Welcome to the New Year!
The arrival of the year 2000 is still vivid in my mind; all of a sudden we are already in 2001! It is amazing how time races by so rapidly and how happenings pile up so fast. Turning around and looking back, I see that SOAR is no longer a new born. She is a teen—the most trying phase in our lives—and so is it with SOAR.
Like parents, we enjoy the excitement and feel the anxiety. We take stock of our past efforts and wonder how we can make improvements and assessments. For year 2001:
• We welcome our new members, both at large and on our Board of Trustees.
• We salute the emeritus members and officials.
• We hope to restructure our standing committees towards greater efficiency and coherence,
• We hope to improve our operational procedures towards more consistency and simplicity.
• We hope to engage a staff member at our office to respond and to serve our supporters.
• We hope to increase the number of our scholarships in accordance with our long run plan.
• We hope to expand the core program to improve the infrastructure supporting the students
Let us celebrate together the continuing vitality of SOAR. Come to our Annual Membership Meeting at the Community Room of Cupertino Public Library,10400 Torre Avenue, Cupertino at 1:30 PM on March 24, 2001! The meeting will be followed by a mentor workshop, running from 3:30 to 5:30.
The Annual Fund Raising Dinner will be held on Saturday, May 12, 2001 at the Far East Restaurant, 631 Grant Avenue, San Francisco. Please e-mail your suggestions to us at mytan@pacbell.net.
— Shirley Chen
The city of Huehwa in Hunan Province is a center of the new transportation network in China. In twenty years it had turned from a small town to a city of over a million inhabitants. The people in Huewha are forward looking and have a high regard for education. However, each school has its special challenges. For example:
The No. 1 High School of Huewha is a municipal key school. Principal Dai was particularly proud of the school library with a collection of over ten thousand books, and the mathematics building which was near completion. I asked him about the source of funds. He said that the present government policy allowed the schools to admit students without strict adherence to quota. The rapid economic growth of Huewha enabled many more families to shoulder the burden of school fees. Twenty five percent of the collected fees went to the city educational commission. Of the remainder, 60% was allocated to capital expenses, including construction and the purchase of computers. The other 40% was allocated to teacher welfare, including the improvement of the ir residences and the award of year end bonuses (RMB1000 each).
Teachers' salaries were paid by the educational commission. The average monthly salary was RMB800, ranging up to RMB1200. The retirement age was 60 for the male teachers and 55 for the female teachers. The retirement pension amounted to 95% to 100% of their salaries for teachers with thirty years of service, and 85% for the other staff. Consequently in retirement they would enjoy a higher income than comparable officials in the city government.
The No. 2 High school in Huewha is a specialty school. It emphasizes the development of special talents, whether in physical activities or in art. even though it is not a professional school. It has a high standard athletic field, where the provincial athletic meet of 1998 took place. The school had produced an athlete, Chang Choping, who won an Olympic Games gold medal. The school also excelled in fine art, music and dance. Although it cannot yet compare with some of the specialty schools in coastal provinces, it is enjoying a great regional reputation.
The No.3 High School in Huewha is a provincial key school. As such it may draw its students from 12 different adjacent counties. The students are the cream of the crop. Eighty-six percent of its graduates passed the entrance examination for colleges and universities. I talked to the principal, Mr. Yang, about the costs of higher education. A student is expected to pay RMB8,000 to 10,000 in the interior province public universities and RMB15,000 to 20,000 in the coastal city universities. Most middle class families would exhaust all their resources in order to avail their children of the opportunity. For others, take the case of Guo Baoliang. His parents are peasants with three children in schools, with no money to spare. Guo was admitted to Tsinghwa University. The principal of the high school went all around, raised RMB3000 from the city educational commission, RMB4000 from the party secretariat of the educational commission, and another RMB3000 from government officials, the No.3 High School teachers and students. Only by such effort was Guo able to go to Beijing and to take his place in Tsinghwa.
Currently Bank of China is starting a student loan program. But to secure the loan the bank requires the signature of a guarantor. The friends and relatives of a student like Guo from the rural area do not have any resource near the level required to qualify as a guarantor. The loan program is therefore quite irrelevant to him.
A High School in the Outskirt Zongfang High school is located in a town at the outskirt of Huewha, at a distance that takes more than an hour by car. It is a sleepy town untouched by the economic growth of Huewha city, despite the effort of the town government to attract investments by highlighting its proximity to the city and its low land price. The principal economic activity is rice growing, providing an income of about RMB500 per acre. It was projected that the income could be raised to RMB2360 by pursuing horticulture or fungi culture and exporting the harvest to Canton,. But this would require an initial investment of RMB10 million, a sum that was out of reach.
