Australian Sponsor Chinese Student via Canton Tours
With the development of China’s economy, people’s living standard has been much improved than previous years. Parents pay higher attention on children’s education as well, especially in well-developed big cities. However, there are great concerns on the imbalance of this progress as students from rural areas are losing the chance to receive proper education due to various reasons.
There are currently many programs that encourage people abroad, typically those with China background, to provide various forms of assistance to these students in China.
In many cases, because of the way these programs are operated, the generous giving by people from overseas would reach the ultimate recipients in China through many layers in between, which has raised concerns for inefficiency, delay and abuse. More and more people have taken upon themselves to identify the individual student in need in China and provide financial support directly, but their activities are usually hampered by all kinds of practical difficulties.
As our tour guide talked about the issue while conducting a 13 days China tours, one of the Australian client (Mr. Aussie) expressed his willingness of sponsoring Chinese students. Fortunately, we have been able to find seven students (8th-9th grade) qualified for his sponsorship although it’s a new experience for us as a Guangzhou tour operator. These minority students come from a rural area of Lijiang, Yunnan Province. They are good students born in poor family and really eager to learn. Now Mr. Aussie mainly provides financial support on their living expense to monitor the performance before high school.
Chinese rural students above the 9th grade usually live too far from home to go home at night, so they stay at their schools for the week. Some leave home earlier than 9th grade since too far away to go to school everyday. They wash their clothes every night and wear their other change of clothes while the first set dries. They must pay for all their school meals, books, tuition and extra fees. As a result, the fees for high school are significantly higher than compulsory education. This is the most risk phase that students may drop out of school as the cost of attending high school can often be too high for many students. High school students are the most in need of sponsors as they can't afford the tuition that they need to go to high school.
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The head teacher of one of the sponsored students says “The student is an orphan. She lives with her grandparents and looks after her young brother. She has a hard life all the time. But she never gives up her studying. She faces her life happily. Thank you for helping her. I will educate her and let her remember you forever.”
We really appreciate Mr. Aussie’s help on these students and impressed by his simple words at the same time:
-They don't need to know my name for now.
-My message to them please is for them "to keep well and study smart and be good to their parents and family. And they should also thank their teachers Ms He and Mr Yang and especially Mr Vinson Chen for their compassion and making all this possible".
-I believe we all have an obligation and duty to help others whenever we can and in whatever form at our disposal.
Although China is becoming a “rising star” economically in the world, the situation of the financially-disadvantaged young students in China, especially those in the rural areas, is still increasingly getting serious. Your generous monthly contribution provides student with the opportunity to learn and the supplies needed to attend school.
We believe the world would be a better place to live if lots of Mr. Aussie with helping hands around.
Hopefully all students sponsored, hand-in-hand, can build up a better future by themselves! Wish them a bright future!!!
P.S.: Upon client’s request to be anonymous on the issue and Mr. Aussie was used here as nickname