Bridging Hearts through Education: The Shaoguan Project
Our project focuses on a distinguished High School in Shaoguan named Renhua High School. In our “Bridging Hearts Through Education Program”, we work with a Hong Kong organization called CWEF (Concordia Welfare and Education Foundation), to help school Chinese girls. These girls are carefully selected through an application process and are chosen based on academic merit, desire to learn and economic needs. So far, we have successfully helped over 140 girls, with 60 girls from the Shaoguan District for this school year alone!
Where is Shaoguan?
Shaoguan is a city located in the Southern part of China. It is right above Guangzhou, the city in which our school is located. Every semester, we take a 5-hour ride to visit the Shaoguan girls.
Why only girls?
The Global Issues Network focus solely on promoting and granting GIRLS with scholarships. This sometimes raises question amongst people. The reason is the unfair weighing of genders in China. As a result of the unfair weighing of genders in China, boys are seen as a pension system, which bring home the family income; meanwhile, daughters leave the family once married and have fewer opportunities ahead in life. It is often forgotten that in these rural areas of China, the birth of two children is accepted. The heavy Confucian belief of carrying the family name adds to the discrimination as well.
Girls, on the other hand are often overlooked and their role in society is degraded. This can be said for many countries around the world besides China. Daughters are immediately born with a disadvantage since their parents are often reluctant to invest in their education, especially in rural areas. As a result, our Shaoguan Project is specifically dedicated in sponsoring girls.
Girls, on the other hand are often overlooked and their role in society is degraded. This can be said for many countries around the world besides China. Daughters are immediately born with a disadvantage since their parents are often reluctant to invest in their education, especially in rural areas. As a result, our Shaoguan Project is specifically dedicated in sponsoring girls.
Shaoguan Visit 2014
Once per semester, we visit the students in Shaoguan to interact with the sponsored girls. During our trips, we teach them English using games like Charades and Vocabulary battle to help boost their overall confidence and English speaking ability.
We are also able to create a strong bond between them throughout these visits and actually get an understanding of what we are doing as a group.
We are also able to create a strong bond between them throughout these visits and actually get an understanding of what we are doing as a group.