DontForgetTheKids

Check out the new pictures

2007-06-26T22:33:00.000+08:00

Three new folders:

Children's Day
Teaching Period
and the KIDS

We Got Published

2007-06-17T18:20:00.000+08:00

Sorry but blogspot cannot be accessed from China recently. We are working on a real website!
This is the report about the Children's Day in the Xin Wen Wu Bao!

Good Time

2007-06-08T14:10:00.000+08:00

It was just sooo great to celbrate that Children's Day with all of you.
Thanks to everyone!
I'm still a little overwhelmed. More later.

Let Friday Come

2007-06-07T00:22:00.000+08:00

The forecast is optimistic about the weather.
But most overwhelming is the number of participants!
It seems like we are trying to outnumber the kids :)
------43 people------

okok the kids are more than 500, but still amazing!

Hope www.accuweather.com is right

2007-06-04T15:57:00.000+08:00

Friday, Jun 8

More Details

Delightful with times of sun and clouds. Winds from the ENE at 14 km/h.

Realfeel®: 31 °C

A Chinese Forecast （www.tq121.com.cn) says:

6月08日

27℃ / 19℃

东南风4-5级转微风

and another: (http://www.weathercn.com)

2007年06月08日

29℃～19℃

Not singing in the rain!

2007-06-03T23:46:00.000+08:00

Because singing in the rain is only fun for a short time or in movies.
The school doesn't have a big hall or any rooms to hold an indoor-event.
So because of the ugly, heavy rain it had to be postponed for next Friday.
We were a little sad and we hope the kids only a little, too.

Now we will closely watch the weather forecast for next week and - if God will - have a happy 六八儿童节 .

六一儿童节 Children's Day

2007-05-31T11:15:00.001+08:00

Tomorrow it's Children's Day in China and we will celebrate it together with the children. 10 to 20 of us visit the 启迪简易学校 (thats the name of the school).

There will be various performances, such as singing, dancing, acrobatics and games ("The Mini Olympics") from both, foreigners and kids.

Whoever is interested in coming and not on our mailing list call 13817121728!
Welcome you!

Situation of migrant workers in China

2007-05-24T23:04:00.000+08:00

so, now i want to give you all a short introduction of the situation of the migrant workers in china, because maybe not everybody knows about it.

In Shanghai there are at least 5 Million Migrant Workers at the moment, but thats just the official number, you can imagine what this means. China has at least 200 Million.

They earn about 300-1000 Yuan per month cooking, building houses, selling things on the streets...

They sent most of the money they earn in the big citys back to the little towns, a lot of people live from their income. Every year about 40 Billion Euro (how much is that in Yuan?) are sent back by migrant workers.

The migrant workers don't have the hukou (the residence permit) from the city they work in, and also other family members that come to the cities with them don't have it.

Thats a big problem for the kids, because they are not allowed to visit a public school. Even if they could afford the tuition fee, they wouldnt be allowed.

Thats the point where i come to the school we visit. This is a typical type of privat school for migrant workers kids. The tuition fee is very low (400 yuan per 6 months), but still there are a lot of families that cant afford that.

But the education should be regarded as very important, because thats the only way out for these kids. Though they will never be allowed to visit a university, still education might give them new and better opportunities for their lives.

They have schools, and they have teachers - what they need is motivation!!!

Fudan Students Visit Migrant Worker's Kids School

2007-05-19T23:24:00.000+08:00

Many showed interest and eight of us could agree on a date and actually make it.
Last Tuesday at two we met up on campus and took a cab to the school!
After crossing suburban living- and industrial areas, we found our way to the tiny school, hidden somewhere between big old-looking company parks and little spaces, where people grow vegetables. Far away in the North of Shanghai, down a driveway that you wouldn't call a road, there it was.

What we hadn't expected were twenty kids lined up and repetitiously singing "WARMLY WELCOME" in Chinese for us, when we got out of the cab.
Still a little overwhelmed by the setting we took group photos with the kids.
Then, in the teacher's room we talked to the head of the school and split up in three groups to visit as many classes as possible.
In the team, we had two students, who just started learning Chinese, but in every group was at least one advanced Chinese learner of us, who translated.
The teaching then was a lot fun. The small classrooms were packed with forty students and the big one with maybe fifty or sixty.
In advance we planed to give all the kids English names, so they would get a better connection to the language.
Giving the names took most of the two hours we spend teaching and we involved games (some using a small ball, which produced a sort of chaos, as kids jump for a ball in a classroom that offers just enough space to sit shoulder on shoulder). The kids were extremely excited, as you can see on the photos and we had just as much fun ourselves.
The principal thanked us at least four hundred times and is happy that his school finally gets some attention.
By the way, he graduated from university in Shanghai, majoring in English and wanted to help children, because he went through the change, that education can do himself.
So he founded that school at the age of 27. Ever since the school has been on the edge of closing and had to move due to financial problems five times.

Welcome to DontForgetTheKids

2007-04-30T22:09:00.000+08:00

You might ask yourself "which kids" and why "don't forget them".

The kids we are talking about, are those of the estimated 200 Million migrant workers all over China.
And as we found out, the conditions under which they live and study (if they can) are very very poor and society kind of looks down on them.
Having realized that there is a lot to do, we started and here we are!
To not forget those children is the most important task, we think.
On this Blog we will provide detailed information on the project and ways to engage oneself.

Please visit us again and find out what we do and what you can do!