Ark Welfare is a non-profit established in Hechi City, Guangxi, that encourages people to get involved in public service and respond to the needs of their communities. 

When we arrived at the Victory Primary School, the students were taking a nap. There are 2 small buildings in the school. With yellow walls, the colorful One Playground seemed striking in the sun. Looking into the classrooms on the 1st floor, some of the students were sleeping at their desks. But most of them had not fallen asleep and they looked at us. At the end of nap time, the children cheered up and ran out of their classrooms. They were running toward One Playground. Some of them were playing with the wheel and some of them were playing on the slide. Obviously, the children are fond of this small green playground.

We asked some questions about the management of the playground. There were some aspects that need to be improved. We reached an agreement for the management of the playground. Students were elected to help with the management. Class leaders from each class make up different groups and each group is responsible for supervision. Hopefully this method will promote self-management and self-monitoring among the students. Student supervision also means that One Playground can better accomplish its full potential.

Original article written by Xiaogang Fang, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang

Du’an Loving Public Welfare Association's work involves education support, poverty alleviation, environmental protection, and left-behind children. Du’an Loving Public Welfare Association is in Du’an, Guangxi province.

On June 10, 2013, we visited the Lateng Primary School with volunteers from Wheatfield Plan. We brought belated gifts to the children for Children's Day, and also helped teach students and teachers about the Dragon Boat Festival. During this time, the volunteers played games with the children, distributed stationary, supplies, and toys to them. The children were very happy. Although it was not the actual festival, the children were very pleased to play with the volunteers.

Longwan Caring Home is located in Dahua County, which was listed as one of the poorest counties in Guangxi Province. Longwan Caring Home is a big family consisting of orphans, single parents, and abandoned children. The normal expense of the Home is sustained by plantation, breeding, and small business.

It’s May Day. The children are growing up and have started to become involved in the planting work we do at the Home. On May 4th children from the Home came to the fields nearby and learned to transplant rice seedlings. The work is not always easy but learning is an important life skill. Happily, the children were able to find a lot of fun in the fields together.

Longwan Caring Home is located in Dahua County, which was listed as one of the poorest counties in Guangxi Province. Longwan Caring Home is a big family consisting of orphans, single parents, and abandoned children. The normal expense of the Home is sustained by plantation, breeding, and small business.

A traditional Chinese festival called the Dragon Boat Festival is coming. Our Home has been very busy in preparation for the festival. The teachers bought materials and the children helped make Zongzi. Then everyone shared the results and agreed that they tasted great. It was a happy Dragon Boat Festival. 

People with leprosy are sent to isolated villages where they are abandoned and forgotten by society. The Shalom Leprosy Compassion Ministry has a special place in its heart for these people and organizes groups of volunteers to travel to villages plagued with leprosy in order to provide medical, living, and psychological assistance. The Shalom Leprosy Compassion Ministry is located in Kunming, Yunnan.

May is a rainy season and Liang Ping, the person in charge, is about to take an examination, so the visit to the leprosy village has not been organized yet. Currently our work is focused on a solar energy project at the Yangjuangou leprosy village. We are trying to complete it as soon as possible, so that the rehabilitation clients can use it earlier. 

We have also been working on installing lights and are waiting for the wiring to be finalized. All of this was organized by Andre, an American volunteer, who was assisted by Liang Ping. After the relevant work had been done, Liang Ping and Andre examined the project on May 23rd. They then installed a special-made pump for the clients.

Original Article Written by Ping Liang, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang

Yunmeng Volunteers Association, Huberi Province works with poor students, which aims to verify the students’ situation and find sponsors to help them with living expenses, psychological counseling, etc.

Before the Dragon Boat Festival, we visited Chen Biyu, a poor student in the Daodian township. Wu Fang bought snacks for her. Shu Jiamei bought pork ribs for her to help her grow. When we saw her, Wu gave her 200RMB, urging her to study hard and call us if she faces any difficulties. We showed our respect to Wu. We told her to take action hand-in-hand with us.  

Shuai Zhenyu, one of our volunteers, was also concerned about the poor students. She decided to visit the students despite the hot weather in the afternoon. She gathered other volunteers up and visited two poor students in Daodian town. They brought the children fruit and stationary. They also asked detailed questions about their studies and their lives. It is volunteers like this that we respect so much and also learn from.

Tianlai Speech Therapy Center of Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province aims to provide speech rehabilitation services to the children with hearing impairment and early special education, instructing the parents to master the skills of rehabilitation for the children with hearing impairment. It’s a professional rehabilitation organization for the deaf children, integration of education, rehabilitation and research. 

In 2013, a national cochlear implant project helped 17 children from the Tianlai Speech Therapy Center. After 3 months of training, they developed quickly. Now they can understand simple sentences. Their parents were very happy and became more confident about their children's future. 

Parents also play a key role in speech rehabilitation for children with hearing impairments, so we organized a parent's meeting after school every Friday. Teachers reported on the children’s weekly performance to their parents, pointing out their developments and weaknesses. Meanwhile, we instructed the parents on how to consolidate and expand training in the family. The parents also gave feedback and asked questions.

In the one-hour meeting, the parents learned a lot. During the rehab process, not only the children, but the parents as well, are changing. The parents become positive and more willing to make an effort. This is a big change from the embarrassment and desperation they often feel after they learn about their child's problem.   

Original article written by Yan You, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang

Two East Villagers interns, Sarah Chang and Janna Wang, have just left the US to work for Transparent Fish Fund in China for the summer. They will both be living in Gansu working primarily with our partner Little Red Scarf. This summer they will have the opportunity to work with the TFish staff in Gansu in and out of the hospital, visiting and talking with the children and learning about the Little Red Scarf company. They will also have the opportunity to learn more about TFish and the process local NGOs go through to become a member. We look forward to hearing about their experiences!

You're cordially invited to visit TFish at the...
2013 Los Altos Arts & Wine Festival
Saturday and Sunday, July 13th and 14th, 2013
10:00 am: Start of Festival
6:00 pm: End of festival
Swing by to say hi and check out artwork done by interns and partners and catch up with our TFish Team. 
Forward to all your friends!

Ark Welfare is a non-profit established in Hechi City, Guangxi, that encourages people to get involved in public service and respond to the needs of their communities. 

At 9:00 in the morning, volunteers prepared gifts of rice and oil for the elderly.The distribution of goods went well. When we arrived at a blind man’s home, he was having supper. We learned that he gets about 1200RMB a month from the government. He lives alone, so it covers almost all his expenses for a month. He is confident and optimistic about his life. The person we visited who lived the farthest away was Ban Jizhen. We had to walk 5 kilometers on a gravel road to reach her home. She was not at home so we put 2 bags of rice and 1 bottle of oil on her window. When we arrived it was lunch time and we were hungry so we ate some bread and cucumber. After lunch, we visited Meng Meilian. When we saw her, she had bare feet. She was not wearing the shoes we gave her last time. She said it was more comfortable to keep her feet bare. Then we visited 2 more people, but they were not at home, so we left the rice and oil at their neighbors’ houses. The last person we visited was Wei Baoyuan. He lives in an old house. He does not have any income, so he has to rely on his 300RMB allowance from the government.    

According to our interviews, all government allowances were in fact real and helping to sustain the lives of each of the old men, however their spirits were left unattended. They have no one to talk with. They are greatly moved whenever we visit. They even cook for us. They are kind and nice. We appreciate them for their attitude towards life, which encourages us all to accept the sorrow and happiness that life brings to us. 

Original article written by Xiaogang Fang, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang

The volunteers had to walk carefully on the slippery road and carry bags of rice on their shoulders