Baiwan

Since 1998, Baiwan has been a community service placement for Island School. Baiwan is a small district in the northern part of Guangdong province accessible by a six-hour bus ride from Hong Kong. During Interim Week every year, a group of Island School students and teachers visit Baiwan to teach the local children. Trips are often made during Christmas and summer too. The greatest problem facing the rural village is a lack of job opportunities since the closing of the cement factory in early 2007. Thus, with encouragement from the local government alongside, many adults have fled to work in the city, leaving only children and elders in the region. In the community of 5000, many children have to take care of themselves and their siblings, lack nutrition, and, in some cases, are not assigned even proper identification. Apart from teaching and interacting with the children, Island School students also raise funds to support the childrens’ education during the term. For example, the 2004 Island School Student Union sponsored to build a new dorm for Baiwan Secondary School, and RMB 3000 was raised to buy bunk beds for the dorm in 2008. Furthermore, in 2009, a Baiwan Committee was formed, which conducted pizza, cup-noodle, bake and book sales to raise RMB 20,000. The Baiwan Committee hopes to continue to raise money to improve the quality of the education in Baiwan, and to meet the needs of the children there. Christina Yu 13F

Click here for the Baiwan website