HELPING A RURAL COMMUNITY

When a foreign English teacher enters a classroom at Baojing Ethnic Middle School, the students applaud enthusiastically. They are so appreciative of these teachers coming into their small, isolated city.

Students Dance

The utilization of foreign teachers is still in its beginning stage, and over time the presence of foreign teachers will have an even greater impact on cross-cultural dialogue and understanding.

In the People's Republic of China, rural citizens do not enjoy the same privileges as urban residents when it comes to university admission. A Beijing student, for example, enters the testing situation with 400 (percentage of 60%) points already given to him or her.

With an average per capita income of $200 American dollars a year, many Baojing-area families struggle to put their children through school, which can cost more than their annual income (Baojing is one of China's 50 poorest counties). Nearly half of the 4,500 students live at the school because they come from farming families very far from town. Most of the students are also of minority descent, mostly Tujia and some Miao.

WAYS YOU CAN HELP

• Sponsor a student
  Tuition, room, and board for a student is approximately $350 American dollars a year. Any monetary contribution goes a long way.
  Women College Scholarships to help rural women to go to college ($500 per year);
  Help to Stop Sex Selected Abortion in China Project by helping a rural mother and her baby girl ($300 per year including medical care and food);
  Sending an American educator to run the anti-smoking education program by providing the international airfare ($1000);
  Paying for the tuition of a young woman for traning in entrepreneurship, small businesses and family health ($120);
  Training a village teacher to understand American Society by going to our training center ($200 for six months)
• Free Lunch Program
  Baojing is one of the poorest 50 counties in China with per capita income less than $200 per year. In order to encourage poor parents to send their children to school, Kate Zhou and Barbara-Sue White have launched a free lunch program. 35 cents will buy one lunch for a poor student; $10 will cover 35 students and $100 will cover 350 students.
• Musical Instruments and Laptops
  Baojing Minority Middle School and Baojing Arts Elementary have set up a Hawaii cultural program: Hawaii Ukulele Club and Western Music Choir Group (200 students). The two groups need used musical instruments: violins, guitars, flutes, ukuleles, trumpets, recorders and instruction manuals. There also a need for used laptop. To donate used musical instruments and laptops call Professor Kate Zhou at katezhou@yifei.org
• Our New Eye Care Program in Rural Hunan
  We invite you to join us to bring eye care to poor rural children in China . We are working with a group American volunteers who teach in rural Baoing to have optometrists come and give students eye exams.  See more >>>

HELP!

Please help these children by sending a tax-deductible donation to the Education Advancement Fund International (EAFI ) at:
3356 Francis Street
Honolulu HI 96815
USA

Our IRS code is: 41-2068745

To express our thanks, we will send you a free donation gift handmaded by Yunnan minority women.

For more information, please contact our Rural School in China Project Director: Bernita Zhou
Tel: 808-3719363