Back in Singapore, due to the packed schedule at my working position, I could only pitifully be a donator to the local charity. This year in China has given me a valuable chance to really take part in such a meaningful activity, in which I could closely get into the group of people I help.

As a volunteer, I participated in a series of events held by Xiangbala Charity, an NGO dedicated to helping the students in mountainous areas in Yunnan Province of China. In the fund-raising phase, I connected to around 1000 potential donators in China and Singapore and raised 50 school bags with additional cash for scholarships. More importantly, by connecting to university students, professors, bankers, engineers, and all others of various backgrounds, I did my part in raising concern of the situations and needs of the students in need to the greater public, which I believe is a necessary step in reaching the consensus of the entire society to make the campaign a sustainable business.

On May 30, I set off my trip to Yunnan Province. After another day along the winding roads across mountain peaks and valleys, I gathered with our charity team at Luchun County by the border between China, Vietnam, and Laos. Accompanied by local government officers from education and poverty relief departments, our team visited 8 primary schools and 4 middle schools to dispense the merit-based scholarships and school bags. During the trip, we saw the innocent and glaring eyes of the aspiring students, and we were so glad that local investment was continuingly put in to improve the campus facilities to introduce a more refined learning experience.

The local government revealed to us that due to the efforts of campaign to fight against poverty throughout the years, the living standard of the local residents have been substantially improved, and there is no family who cannot afford elementary education nowadays. However, the students seldom appreciate the value of studying and are usually less motivated compared to those in large cities. Therefore, I prepared a presentation on my study and working experiences in Singapore. On one hand, I introduced the history and culture of the people, religions, diet, and living of Singapore, and I elaborated my job duties as a financial analyst. Through the process, I broadened their imagination and showed the students that there is a beautiful world outside of their familiar mountains, and their lives should be full of possibilities and potential. On the other hand, by narrating my learning journey, especially how I earned my full scholarship with my diligent efforts to study in a world-class engineering university, of which I had never dared to dream. Opportunities are for those who are well prepared. The entire presentation was not intended to ask the students to follow a similar path as mine, but to motivate them to formulate and adhere to a concrete personal development plan with an unwavering objective in mind, such that they could follow their dreams and embrace the freedom of determining their own way of life. Gladly, our team has also utilized the power of cloud technology to connect to the researchers from the scientific exploration ship of Xiamen University and initiated online one-to-one tuition, which perfectly complemented the academic education in class.

Scholarship and prize awarding ceremony at Edong Primary School
New football field at Gekui Middle School on one of the mountain tops The characters read “The entire society should care about and support education.”