Bengbu Daily, May 20, 2005

Featured article: The "Loving Heart Program" in Full Bloom

A record of a visit to Liuji Township in Guzhen County by the United States Consul in Shanghai, John J. Hill.

( Staff Journalist Li Maofeng ) A virtual baptism of rain was falling from the sky and the air was permeated with the smell of mud on May 16. The United States Consul General in Shanghai, John J. Hill was there, in a line with HPI's Anhui province program director Li Ruilin and others and accompanied by the vice-mayor of the city of Bangbu . Together they braved the rain to visit the village of Liuji and see how the Heifer program there is being put into practice on the ground. In the day's visit, Mr. Hill witnessed with his own eyes the rich results of the Liuji program.

In the Liuji Township conference room, the local person in charge introduced to the guests from afar the implementation of the Heifer program in the township. It was explained that with Heifer's help, 300 people throughout the township have overcome their flood-induced poverty and all 15 households in the first recipient group have already passed on the gift to help other households enrich themselves through livestock husbandry. When Mr. Hill heard all of this, a satisfied smile crept across his face.

In 2003, there was a huge flood on the Huai River . Because Guzhen County is located at the confluence of the Huai and Hui Rivers, it was one of the areas hardest hit by the flood. After the disaster, representatives from HPI China's Anhui Office visited numerous times to investigate and to conduct interviews. In March 2004, in order to help the disaster victims help themselves, HPI China's Anhui Office put into practice a "China Flood Relief" program in the Liuji Township . The program involved helping impoverished households and women to raise pigs and geese and it began with an initial group of 15 recipient households. Soon afterward, the program was implemented in four other villages - Zhangling, Liuzhao, Donglou and Wangli. A total of 1.04 million yuan was invested in this program, reaching 345 households and 1281 people. As of today, one year after the program's founding, recipient households have produced 1058 meat geese and 2093 fattening pigs, for a profit of 324,000 yuan. Thanks to the implementation of this program, 300 people have conquered the poverty brought to them by the flood. At the same time, they have served as examples and have brought on a pig-raising wave in the whole township. With as many as 100,000 live pigs in the pen, Liuji has become famous near and far as a pig-raising center.

In order to understand better the recipients' situations, Mr. Hill spent the afternoon talking face to face with recipients from five different communities, listening to their ideas and suggestions about the implementation of the program. He was gratified to find out that with Heifer's help they had increased their incomes, improved their lives, and passed on the gift to help other households develop their own livestock husbandry. He remarked that passing on the gift is really passing on a loving heart, and it exemplifies the philosophy of "Everyone helps me, I help everyone" that Heifer promotes.

Afterward, Mr. Hill set out again on the mud paths, visiting peoples' homes. He visited Zhang Chunhua, Zhang Kuanling, Zuo Yulian and a few other Heifer China recipients, and looked at their piglets and breeding pigs. After his site visit, Mr. Hill commented that Liuji Township has already achieved an impressive realization of HPI's mission, and that everything he had seen there had touched him. He planned to report on his experience to relevant organizatiuons in the U.S., including HPI headquarters, in order to further open up new outlets for cooperation and enlarge the reach of such programs. And, most of all, to help this program serve the improvement and development of the human being.

(Translation: Eric Minikel )