Celebrations in China, H4C Children's Day 2012

How to encapsulate the ripple effect over the past fifteen years of hundreds of girls who would have been denied an education, breaking out of that cycle of poverty and dependence........by staying on at school, going to college, university, opening their own business and taking their place in the modern world with hope for the future.

Hundreds of girls.....

Hundreds of families...

Villages......

Schools.......

with sponsors from all around the world, 

praying, paying, connecting, sharing

all working together to make a difference!

From that tiny seed way back on 1997 when Robin Bernard asked Matthew Xu to begin working to help girls in rural Guangxi thro the GGEF Programme to 2012 with the new Guangxi Girls Programme

( Hope4China'sChildren) partnering with many others to make this possible...Prentice Events, Eagle Mount Adventures, Two Hearts, Community Roots, Blackford Trust and many more........not forgetting the backbone- the faithful sponsors who donate each month to make all this possible. 

                                                             It really does take a village!

This is a time for Celebration!

And while we were busy celebrating with our Panda Theme in Scotland, 

Matthew & the Guangxi Girls were busy celebrating in Nanning!

Gifts for Staff and Sponsors to say Thank you!

                                                   Some familiar faces from the early days....

                                                                                Games

                                                                      Old friends

                                                          Next generations.......

                                                                     Motivation & Sharing

                                                                      Fun........

                                                                         and Nonsense!!!!!!!!

                                         Rolling out the 2012 Edition of the Hope4China Banner

                                                                                Smiles......

                                                                      ..and Exuberance!

                                                               Serious words.......

                                                         Sweet singing from Lucy, our new Staff

                                                             Some of our older girls

                                                                      Lots of hilarity :-)

                                        And Matthew, as ever, recording it all for us to share

Chinese friends & sponsors sharing the fun

                                                                       Pizza for everyone

                              And a Big Birthday Cake with 15 Candles to Celebrate 15 Years!!!!

                                              Just amazing to think of the lives changed........

                                   Then time to set off the Sky Lanterns to mark the special occasion

Thank You to Matthew Xu,
his team of staff over the years,
and all those behind the scenes over these years
who have made this possible!

Hope4China'sChildren'sDay 2012

This seems to be the Year of the Panda here in Scotland! ( No Dragons here!)
And so our Celebrations for Children's Day naturally  focussed on Pandas.

We had Pandamonium at Buckhaven High School on Wednesday.....

                                                                Thanks Pauline!

                                                          RE Classroom transformed!

                                                                  Lots of goodies on sale

                                                      Chopsticks Challenge is always fun :-)

                                                      Sharing China & Scotland links

                                                                  Lots of Fus!!!!

                                                The wonderful Cooks in Home Economics

                                                          And the yummy noodles!

                                                                Satisfied Customers

Guess how many balloons in the Panda Car to win a Panda Bear?

How many do you think????

All these events together helped us to raise over £180 which will help Buckhaven High School to support one girl to school

And then on Saturday 2nd June - Panda Mania at St Margaret's Church, Dunfermline

                                     A lovely Panda Welcome from Ian with his ice-cream cones

                                  More goodies on Sale with the Jubilee Helpers in the background!

                                                Marion busy with Panda Crafts

                                      And a lovely friend "getting in the spirit" of Panda Mania !

                                                             Families had fun :-)

                                                            Our token Jubileeism!

                                                                 Happy Shoppers

Touch Primary children each designed a Panda Card to send to Guangxi Girls in China.

They did an amazing job..and it was so hard to pick a winner?

The winning card has won a family ticket to Edinburgh Zoo to see the real Pandas!

( can't share the winning card or name yet, as we have still to share the news at Touch Primary!)

                    Irene & June did a wonderful job of creating these fantastic Panda Biscuits

and this brilliant Panda Cake which is far too good to eat?

Thanks too to Wiseman dairies for donating Panda Milk to go with the biscuits!!!!!

All of this Pandamania has raised around £380

and last, but not least......

 Frank and Greenie's Sponsored Silence and Fast

Raising around £600!!!!!!!!!!

It's amazing what some people were prepared to pay to keep them quiet:-)

So all in all we have had lots of fun, celebrated with some amazing children in Scotland, 

worked together with Buckhaven High School, Touch Primary School, Wiseman's Dairies, friends of amazing talents

Raised over £1200 to help some pretty special children in China!

Sounds like another Win/Win to me?

And just wait til you see what Matthew and the team were getting up to in Nanning at the same time?

Next Blog :-)