On March 31, the Yew Chung system-wide “Seeds of Hope” project was officially kicked off in grand style by an inaugural concert held at the Grand Theatre in Qingdao City, Shandong Province.

On March 31, the Yew Chung system-wide “Seeds of Hope” project was officially kicked off in grand style by an inaugural concert held at the Grand Theatre in Qingdao City, Shandong Province. Seeds of Hope aims at building a primary school (i.e. Seeds of Hope School) in rural China every year to bring education and hope to children. Meanwhile, a group of YCIS students and teachers paid a visit to the first Yew Chung-funded Seeds of Hope School--Minzhu Primary School in Anyue County, Ziyang City, Sichuan Province--since its restoration in the spring of 2010.

Despite the cold weather, the group of 32 students and teachers from YCIS campuses in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Chongqing went on an educational trip to Minzhu Primary School during March 26-29 this spring. A range of activities were held at Minzhu Primary School. For example, an English teaching workshop was organised for all year levels so that the students had the opportunity to practise English in classrooms. YCIS has also donated eight book shelves and about 4,500 books to the school to support its library setup. Puppet shows were presented by YCIS in classrooms, in free times and in the closing celebration. Friendship was built between YCIS students and those at Minzhu Primary School.

Besides undertaking charitable endeavours, another goal of building Seeds of Hope Schools is to create “sister” school relationships with the Seeds of Hope Schools, so that there is long-term opportunity for ongoing cultural exchanges, educational trips and charity projects that will be of great benefit to the YCIS student body for many years to come. YCIS’ next trip to Minzhu Primary School is scheduled for October 22-25 this year.