Working with impoverished kids
By William Yang |
March 28, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THROUGHOUT the world, grassroots service organizations have sprung up, taking the international community by surprise with a collective demonstration of altruism and compassion. One such effort has caught the attention of 20 IB students, who have since been engaged in a year-long commitment to relieve the disadvantaged and impoverished around the world.
The organization, aptly named Pathways of Hope, operates in India, Nepal and China through a variety of projects aimed at empowering disadvantaged women and children through education and life skills. Last year, the organization's branch in China sought volunteers from various IB schools in Shanghai, who have since been heavily involved in its projects. The China project aims to provide aid to a nomadic community in the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, where infrastructure was devastated during an earthquake in 2010.
Recognizing the need for change, IB students from BISS, SUIS, YCIS, Rego and Dulwich joined Pathways of Hope, and made a year-long commitment to help disadvantaged Tibetans in Qinghai Province. In the beginning, this was through social entrepreneurship. Students teamed up with professional design teams to create winter apparel for the holiday season. Students created a business model to sell their products, and eventually generated profits that were sent back to support a hand-spinner's collective in Heimahe, as well as an impoverished nomadic school in Yushu.
The students' most recent venture put them in the classrooms of Chinese schools, where they provided free English classes to migrant children. Shanghai's community of migrant students faces staggering inequalities in education, and Pathways of Hope has made an effort to bridge this gap. Preparing teaching materials and lesson plans, IB students traveled to a primary school and held biweekly lessons in spoken English. Two weeks ago, Pathways of Hope finished its last lesson, and will soon move on to a new project.
Later this year, our volunteers will plan community fund-raising projects to raise awareness for their cause in Qinghai, and provide much needed financial support to a Tibetan school in Yushu. The skills that these volunteers have learned and applied will be put to the test when the China project culminates in a summer trip to the Tibetan school they are supporting.
The organization, aptly named Pathways of Hope, operates in India, Nepal and China through a variety of projects aimed at empowering disadvantaged women and children through education and life skills. Last year, the organization's branch in China sought volunteers from various IB schools in Shanghai, who have since been heavily involved in its projects. The China project aims to provide aid to a nomadic community in the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, where infrastructure was devastated during an earthquake in 2010.
Recognizing the need for change, IB students from BISS, SUIS, YCIS, Rego and Dulwich joined Pathways of Hope, and made a year-long commitment to help disadvantaged Tibetans in Qinghai Province. In the beginning, this was through social entrepreneurship. Students teamed up with professional design teams to create winter apparel for the holiday season. Students created a business model to sell their products, and eventually generated profits that were sent back to support a hand-spinner's collective in Heimahe, as well as an impoverished nomadic school in Yushu.
The students' most recent venture put them in the classrooms of Chinese schools, where they provided free English classes to migrant children. Shanghai's community of migrant students faces staggering inequalities in education, and Pathways of Hope has made an effort to bridge this gap. Preparing teaching materials and lesson plans, IB students traveled to a primary school and held biweekly lessons in spoken English. Two weeks ago, Pathways of Hope finished its last lesson, and will soon move on to a new project.
Later this year, our volunteers will plan community fund-raising projects to raise awareness for their cause in Qinghai, and provide much needed financial support to a Tibetan school in Yushu. The skills that these volunteers have learned and applied will be put to the test when the China project culminates in a summer trip to the Tibetan school they are supporting.
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