‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the village the people were stirring, building their houses.

Christmas is here and I am preparing for a rather unusual holiday this year as I will be spending Christmas day in Yao Jin with the villagers. It will not be a typical Christmas. There will be no turkey, and the closest I will be getting to stockings is the thermal underwear I’m wearing to keep out the bitter cold.

The project is progressing extremely well, the buildings have really taken shape and yesterday the first roof beams began to be placed on one of the buildings. From a vantage point up on the crane, the view is excellent. Everywhere I look there are villagers and workers scurrying around, each attending to their assigned task. In order to keep the construction process fluid, everything needs to be timed so that there are no hold ups. The crane needs to drop off a load of bricks in one spot then pick up a load of concrete and if the concrete is not ready the next load of bricks will be late and the bricklayers will be sitting around waiting, etc. Trucks are constantly arriving in the village with building supplies and bricks. As soon as the brick trucks arrive, a group of village women descend on them like ants and begin unloading. The project will consume around 1.7 million bricks in total and they all need to be manually unloaded. It’s a huge back straining task. All of the villagers are working so hard and I’m amazed at their stamina.

After a hard day’s work yesterday we gave the villagers a first-ever experience…we threw a Christmas party! The idea started when we cut a small Christmas tree from the mountain side and dragged it though the village to our accommodation. The villagers were very curious and when they saw how we had decorated our tree they wanted one too! So the villagers erected a few Christmas trees around the village and decorated them. I got together with Paul, our site manager, and we bought three pigs and a goat for the village to spitroast at the celebration.

Yesterday after work, we lit a fire and began to roast the meat as the villagers began to gather for the party. As darkness fell there were about 400 people in the village. Many had come from neighboring villages and the construction workers were there too. It was a cold night but spirits were high. The villagers were really excited with this being the first time they had ever celebrated Christmas! They started singing traditional Chinese songs and some of the children danced around the fire. Then the Mayor and other dignitaries gave speeches. The occasion was also a send off party for Paul who had been managing the project for two months. He was asked to say a few words and the crowd went crazy and cheered for him after every sentence because he has contributed so much to the project and has worked hard alongside the villagers each day.

Then, in one of the most surreal moments of my life, we were asked to sing some songs to the crowd. So we broke into “Joy to the World” followed by “O Come all ye Faithful.” The crowd was silent as we sang our carols but erupted into applause when we finished. Since the quake hit back in May, my wife and I have spent more time in Yao Jin than anywhere else in the world. It has become our home away from home and the villagers have become our family and friends. I was watching a group of teenagers perform a dance when there was a tug at my shirt. Some of the village Children had mad Christmas cards for us. It was very touching. Inside the cards were heartfelt messages of thanks and friendship such as, “Thank you for your help. I can remember your love. Happy Christmas. Friend, Chen Xue Lin”.

The party was set up right in the middle of the village among the new homes. We swung the boom of the crane over and used its halogen lights to illuminate the site. It was an awesome sight to see so many people crammed in among piles of bricks, sand and timber. One of the village girls had written a poem about the horrors of the quake and the new hope in reconstruction and the villagers once again erupted in cheers. I was asked to say a few words to the crowd and was able to tell them about what Christmas is about and why it is important to us. The barbequed pigs were then distributed to the crowd. The meat had been basted with some local spices by a villager who used a paintbrush wired onto a long bamboo pole as his basting tool. Then for a grand finale, we unleashed an arsenal of fireworks that Paul and I had bought. The whole event was really fun and was a good break for the villagers who have been working so hard. I wouldn’t be surprised if they continue to celebrate Christmas in the years to come.

Today the sun made a rare appearance and lit up the valley bringing a little relief from the cold. It was all hands on deck once again as bricks clattered into piles and the sawmill sent up a haze of sawdust into the afternoon rays. The roof beams on building four were finished and the roof team have started on building one. I walked around the site marveling at the progress. Three months ago this site was full of rubble and debris. Two months ago, the site was nothing but level ground and today, the site is full of huge two story brick buildings. It’s simply amazing. I met Paul in one of the buildings and he explained some of the building techniques that he had implemented in the project. Paul is a master builder from Australia and is used to building to strict earthquake codes. He made sure that the Yao Jin houses would be able to withstand a massive quake.

In his thick Aussie accent, Paul explained how the walls are “tied into the beams” with lengths of steel running through the brickwork. A quake can shake the building, but the concrete columns will not pull away from the walls which is what happened to most of the homes during the May 12 quake. The Yao Jin homes will really be solid as there is steel and concrete running over every corner, even the top of the gables, so the roof won’t fall in.

This afternoon I put on a pair of gloves and helped a group of women load bricks on building two. The crane can only reach one corner of the building so we had to load bricks into wheel barrows and cart them over to the brick layers at the other end. Then we had to hand bricks up to the layers who were on scaffolding. After a few hours, my back and arms were hammered but the women just kept going with smiles on their faces. I am making it a point to work with the villagers each day as much as possible. It is good for them to see how committed we are to helping them and it gives them a good laugh to watch me sweat while they take things in stride. The hard work is extremely satisfying. Working alongside the villagers as they build new homes is an amazing experience and a privilege. I have to be honest though and say that I was originally reluctant about spending the holiday in a freezing village in China. I had been craving a big Christmas meal and afternoon TV with my feet up, and now it will be a normal work day with heavy lifting and frozen fingertips.

But being here I have realized that, for me, this year will be the best Christmas ever. Christmas is about giving and goodwill. This year I am able to really give something special on Christmas day. And to the donors who have been so generous in supporting this project, know that your gift will be in action on Christmas Day as construction races ahead. The village celebrated Christmas for the first time ever and you are helping to give them a new village, what a wonderful gift!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 at 10:47 am and is filed under Asia, China Disaster. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.