Baojing Schools

Since 2003, we helped to set up English teaching programs to 90,000 students in rural Baojing. So far, 30 Americans, 2 Britishi, 1 Germany volunteers have worked and taught at Baojing Minority Middle School , Qianling Elementary, Baojing Experimental Elementary School.

Baojing Minority Middle School

In the Spring, 2003, Education Advancement Fund International set up a ten year contract with Baojing Minority Middle School to help with education of Tu Jia and Miao minority students in Baojing area (250, 000 population). Baojing Minority School is set up beside the You River in Baojing county, Hunan , China . Baojing is a beautiful city in the middle of West China with its majority of TuJia and Miao nationalities. Baojing belongs to the poorest region in China , the earning of the natives is between $200-$300 per year. But the people here want to try their best to promote the economy by the way of developing education.

Teachers from the US went to Baojing Minority Middle School to teach computers, entrepreneurship, and English since February, 2003. All students at the school will learn American society and the world from those teachers. We set up a talent program so that village kids from far away could come to learn English, music, sports, and culture in the school. All students will make a pledge to help the school (by donating 10 % of their future income to the school) when they have a job in the future. We have provided tuition scholarships to 12 students from poor families. We have set up the first International Children's Choir where children can sing songs from different countries.

Qianling Elementary School

Qianling Elementary School is a school for special talents. The school has about 1690 students from k-6. Students who are good at traditional Chinese cligraphy, painting, music, art, and sports come to this school. In addition to regular education, each student chooses one special training area (for example, Chinese music instrument, Erhu). Some of its graduates won national awards including one Olympics light weight gold medalist, Liu wenxia.

Baojing Experimental School

The school is a magnet elementary school for academic achievements in Baojing. There are about 1600 students in this school. Some village students also study in this school. They often board at the school. EAFI has provides some scholarships for some students.

We set up a Hawaii Cultural Program in Baojing hoping to create a Hawaii window. We encourage people from Hawaii to go to Baojing to teach music, Ukulele, Lei making, and Hula to local kids. Although we need volunteers all year around, the best time to go is between late July to late August when students have summer vocations.

There are dance and music students in both Qiangling and Baojing Experimental Schools .

The local people and the local government have been so friendly to Americans that many name their stores as American West, American Hotels and etc. A very touching story told by a local boy showed our success to breed the seeds of American friendless among those poor people. This boy said that before the American teachers came to his town, he had no interest when American sports teams played against other country's' teams. "But now, I am also cheering for the Americans. Of course, when they play against Chinese, I am on the China side. But I am on the American side when they play against others. American people are kind and nice. They came all the way to help us."

With these words, we know that at least at this place no one will become a terrorist against Americans.

In the Spring of 2003, Kate Zhou, took a delegation from Wo International Center at Punahou School (the largest independent school in the US ) to visit Baojing Minority School . The director was so impressed with the school that she signed a community outreach program with the school. Every other summer, Punahou will send 20 American high school students to learn Chinese language, culture and art at Baojing Minority Middle School while every summer, Punahou will invite one teacher and three students to attend Punahou summer schools for one month (see more about this on the web www.yifei.org).

Also in Baojing, we helped a local woman to set up an orphanage. The original idea is to set orphanage for abandoned girls for foreign adoption. But the central government did not approval the foreign adoption. The orphanage has become a regular kindergarten where orphans are placed in local residents forstarcare.

Three students and three teachers from Baojing Minority School came to study at Punahou school for training in 2003 and 2004.

In 2004, 22 Punahou students and 8 teachers from Honolulu went to Baojing to have an international cultural exchange program. Both American students and Chinese students enjoyed the experience so much that the Punahou would go back to Baojing in 2006.

We have also set up a lunch program. Mrs. Barbara-Sue White, a Princeton Musician, helped to found the lunch program. The goal is to private free lunch for poor students so that parents are more willing to send their children to school. For 35 center, one student will get a free lunch, $ 35 for 100 students. White is in charge of fundraising in the US mainland.