The school buildings of this high school are old and the town does not have the resource for their renovation. A plan to rebuild the school was budgeted at RMB2 million, but to date only RMB500,000 had been raised. The school had an enrollment of 810 students. The fees at the senior high school were RMB810, and at the junior high school RMB300.
The Rural High School in Towqong Village is reached by a six hour drive from Huewha. The village is a very poor. The teachers in the school had not been paid for six months. Even when they were paid, the salaries were low, there were little benefits. A teacher with a family of four were crowded into a single room in the teachers' dormitory. They cooked their food in the hallway and a long table at the side of the door doubled as dining table and a table where the teachers could use to correct the papers.
Towqong High School was established in late 1960s. The classroom building was decrepit, in danger of collapse. In 1998 the government allocated RMB407,000 for reconstruction. The new three story building was 80% completed when the construction had to stop for lack of additional funding. At the time of my visit, many of the students still went to class in the dangerous old building, only part of which had electricity and windows. Students in the new building must negotiate their way through construction debris.
— Sui Fong
Postscript: I am happy to report that the building problem for this school has a happy ending. I would like to take this opportunity to salue Doris, Cathy, Cindy and Ying for the good deed. S.F.
Once I read, "according to Rousseau, the ideal life is founded on the flowering of intelligence, pursuit of affection, and empathy to suffering.'' I agree. More than five years ago, I became a SOAR member with the expectation that I was taking a step towards that ideal life. For the same reason, last year I decided to join some other volunteers on a visit of the SOAR scholars in China. These were easy decisions for me and I am sure my sentiments are shared by the others in the SOAR family.
The visit was for two weeks. The preparation was not that simple. It was not a vacation, or a business trip, or even a return to my nest. It was something new and different. We would "represent" SOAR to meet, communicate and investigate the scholars and their teachers, and we were to bring back information to improve the operation of the foundation. We would be going to the remote rural areas, places that tourists, even Chinese tourists, had not visited. We would encounter primitive roads. The seven of us would be squeezed into a van. There would be little extra room for baggage, so we were not supposed to bring more than a small suitcase and a handbag. Our local itineraries would be arranged by the schools the SOAR scholars were attending, and we did not know what to expect. So I fell back on Rousseau's dictum; letting the proper sentiment fortify me for the uncertain adventure.
We went to a total of three provinces: Sichuan, Hubei and Hunan. We traveled by plane, by boat, by train, and once we were near our school destinations, by van. We were in a different town or village every day, sometimes rolling over level plains, but more often bumping up and down in hilly country — aptly described by one of our students: "rocky hills all around, out of my front door and up I climb." To save expenses, we stayed at three-star hotels in the big cities, such as Chengdu, Chungking and Yichan. They were clean and comfortable, reflecting the economic progress of China in recent years. Once we entered the more remote regions, however, we noted a reversal of time and we had to adapt to what was available.
On a typical day we enjoyed an ample breakfast at the hotel and then began our trip to the next stop. We hurried along, visiting schools and talking to teachers and students, but not forgetting to sample local dishes at the restaurants. In the evenings we found a hotel in some nearby town and rested our weary bodies. We were impressed by the low price of food and we all ate to the full. Since we were traveling in the area known for their spicy hot dishes, we were constantly reminded of the old saying that hot foods do not fear Sichuan folks, Hubei folks do not fear hot foods, but Hunan folks, they fear that the hot foods are not hot enough.
We found the SOAR scholars invariably well qualified, up to standard we had set for their selection. Each of us on the tour had the opportunity to engage in person-to-person talks with them. What they told us about their family background, conditions of study and their thoughts on their future conform well to the file material we had brought with us. We were invariably moved by them, and we admired their efforts against terrible adversities. At the same time I believe our visits were valuable, offering them encouragement and emotional support. Their teachers and the school administrators, many of whom had been involved in their nomination, were dedicated and affectionate educators. They are our worthy partners and we were pleased to see first hand how our joint efforts were bearing fruit.
Thinking back and comparing the life here and the life there, it is hard to calm my emotions and to sort out my reactions. Our return was near the eve of Thanksgiving. I realized how much I had to be thankful for. It is not just the people and the things around me here. Going back again to Rousseau, this trip with SOAR had enabled me to take one more step towards the ideal life. Friends, I hope you would also be able to go on one of the future trips. You will help SOAR in shining the path of the SOAR scholars, and you will also find your own life enriched.
