At the height of the summer holidays, a group of Birmingham youngsters are organising a fundraising event to help rebuild a primary school in the remote area of Giuzhou province, China.
Project TOM volunteers in Birmingham Chinatown fundraising for victims of Yunnan earthquake emergency appeal earlier this year. Event Organiser WaiLo Li (last on the right)
The village of Pingzhai is located in a remote area of Jiangkou county, Giuzhou province. The Pingzhai Primary school was built in 1984 by the villagers, using whatever basic materials they could find and, 27 years on, it is no longer safe for use. The school has been badly eroded by the elements and poses a structural danger to students and teachers.
There are 1841 villagers including 200 children. The school accommodates all the children in the village with 7 teachers in 7 classes.
The funds raised will go towards building eight classrooms, two offices and lavatory facilities.
Guizhou is one of China’s most impoverished provinces and this year it has been hit particularly badly. In May hailstorms affected over 340,000 people in 22 counties of Guizhou. In June, severe drought and heavy floods hit 30 million people in Guizhou and affecting over 100 million hectares of farmland across China. The direct economic loss has been estimated at 1.1 billion Yuan.
WaiLo Li, 27, a Communications Officer for JaguarLandRover, has been working in conjunction with Oxfam Hong Kong to co-ordinate the fundraiser event with Project TOM volunteers.
As the founder of Project TOM, she tells us; “As Oxfam HK has been working in Guizhou for almost 20 years and they already have a strong network of partner organisations, we are safe in the knowledge that aid can be delivered both effectively and efficiently. “
“It’s fantastically rewarding that we could do something tangible to help the kids in Pingzhai village – it’s amazing that small change can make so much difference to their lives. We’re really pleased we can help and we hope the fundraiser will be as successful as the previous ones.”
The twelfth fundraising event will take place in Birmingham on Sunday 28th August 2011. The four locations will be at: Wing Yip Supermarkets (Nechells), Birmingham Chinatown, The Arcadian Centre and Birmingham Chinese Evangelical Church.
Project TOM was setup in 2008 as a non-profit group to encourage more young people into charity work, comprising youngsters aged between 12-27 years old. To date, they have raised over £25,273 GBP for charitable causes both at home and abroad. More information can be found on www.project-tom.org.uk
