|
Scholarship Distribution Ceremony in October 2018for
the Guanlan Sisters and their families by Dr. Seeberg and her team
with our partner NGO, Shaanxi Children’s Welfare Service Center
staff and the local Women’s Federation.
To make a tax-deductible, secure donation please go to Guanlan
Scholarship Foundation website & find the Paypal, donate button on
the left
Friend us on Facebook A Letter from the Guanlan Scholarship Founder,
Dr. Vilma Seeberg
Dear Friends of the Guanlan Sisters,
This 18th year of the Guanlan Scholarship, we were able to
participate in the actual scholarship distribution in Shangluo,
Shaanxi.
Our partner organization, Shaanxi Children’s Welfare Service Center,
had called together the nearby Guanlan sisters and their parents for
the annual scholarship distribution this year at the offices of the
local All-China Women’s Federation. Dr. Seeberg gave a presentation
reviewing the changes in the village since the first celebration in
2000 with photos from then and now showing the dramatic improvement
in the school for the Guanlan sisters. Many former recipients shared
their stories of what school had meant to them, the opportunities
they were now it presented to them, and even how it changed their
own children’s lives.
Continuing Guanlan Sisters brought us their hand-written letters
telling us about their studies and lives this past school year.
Dear Guanlan Mama,
Hello! I'm Guanlan Sister Jing Pei-pei. How are you doing recently?
Does your work go well?
I am now in primary school, third grade. There are many things to
learn. Although I get good grades, the pressure is increasing.
Chinese is my favorite subject and I am good at it and I always rank
first in class, but I have a lot of difficulties in science. I hope
that Guanlan Mama can give me some suggestion how to improve my
science.
Guanlan Mama, I'm eight and a half years old. Grandma, dad, mom,
brother and I live together. Grandma is old, not in good health,
takes medicine all day, and medical expenses are very large. My
mother takes care of me. The cost of my school is increasing. The
whole family relies on my father’s part-time job to make a living. I
hope Guanlan Mama can continue to give me financial support so that
I can get a better education and realize my dream.
Guanlan Mama, my dream is to become a teacher. I will certainly
study hard to reach my goals and work tirelessly to give back to my
parents and society.
Guanlan Mama, thank you for your financial help. It is said that the
grace of receiving a little help like dripping water should be
reciprocated by a waterfall in return. I will repay you with
excellent scores. I know that this thank you is insignificant, but I
want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I wish Guanlan Mama good health.
Jing Peipei, 8 yrs old, grade 3
Our local partner, Pang Baoliang (standing) cautioned their parents
not to ask or let them withdraw before the end of senior high school
and had them sign the contract.
A group of people sitting at a table
Description automatically generated
We have been able to support 120 young Chinese girls since 2000:
. 22 are continuing in primary school,
. 51 completed primary and middle school.
. 9 graduated from vocational senior secondary school,
. 4 graduated from academic senior secondary school
. 4 graduated from vocational college
. 11 graduated from 4-yrar college. IMG_0986
. This year, we accepted 5 new primary school Guanlan Sisters.
. We lost track of 18 Guanlan Sisters in the early years
Our continuing mission is to offer Guanlan Sisters an opportunity to
finish their K-12 schooling, to foster their aspirations, to enhance
their capabilities, so they may live a life of dignity and respect.
We are now gearing up to raise funds for the next academic year. The
Guanlan Scholarship Foundation seeks to raise $ 6,000 for the
2019-20 school year. All but 10% for administration and bank fees go
directly to the Guanlan Sisters to spend on schooling expenses.
We hope you will find it in your hearts and wallets to continue to
support the Guanlan Sisters’ schooling. Your donations are tax
deductible. We will send you the acknowledgement of receipt of
donation that you can use in your tax filing for 2018.
Your investment in the future of those girls is making a tremendous
difference. To show you how dramatic the changes can be, we can show
you chapter 2 of the lives of two of the Guanlan Sisters we
introduced to you last year. From the least auspicious beginning,
through the power of schooling, these young women are making
something of herself and making a difference in their community.
We want you to know that what we do together can set in motion a
virtuous cycle of better lives and community.
