allowance from the government.    

According to our interviews, all government allowances were in fact real and helping to sustain the lives of each of the old men, however their spirits were left unattended. They have no one to talk with. They are greatly moved whenever we visit. They even cook for us. They are kind and nice. We appreciate them for their attitude towards life, which encourages us all to accept the sorrow and happiness that life brings to us. 

Original article written by Xiaogang Fang, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang

The volunteers had to walk carefully on the slippery road and carry bags of rice on their shoulders

Ark Welfare is a non-profit established in Hechi City, Guangxi, that encourages people to get involved in public service and respond to the needs of their communities. 

On April 13, 9 volunteers started for Gongchuan at 8:30. The rain stopped and it was fine, which helped for our journey. We arrived at Gongchuan village at 9. Under the guidance of the village leaders, we visited Wei Zhenzhong， a lonely old man. He is a hunchback and inconvenient to walk. He lives in a small hut behind her brother’s house. There are just a few pieces of furniture in the room. We learned he lives alone and no one takes care of him. Sometimes he receives relieves from his relatives, but he also hopes being cared. 

Then we were divided into 3 groups and we had a volunteer speaking Zhuang language in each team for better communication. Each group did their job seriously as on-the-spot interviews and gifts distribution. The gift was one kilo pork and 3 kilos noodle. The elder people were very grateful for our action, which let them feel the care from the other people.

Labor division for 3 was rational. One was in charge of taking pictures, one for recording and the other one for interviewing and translating. We asked them about income, expense, and needs. We released their information online after being approved by them. After interviews, we got to know the government also appropriated subsidies for the lonely elder people. They do not have children and have no one to take care of them, but they need care. If people can visit them regularly, they will be much happier.

For the whole day, we visited 13 lonely old people. Our original plan was 15, but 2 of them moved to their relatives’ homes and we could not access to their places. After the action, the students realized the society should know more about the old people and they should not be ignored by the society. 

Original article written by Xiaogang Fang, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang

Ark Welfare is a non-profit established in Hechi City, Guangxi. The organization encourages people to get involved in public service and respond to the needs of their communities. 

From March 18 to 19, 2013, 5 counties (Bama, Fengshan, Du’an, Dahua and Donglan) and 19 towns were hit by heavy rains and hail storm. By the afternoon of the 19th, 62,934 people were impacted and 3 were injured. 2,689 people were evacuated urgently. The disaster covered 3450 hectares crops, of which 687 were left to completely suffer from crop failure. 13,950 rooms for 8,903 households collapsed. The direct economic loss was 35.85 million Yuan and 12,771 persons need to be rescued. 

On March 22, I visited 2 towns in Dahua county. According to the investigation, 639 rooms in 249 households were damaged by the hail storm in Banlan and Nonguan villages. 

Original article written by Xiaogang Fang, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang.