Charity China
Providing volunteer help for rural education
(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-02-08 08:13
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Volunteer teacher Chen Ling teaches village students. A nongovernmental organization, 1KG MORE advocates supporting volunteer teachers in villages. Asianewsphoto |
Imbalance between rural and urban education led to scheme
From backpacker to manager of a social enterprise, Andrew Xu has every reason to feel good about himself, because he is doing something to change the world.
Xu was born in a village in Jiangmen City, Guangdong province, in 1973.
He traveled a lot, and was shocked at the imbalance between rural and urban education throughout China.
"What can I do for these poor children?" he asked himself.
"Apparently the power of an individual is tiny."
Then, in April 2004, his life was dramatically changed by a simple story.
His friend Cui Yingjie visited Yunnan province that year and met two volunteer teachers in a poor village.
One asked him to take a message to the volunteer teacher in another village telling him that "he was not alone," and "to persist is to win."
It was not easy for these volunteers to find companions who could understand and support them.
They explored the poverty-stricken areas and strove forward, equipped only with the belief that "to persist is to win."
Although higher education enrolment is generally growing, rural students account for a small and decreasing proportion.
The ratio of higher education students in urban areas to those in the countryside is 323 to one.
Xu explained, "There are about 400,000 schools in poor rural areas and more than 60,000,000 students need help."
"It might help if travelers carry 1kg or more of books when they visit the countryside.
They can distribute the books to children there and communicate with them. That's how the idea of 1KG MORE came into my mind," Xu recalled at a lecture.
A nongovernmental organization, 1KG MORE advocates an innovative concept in travel in which every traveler can help the local rural community.
It established a website as a community for assembling travelers on which travel is connected with public service.
Travelers are encouraged to carry 1kg more of books or stationery to rural students and information about rural schools or travel experiences can be shared among travelers on the website, which also calls for more attention from the community.
Travelers who upload information on a school can become the "ambassador" for that school, helping it organize activities and seek support.
Since April 2004, volunteers at 1KG MORE have collected detailed data about more than 600 rural schools.
According to statistics, more than 10,000 participants have carried out 1KG MORE journeys.
At least 1 million people have felt the knock-on effect. Volunteer groups have been organized in almost all the major cities of China.
China has seen a rapid development in philanthropy in the past few years.
Official statistics show that donations toward charitable causes in the country reached 107 billion yuan ($15.6 billion) in 2008, 3.5 times that of the previous year.
According to Xu, there aretwo forms of philanthropy: one involves celebrities donating large amounts of money; the other iinvolves individuals doing small things for the needy.
"Philanthropy can be simple, happy, and fashionable. When every individual is involved, the world can be changed" said Xu.
He cited Wikipedia.org as an example. Despite having more than 3,169,000 entries, Wikipedia has only 12 fulltime employees, but millions of netizens contribute to its development.
Its error rate is about 3.82 percent, while the Encyclopedia Britannica's error rate is 2.96 percent.
It is therefore reasonable to say that when one person becomes many, and they are coordinated, real changes can take place.
"If you can't do big things, do small ones, like carrying 1kg more of books or stationery to children," said Xu.
Casual philanthropy is what he advocates, and it requires no serious responsibility.
"Happy", "casual", and "fun" are its key words. "If you can do it in your journey, it's great; if you can't, it's ok," he said. "There is nothing to feel guilty about. You can do it next time. Make donation a part of travel and that will make you happy."
Nuannuan, a girl who lives in Beijing, was attracted by Xu's concept in 2007 and began to take part in the activities organized by 1KG MORE. She is now responsible for the activities in cities surrounding Beijing. "Charity is just there. Everyone can do it," she said.
"We encourage travelers to provide not only material help, but also communication. The positive effect generated by such communication can be immeasurable," Xu added.
"Travelers may be depressed by the tough lives of the children they meet, but such sentiment is not helpful. A smile can shorten the distance between two hearts," he said.
Whether rich or poor, every child has a happy childhood; philanthropic travel should be happy, full of smiles," he added.
1KG MORE was registered as Aiju (Beijing) Consulting Co Ltd in April, 2008, and became a social enterprise.
It generates revenue by offering charity consultation and services to enterprises, and applies part of its income to team operations and the rest to charitable activities.
To provide more resources to charitable enterprise, on December 29, 2009, the 1KG More Fund was launched by Aiju and China's Social Welfare and Education Foundation.
1KG MORE is now working with enterprises on projects such as Charity Card - if you buy a card, 1KG MORE will donate a book to a rural school.
There is also Living Library, providing rural students with better reading resources. "Everything has gone well so far. I believe we can make it better," said Xu with a smile.
Xinhua
(China Daily 02/08/2010 page20)
