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NZCFS Timaru Branch Newsletter – August 2011

88

Nihao. Greetings

At the AGM in Wellington there were some fascinating reports on the different projects that the Society is undertaking in China. Some of our members have been on tours visiting these. There were also various goods that could be bought to raise funds for projects.

Your committee has sent a donation of $400 for the ‘Rabbit Project’. So it seems realistic to share the details of this.

Rabbits in Sanzhiyang Township, Duan County:-

Rabbits can be raised on a small or large scale and were introduced to several villages in this area in 2008. NZCFS has founded a grassroots programme to the first twenty families to become involved from hamlets that have not received any government help and are a distance from the town centre. The project buys three female and one male for each family, transports the breeding stock from a nearby city, brings the farmers together for a day’s training, provides instruction booklets and petrol for Animal Health support staff to make inspections.

Farmers make their own cages and agree to sell stock locally.

The rabbits seem to know what is expected of them. Each female has generally ten kittens in a litter and these are available for sale at ten weeks. Mother Rabbit then repeats this four times in a year! Through this project it is possible for families to increase their income by 2 or 3 times.

Since July of last year the Sustainable Development Fund has been introduced by the government with an emphasis on economic development and an aim to reduce the areas of aid to the Pacific area. NZCFS has put in two applications for schemes [a great deal more detail is required now] and these have both been successful. They are complete grants and do not require additional funding from NZCFS.

And a catchup on Linda – she had a busy weekend in Dunedin, toured the Peninsula, spoke to Ph.D. students about her scholarship, visited a local artist, met people from the Confucius Institute, and found that Milford and Mount Cook were on the way to Beijing.

(Margaret Hunter)

 

During my recent travels to Melbourne and inland I came across a small town called Beechworth. With its numerous old stone buildings and magnificent autumn colours it be a larger version of Arrowtown in Central Otago. In the 1880 when the gold rush days were at their height several thousand Chinese came to seek their fortune and stayed. After the gold rush had ended they were employed in the many vineyards that flourished. The local cemetery has a very large section devoted to these miners with over 200 gravestones neatly inscribed with their names in red Chinese characters. Also still standing, are two large towers where paper offerings were burnt by the local Chinese when someone died and was buried. The history of their arrival and departure in what must have seemed a very foreign harsh land is recorded on an information board beside the numerous graves.

 

A reminder that our next meeting is on Thursday September 8

6.pm at the Red Cross Rooms in Timaru

Drinks followed by a meal at 6.30.p.m

Meal with wine $18 – Meal only $16

Speakers : Thye and Pauline Chan – NZCFS Discover China Tour

RSVP to Ann White by email: [email protected] or phone 614 8944

by Tuesday 6 September

Download a PDF of Timaru Branch August Newsletter