— Irene Fong
(Editor's note: Due to space limitation, another story on the visitors tour will be carried in the next issue of the newsletter.)
We have occasionally been asked whether a sponsor may send money to his/her students. The established policy of SOAR discourages such direct monetary transactions. However, the policy does not extend to gifts, especially those with educational value or those that may be shared by the students with their classmates.
The Board of Directors recently decided to increase the value of our senior high school scholarship from $170 to $255, beginning this Fall. This significantly increased the demand on our resources. Fortunately, the generosity of our donors is keeping apace.
In the last six months, SOAR has received several major donations.
Mr. Morris Young: AXT stock value, $77,750; Mr. Ted Young: AXT stock value, $100,000; Ms. Alice Huey-Ling Wang: $10,000; Ms. Yat Ping Shiu Pai: $10,000; Ms. Selina Hill: $10,000; Pao Hua Buddhist Foundation: $8,500; Mrs. Doris Chiu: $8,500; and Mrs. Fanny King: $10,000. To them and to all our other donors, thank you!
— Margaret and Leong Tan
A Mentor Met Her Charges
I am a mentor for several SOAR Scholars. During my recent trip to China in September, 2000, I actually met four of them. I will recount the story on one of these meetings, with a student named Liu, from a devout Muslim family.
Thanks to my cousin's advance leg work, I was able to meet Liu's parents at his home, Liu himself, and his teachers. I had sent Liu a letter prior to my departure, announcing my pending trip. I asked in my letter if there was any chance that I could visit him for an hour or so on a Sunday. When my cousin met me upon my arrival, she told me that Liu went to school seven days a week, from 7 to 5 each day, and had to do home work afterwards. Accordingly, Liu's parents had made arrangement for me to go to Liu's school during his lunch break. I agreed immediately, even though I was surprised if not shocked by the school's long hours.
The taxi that my cousin and I took stopped at the entrance to a narrow and crowded alley. Liu's father was waiting there and greeted us warmly. Together we walked to their home. Liu's mother was waiting inside. She wore a white hat over her head and looked frail in her neat outfit. The one room house was very small, at most measuring 10 feet by 14 feet. There was one square table with chairs along one wall, and one large bed in the corner. Two bureaus stacked together against the other wall. What struck me particularly was how immaculate it was. There were nothing cluttering the table, the bed or the bureaus. The bare walls were white and kept pristinely clean.
A thermos bottle was produced and tea was poured. But we did not stay long, since the taxi driver was waiting to bring us to Liu's school. The school was just a five minute drive from Liu's home. As we approached the school house, a man standing at the walkway came up to greet us. We were taken to the principal's office, where the two school principals and Liu's teachers met us. We had a pleasant talk. They were most laudatory about Liu's performance and told me that they held the highest hope for his future. They also gave me a brief description of the school. This is a private junior high school and supported by tuition payments and, perhaps of equal importance, by the enthusiasm of their teachers and their staff. They appeared to be sincere and dedicated.
The principal arranged to have all of us lunched together at a `Kosher' Muslim restaurant. Afterwards we went back to our hotel for a brief visit and some picture taking. When I bid them good-bye, Liu's parents broke down in tears. They clutched my hands and told me that words could not express their gratitude for my visit and for the help given by SOAR. It was truly a moving experience for me.
Even before my visit, from the letters that I had received, Liu had given me the impression that he was intelligent, studious, and well balanced with strong family support. My impression was verified during the brief personal encounter. Liu was a well developed, clean cut, good looking and well mannered lad, wearing a shy smile. Liu's father was unemployed, and his mother was disabled. Yet they led a decent life, courteous, earnest, loving and religious.
I had repeatedly said how I had benefited and been enriched by my experience as a mentor. My trip to China included some wonderful sight seeing, but the highlight was my actual meeting with these wonderful young people.
— Myrna Chen
Would you like to meet your old friends and make new friends, who share your interest in helping the needy kids in the rural countryside of China?
Would you like to know more about SOAR and how it operates?
Would you like to have fun?