The generosity of friends like you who support this fund through
your donations, extends the promise of the Guanlan Scholarship
experience to many daughters of Anjinggou village.
Our long-term, local partner selects the scholarship candidates, and
arranges the distribution of the funds. He is from the village
himself and keeps in close contact with the families and makes sure
they help their daughters continue to stay in school.
He and his wife have organized a child drop-in center (photo of the
wall covered with children’s drawings) in the city where Guanlan
Sisters can go after school for cultural programs and four to six
orphan girls can stay on the week-end. Many of the parents from
Anjinggou are in the city or further away to do migrant work, and
often have little time for their children. We have attached photos
on the last page of this newsletter of some of the really wonderful
artwork the Sisters have done which you can purchase for $8-$20
depending on size. order some of this artwork.
On behalf of all of the Guanlan Sisters, their parents and our
partners in Xi’an and Anjinggou,
We wish you a warm and peaceful season,
Sincerely yours,
Vilma Seeberg,
Founder, Guanlan Scholarship Foundation
Two Guanlan Sisters’ Stories Then and Now Yang Yuhu
Yang Yuhu was adopted (informally) by the parents of a man with a
severe mental disability when she was only one week old. She was
raised as the grandchild, and from a very young age did the house
and farm work for the elderly family and their son. From primary
school on, she received the Guanlan Scholarship and much
encouragement from Pang Baoliang and his wife. They helped with her
overcome many difficulties and support her with her adopted family
so that she could continue in school. By the time she was 20, she
was able to finish junior high school (grade 9). Then after a year
of Pang Baoliang persuading and negotiating with her adopted family,
they allowed her to go back to vocational senior high school in
preschool education.
This past year she graduated and got a job in a non-public
kindergarten for migrant kids in Xi’an. She recently got married and
financially supports her adopted family. To celebrate she held a big
birthday party for her grandfather in the village this summer.
In October she came to visit with Dr. Seeberg in the hotel in
Shangluo. We were both really happy to see each other and held hands
for a long time.
Guanlan Sisters - their Stories Then and Now Shan Dangdang
dandan
Shan Dangdang (pseudonym) was given away as a young girl to a man
with a mental illness to keep house for him and his father. Her
birth grandmother had died very early, her grandfather had been old,
frail and sick, and her parents had abandoned them and her.
Since 2013 Dangdang was enrolled in the Guanlan Scholarship, and
every year Pang Baoliang had to persuade the two older men to let
her continue her studies. In 2017, she finished the coursework in a
vocational-technical high school also in preschool education in
Shangluo.
March 2018, she started her internship in a local, non-public
kindergarten.
Do you recognize her standing confident as a young teacher before
kids also from nearby villages? She with our combined help has
changed her destiny.
Home Visits in October 2018
With Pang Baoliang we visited some of the Guanlan Sisters and their
families who had migrated from Anjinggou to nearby towns to work in
the secondary service economy.
Here their daughters, second-generation Guanlan Sisters, attend
segregated public schools with other village kids. These children
live on the margins of the towns and cities, marked as
“out-of-status” migrants by their village birth registration [hukou]
or by their lack of a birth certificate [heihu].
Guanlan Sister in their one-room apartment city; bath down the hall,
no heat, a/c, stove in the hallway.
Most of them live in migrant urban villages of helter-skelter
housing
Doing homework in the hallway, while their parents spend long hours
away in unsafe working conditions and unstable jobs: like
collecting, sorting scrap metal.
Guanlan Sisters News
Scholarship Distribution Ceremony in October 2018
The Guanlan Scholarship is being awarded to Guanlan Sisters ranging
from primary school to high school.
Older Guanlan Sisters are reading their Scholar-ship pledge to study
hard and stay in school through high school graduation.
Grandfather accepts the Guanlan Scholarship for his youngest back in
the village.
IMG_1172
Guanlan Sisters sign up to receive the scholarship and their parents
sign the scholarship pledge.
签字
Guanlan Sisters’ Artwork for Sale
($10-$50, mounted or not) 10x10” & larger or smaller copies
Please contact vseeberg@att.net or on the Guanlan Scholarship
website
A close up of a flower
、
Wan Huhao, age 10
A picture containing clothing
Description automatically generated
The End
|
