Friday, November 26, 2010

Committed

Thank you for your interest in sponsoring a Shanghai Sunrise student! As you may have read from our website (www.shanghaisunrise.com), Shanghai Sunrise was started in 1995 to help remove families from the poverty cycle through educational sponsorships. We believe that it is every student's right to have an education, because it is education that will enable these students to create opportunities for themselves and become contributing members to society. Since its inception, Shanghai Sunrise has sponsored over 1600 students and currently supports over 500 students. All students are sponsored on a one-to-one basis and all sponsorship monies donated are used for education purposes.

You have indicated in your application form that you are interested in sponsoring a student. The sponsorship is RMB 3000 per student per year but as we are in the middle of the School Year, we will be collecting RMB 4500 to cover for the student's 2nd semester fee for School Year 10-11 and for the full School Year of 11-12. Once donation is received (please see attached for the donation instructions), we will assign a student to you and provide you with the student information within two weeks.

We have a twice a year pairing ceremony for new sponsors where you will get a chance to meet your student and the next one is set for February this year at the Hilton Hotel. We will inform you of the specifics when the date has been set. It is quite an experience to meet the student that you are sponsoring. Of course, if you would like to meet your student any other time, we can also arrange for that.

Finally, Shanghai Sunrise is a 100% volunteer-run expat operation so if you are interested in volunteering 8 or more hours a week, do let us know!

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Beggarship

Over here, there is 1 at every corner.

Just where I stay, there is
- this old man with a plaster on his temple.
- this young lady with a baby girl who is never awake
- this old lady with a 4-5 year old girl with dirty hands and feet
- this man who sits on a floor with a 2-3 year old girl playing nearby

And along the way to work, there is
- this very lost looking man who tries to give me the newspapers he has recycled from the bins, in exchange for a coin..

In the area where the boy has his violin lessons,
- there is this skin and bones girl who crawls on the floor
- a boy without arms

And there's always old ladies who sell jasmine flowers that they've carefully strung ... actually they aren't really beggars ...

Occasionally, you'd see
- lady with a note placed on the floor seeking for money to pay for bus fare / meal
- blind man playing the flute with old lady leading the way
- 3 young people in a group, kneeling with heads bowed, with a bowl in front of them.

The worst or most determined beggar I've ever seen - is a man, covered with 'self-inflicted' wounds that are oozing blood, half-naked on an overhead bridge, ... and there was blood on his shorts, the steps, the floor, everywhere...

My mother gave some money to a man without a limb. 5 others approached her in quick succession.

I wanted to buy a piece of melon from a peddler on the road, an old lady approached me with outstretched hands and I ended up putting the money in her palm.

A colleague gave RMB100 to an old man in a wheelchair who had an old lady beside him - thinking they were a couple and ended up being chased 2 blocks by the lady who demanded to be given as much.

Everyday, amidst the bright lights of a modern day city, the hardship of living pulses along with it. Faceless people in my face, telling me how fortunate I am.

Every year, at this time, we choose a charity to support. Last year, it was NKF. This year, the Big One suggested Community Chest.

But I'm thinking maybe if I can pluck 1 kid off the street and put him/her in school and be committed to doing that for at least 10 years. How will the picture change for the world?

Nothing.

But the world will open up for this 1 kid.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Homework monster

That's me.. the homework monster.

He's getting homework everyday now. Usually 2 pages of maths, 1 page of chinese writing, English worksheets ( about 2-3 times a week)... and ALL the work that he should have but had not finished in school. It takes him more than 2 hours each day to complete them. And in between, I try not to SCREAM at him to pay attention, sit properly, lift his chin off the table, put his left hand on the table..... sit properly, pay attention, focus, check...think, sit properly, don't look around, stop dreaming...... stop playing with his pencil, sit properly... I try not to PINCH him.... sit properly!!... I try not ot SLAM the table top... STOP WASTING TIME!!!

He has NO time to do anything else... Really!
I have NO time to do anything else.. Really!

He's tired.
I'm tired.

We need to work this out...

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Bronze!

Smoke gets in (your) eyes.....

Wide-eyed was all excited yesterday. They had a fire drill and he told me cans (of coal or charcoal - not quite sure which) were planted outside their classroom and then were set alight, generating a lot of smoke. He had to cover his mouth with a piece of cloth (this was provided) and run out to the field. He said some of the smoke got into his eyes and then when they were in the field, the building really looked like it was on fire - "A lot a lot a lot of smoke!"

... I'm so jealous! His fire drill is like a civil defence exercise! So fun!!

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Frontcrawl

I was asked how is the boy's swimming.
He's been going for lessons every Sunday now for the last 5 weeks and has begun to learn the front crawl. He's quite alright now with the kicking and the pulling so during the last lesson, the coach taught him 换气/ the breathing technique. He looked hilariously cute during his practice. Visualize a little boy fish going belly up each time he comes up for a breath and you'd be not far away from the truth.

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Boots

I shipped 2 pairs of boots here...13-year old Bally, adopted from Germany and 4-year old Ecco, rescued off a discounted rack in Finland. How these two survived that many years, I don't know. Anyway, the young one fared very badly. When I flexed her sole, it broke into many pieces. The older one was more pliant, but still suffered fractures. I told the Big One that my boots have fallen apart . I was looking for some sympathy, and consolation in the form of "go buy yourself new ones...." but his response was unexpected at the point it was delivered. "Go and have it repaired", he said. ***TWANG***

Sulkily, I did...and was surprised that the cobbler did a darn good job! So good, I have no excuse not to wear them a couple more years. Someday, I should be able to put them up on eBay and it'll go something like this:

For sale: "VINTAGE BALLY BOOTS - with Hujian-branded sole!"

(".)