The annual picnic does all that. Our first annual picnic was held at Huddart Park in Woodside on August 27, 2000, a beautiful day. In a secluded corner, SOAR had reserved a site with rows of picnic tables surrounded by tall trees. The preparation committee did a thoughtful and thorough job. The arriving SOAR members and their guests were guided by little arrows and posters on the highway, and as they came closer, they were greeted by colorful balloons. After they parked, they registered and were given names tags and SOAR T-shirts. In all, nearly a hundred of us, including almost all the initial founders and major office holders, came for the gala event.
While we were socializing and exclaiming oohs and ahs, the catered food and refreshment were set out on the table. By all accounts they were tasty and plentiful. After eating the barbecued beef, chicken, California rolls and salads, we listened to a short speech from the president, who outlined the SOAR organization structure and introduced the active volunteers. Program Chairs talked about their activities and their ideas about the future.
For entertainment we were treated to the drum beating by a Taiko performer. He also told some off colored jokes. This was followed by a quiz game about SOAR and its history. The winners, and there were many, were rewarded for their mental feats with prizes, while others were catching up on interesting tidbits of SOAR. A couple of team games were also held. For fun, the teams were divided by gender. As expected, the gentlemen yielded to the ladies amidst laughter.
It was an enjoyable day. I think we all look forward to another picnic later this year. Please send your feedback and suggestions to me, at ele81946@yahoo.com. I will pass them on to the organizer of our next picnic. Above all, I hope you will all make plans to come to our next picnic, and bring your friends too. We have more than 400 members in the Bay area, hopefully we will all be there!
— John Lee
I visited an Ethnic Minority high school in Yunnan last year. It was lunch time. At the dining room, rice was sold at forty cents for two ounces and sixty cents for three ounces, and cabbage was sold at thirty cents a serving. There were three students who bought three ounces of rice each and then shared two servings of cabbage. Each of them paid eighty cents. The Principal said that these students came from fairly well to do families, so that they had the money to buy the lunches. There were others...
I thought about my other kids. Li of Hunan is in his last year at the senior high school. He told me in his letter that his annual fees were RMB2500. He could barely pay RMB50 each month for food. Chang of Hunan is in his first year at the senior high school. She said that her mother has gone out of her village to work, in order to earn enough money to keep her in school. Her parents said that they would do anything so that she would be able to attend a university, to spin out from the vicious cycle of poverty. Yet along the way she can no longer have her mother with her.
I have gone back to China several times. The cost of living is rising precipitously. Even with the recent increase in the scholarship money that SOAR is awarding, the help is still deficient. Unless we can rise to respond to their needs, we risk losing them in mid stream or watching their forced separation from their parents. I am a mother. I would like to ease the pain of other mothers.
— Chang Yensun
(Editor's note: SOAR is raising its senior high school scholarship to US$255 a year this September.)
One of the distinctive provisions of SOAR scholarship is the requirement that the recipient should communicate with a mentor. Mentors try to understand the living and learning conditions of their kids, and provide them with support and advice. SOAR evaluators also rely on these exchanges in their decisions on scholarship renewal at the end of each academic year.
I am a mentor for twenty students. Every day, when I return from my office, I immediately check my mailbox to see if there is any letter from my kids. I love to read their dotty, chatty accounts. Today, the third of December, 2000, I got a letter from Lun Jinhwa of Hunan. I knew she had just moved up to the senior high school and I was excited in anticipation of her stories on her new experience. Opening the letter, my heart sank. What, she had left school and is now laboring on a job! Her letter was quite clear. Her mother was no longer able to keep her in school, and commanded her to work. She would return to school if she could save enough from her earnings. Since she was not aware that the policy of SOAR is to disburse the scholarship money only after the receipt of an enrollment certification, she still naively volunteered that she intended to return the future scholarship money to SOAR.
I felt sick. I thought my kids were to share with me their problems. Why did she stop her schooling without first telling me? It is now too late to save her. What lies ahead for this fifteen year girl? Is all the previous help by SOAR wasted? I remember a dinner I had in a Nanjing restaurant, the girl who served us was about the same age. She told me that she too dropped out of school because of poverty. She worked twelve hours a day and had just one day off a week. Her boss provided room and board, and paid her RMB200 a month. How long would my kid be able to save enough money to go back to school? The total fees at the senior high school are now RMB2500 an year! I also recalled my conversation with the laborer carrying loads up Hwangshan. He was also a school leaver. He had finished the junior high school, but left the school because he did not want to increase the debt burden of his father. His work depended totally on sheer physical strength; once he passed his prime there would be little he could fall back on. What could I say?
Part 1 of two-part article by Chang Yensun