Star relief
Singer Karen Mok Man-wai had never built a house before, but the tales of devastation caused by last year's earthquake in Sichuan were enough to make her try something new.
Almost a year has passed since 88,000 people died in the earthquake of May 12. Most died in collapsed buildings, and tragically many were schools full of children.
The mainland government has allocated 1 trillion yuan (HK$1.14 trillion) to Sichuan reconstruction efforts over the next three years, but the homeless are still heavily reliant on volunteer groups. This is where Mok comes in. Last February the singer, along with actor Daniel Wu Yin-jou, Ah Phat from hip hop group 24Herbs and other local artists led university students from Korea to Taizi village in southwestern Sichuan.
The initiative was led by Habitat for Humanity (HFH) and was the first trip in what will be an 18-month reconstruction project. Later this month, a group of 40 volunteers from Hong Kong's Evangelical Community Church will fly there.
The costs of construction - approximately 100,000 yuan per home - are borne by government grants, HFH donors and contributions from the villagers themselves.
'Many of the families have already recovered from the tragedy and moved on with their lives,' said HFH China CEO Alfred Tsang Hing-man. 'What they need now is a sustainable community which will continue to grow and develop.'
But don't expect the landscape of Taizi to look exactly the same as before the quake. Previously, homes were spread out, said Yang Zaixiang, voluntary secretary of the Taizi village committee.
The villagers, with the help of volunteers, are currently rebuilding their homes and other village buildings closer together. Farmers are being encouraged to build their homes as nongjia le - the country-style bed-and-breakfast accommodation that has come into vogue on the mainland in recent years. 'Through the nongjia le, there will be socio-economic development. Life will be much better than before,' said Mr Yang.
One of the most common tasks for HFH volunteers - typically a group of inexperienced home builders - is to move heavy bricks from one place to another.
At first, the task daunted Mok, who described her initial unease on her blog.
'I saw they had six or seven people standing in a line, passing bricks. At that time I was thinking, why should so many people do one thing? Wouldn't it be faster if each person each time could carry a few bricks over?' she wrote.
But shortly after she realised this supply chain was not just work but was a bonding experience as well.
'There was a bit of a language barrier between us, but through the action of passing bricks, I could feel our interaction. In fact it was like we were dancing ... in a blink of an eye we had ... transported a couple of hundred bricks across!' she wrote.
How you can help make a difference
