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A Child's Message from A Rural Village in Gansu, China
I was very sick as a child. They told me I had polio. But then during the course of treatment, I was given penicillin by mistake. Now I have difficulty getting around… My school grades are pretty good. Though I am physically handicapped, I don’t feel handicapped at all.
What I want more than anything? To, one day, leave this life of poverty. I want to do something with my life, somehow give back to the person sponsoring me, give back to my family. My handicap will not stop me.” (From a letter written by Guo-An, a student in grade 5, to the sponsor)
HOPE worldwide began the China Student Sponsorship Programme in 2001 based on the conviction that, for individuals, education plays a pivotal role in breaking the cycle of poverty. The programme relies on the compassion and generosity of thousands of individual sponsors and other partners. What began as a simple sponsorship programme has evolved to include school rebuilding and teacher training projects. More recently, HOPE worldwide has begun to provide small grants to schools to improve teaching resources and students’ living conditions.
In reality, it takes multi-faceted efforts, consistently applied over an extended period to alleviate and eventually eliminate poverty. These efforts include decreasing dropout rates through education promotion, raising teaching standards, and improving school conditions. We believe that if a school has access to resources to improve its overall conditions, both teachers and students can focus on raising teaching and learning standards. Once that is achieved, there is hope for the people in these remote, rural areas to leave their lives of poverty.
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