David Snyder, founder and president of Travel Adventures, Inc., recently traveled to China to visit Nanjia Primary School in the remote northern province of Gansu.
United States of America (Press Release) September 11, 2007 --
Nanjia Primary School has eight classrooms serving 300 plus first through fifth grade students from the nearby mountains and a mountain community. The contributions to build the school came from Travel Adventures (two classrooms), Oprah Winfrey (five classrooms), and collected contributions of Canadian teachers and students (one classroom), through the Free The Children organization.
Free The Children was founded by 12-year-old Craig Kielburger in 1995 when he gathered 11 school friends to begin fighting child labor. Today, Free The Children is the largest network of children helping children through education in the world, with more than one million young people involved in programs in 45 countries.
David began his journey with a two hour flight from Beijing to Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu,one of the poorest of China’s 36 provinces. Next, he and his guide traveled more than seven hours to Li County by automobile.
“Li County is a community of a half million residents in about 1400 square miles...,” explained David.
Li County has 530 primary schools (Grades 1-5), 30 middle schools (Grades 6-8) and three high schools (Grades 9-11). There are also more than 100,000 students eligible to attend school. Supposedly, all of the students attend elementary and middle school. However, David discovered that only about 70 percent of the middle school-aged children actually attend school.
More alarming, only about five percent of the students attend high school because it is a tuition based program and very few parents can afford the $250 yearly fee. Tuition alone is about three times the average family’s yearly earnings.
David visited the school accompanied by representatives from Free The Children and the Ministry of Education. Because they were the first foreigners to ever visit Nanjia, the group was greeted by hundreds of the local residents as they approached the school.
Their first view of Nanjia Primary School was of the large brick wall surrounding the school containing a three-foot high Chinese inscription: “Knowledge can give you a bright life. Knowledge can give you a great future.”
"I was really impressed by how a donation from our company and other organizations could impact the current and future generations of Chinese youth. There are so many places in the world where our support can produce similar results. Free the Children is currently building schools in Kenya, Sierra Leone, Ecuador, China, and (next year) India. The organization has built approximately 500 schools around the world to date."
The group concluded their trip to Li County with a visit to Wenjia Primary School, a Free The Children school built three years ago, and a mountaintop Daoist Temple.
“This was one of the most thrilling experiences in my life. I will never forget the expressions of happiness on the faces of the children and the personal pleasure gained from knowing that we can truly make a difference in the lives of others.”
Free The Children was founded by 12-year-old Craig Kielburger in 1995 when he gathered 11 school friends to begin fighting child labor. Today, Free The Children is the largest network of children helping children through education in the world, with more than one million young people involved in programs in 45 countries.
David began his journey with a two hour flight from Beijing to Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu,one of the poorest of China’s 36 provinces. Next, he and his guide traveled more than seven hours to Li County by automobile.
“Li County is a community of a half million residents in about 1400 square miles...,” explained David.
Li County has 530 primary schools (Grades 1-5), 30 middle schools (Grades 6-8) and three high schools (Grades 9-11). There are also more than 100,000 students eligible to attend school. Supposedly, all of the students attend elementary and middle school. However, David discovered that only about 70 percent of the middle school-aged children actually attend school.
More alarming, only about five percent of the students attend high school because it is a tuition based program and very few parents can afford the $250 yearly fee. Tuition alone is about three times the average family’s yearly earnings.
David visited the school accompanied by representatives from Free The Children and the Ministry of Education. Because they were the first foreigners to ever visit Nanjia, the group was greeted by hundreds of the local residents as they approached the school.
Their first view of Nanjia Primary School was of the large brick wall surrounding the school containing a three-foot high Chinese inscription: “Knowledge can give you a bright life. Knowledge can give you a great future.”
"I was really impressed by how a donation from our company and other organizations could impact the current and future generations of Chinese youth. There are so many places in the world where our support can produce similar results. Free the Children is currently building schools in Kenya, Sierra Leone, Ecuador, China, and (next year) India. The organization has built approximately 500 schools around the world to date."
The group concluded their trip to Li County with a visit to Wenjia Primary School, a Free The Children school built three years ago, and a mountaintop Daoist Temple.
“This was one of the most thrilling experiences in my life. I will never forget the expressions of happiness on the faces of the children and the personal pleasure gained from knowing that we can truly make a difference in the lives of others.”
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