news from the office

We have finally managed to get our re-registration through! Alpha Communities Sichuan changed its registration, in consultation with the provincial government, from NGO to business - what is locally called a "non-for-profit business registration". This means that Alpha carries on with the same type of work, but that for legal purposes we are the representative office of a company (Alpha Communities Hong Kong, ltd.). Your donations to Alpha, if sent through one of our national offices (US, UK, Holland, Germany) are tax deductible. Our new name, banking information and contact details are on the 'Contact Us' page.

We are pleased to introduce to you Rebecca Woo, our part time volunteer office manager/communications officer. Rebecca will be with us for a year.

Lilian Iselin, our program officer for Aba North, is now working with a part time Program Assistant in training. She is called Karmo and we are excited to have her join our staff.

Alpha Communities has been invited to start work in two new townships by local governments - Tumen and Meiwa. In both townships we have started a small sponsorship program with just a few students.

history

In 1997, a representative office of Alpha Communities was opened in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province. Since then Alpha Communities Sichuan has developed a variety of projects, mostly in rural areas of the province. Sichuan, with a population of 85 million, is the most densely populated province in China and far away from the bright lights of the fast developing east coast. The eastern part of the province consists of fertile low lands while the western part is a wilderness of mountains and high altitude grasslands. This is also the poorest part of the province with fewer opportunities for good education and healthcare.

Alpha works in small community development and relief projects in Liangshan and Aba Prefectures. We focus on long term development through education, restoration of degraded environment, renewable energy and micro loans. We build long term relationships with local communities and government, working together to implement holistic development strategies.