The recruitment talk held by 4TREES, a non-profit group run by Tongji SEM and MBA Center, concluded successfully in March and then the annual charity walk in April came as scheduled. This time, 13 volunteers participated in the activity. With their bags and dreams packed, they decided to stay away from bustling city and embarked on a journey to Qibainong Town, Dahua, Guangxi Province.

1. A visit to deep mountains

For this visit, the volunteers brought with them many things, including a list of interviewees (both old and new students), envelopes and stamps, donated stationery, and more importantly, the kindness of the donors and the children’s desire. Upon their arrival at the Qibainong Town on April 6^th, the volunteers began their visit and their prepration work for distributing the stationery. After communicating with the school officials, they planned six visit routes as follows:

A Qibainong Town – Nongping Village—Guzhu Village

B Qibainong Town – Nongteng Village – Nongjing Village

C Qibainong Town – Nongxiong Village—Gecong Village—Nongcheng Village

D Qibainong Town—Nonghe Village

E Qibainong Town—Dahua No.5 Middle School — Dahua No. 2 Middle School

F Qibainong Town – Dahua High School

The volunteers learned that the students must spend 1-2 hours on their returning journey home on weekends, mostly on foot. When the children led the volunteers to the houses of interviwees, they saw those children walk really fast with slippers along the way, even on uneven and muddy mountain paths. Meanwhile, when they played and joked around with the children, they started to realize how hard it was for the children to get back home alone.

The path of hope to school

During the visits, the volunteers found that the students’ living conditions are so terrible that their houses cannot shelther them from wind and rain. The various certificates on the wall happen to be a wind breaker but also it seems to indicate that knowledge is the only way for them to change their destiny. They also learned that with the government’s subsidies and encouragement, some families began to renovate their houses. However, the further interviews revealed that building or buying a new home would cost about RMB100,000 to 200,000 yuan. Apart from the government’s subsidy of RMB50,000 yuan, the local residents still need to fill a large gap in fundingand they had to get a loan from local Rural Credit Cooperatives or their relatives. Some people would stuck in the mortgage due to a lack of financial knowledge, which in turn make their lives even worse. Many students’ prarents told the volunteers that once they finished building the walls and roofs, they would seek employment elsewhere instead of proceeding to install the doors and windows.

Home visits

2. School Interviews

During the interviews with new students in school, most of them were shy and grew up in a poor family. Some had to go to school and work in the fields at the same time because they had to take care of their siblings. Most children lived on around RMB10 yuan a week, which covers their breakfasts and other expenses. Although it’s a very small amount of money, almost all children said it’s enough for them. What’s more astonishing, the volunteers learned that many children have been left behind and some have even lost their parents and were now living with their grandparents or other relatives. When incidentally asked about their parents, tears would well up in their eyes, which broke the hearts of the volunteers. No matter how much the volunteers care about those children with heavy burden that they’re prematurely to bear, they could never imagine how they really feel and there’s not much they could do. However, volunteers were still there trying their best to help any way they can, hoping that children would restore their determination to fight for the future.

Interviewing students in school

3. “West · Hope” Visits 2019

On the last day of this activity, a stationery distribution and donation ceremony was held in the Qibainong Primary School. What the volunteers gave to the children was not only several hundred yuan, but the confidence to embrace their life and learning in the future, and the courage that enables them to step out of the isolated mountains to change their own destiny.

Students receiving financial aid

During the activity, the donors brought books and painting books and gave them to the students, hoping they could read more extracurricular books that could broaden their horizons and enrich their extracurricular lives. (During the interviews, the volunteers learned that there’s a lack of teachers and a library. Some class monitors asked the head teacher’s permission to set up a book corner, but the renewal of books was so slow and book reserves are far from satisfactory. When asked about what they need, books are the most frequently-mentioned answer.)

Donors met with the beneficiaries

Apart from Qibainong Primary School, the volunteers also interviewed some students and visited their homes. They’re from Guangming Primary School, Nongtuo Primary School, Nongchen Primary School, Nongjing Primary School, Gecong Primary School. They again interviewed those students who had entered Dahua High School, Dahu No. 2 High School and Dahua No. 5 High School. When the volunteers learned that those once financially aided students started a new life in new schools, they got a deeper understanding of the meaning and value of 4TREES activities. It would inspire them to regard what they’re doing as a lifelong career.

4TREES on the way

4. The Volunteers’ experience and reflection

Through the interviews and visits, what touches them the most is the children’s lack of time with their parents and they have to shoulder financial burden put on their familes and work prematurely, which some of them may even have to abandon their education. Over the past eight years, 4TREES has been committed to preventing dropout. We hope what we’re doing can really ease their burden so that they can enjoy their beautiful youth, have a light-hearted childhood and complete the nine-year compulsory education. Every time when we see the children play on the playground with smile on their face, deep down in our hearts we know that 4TREES should never stop moving ahead.

It’s good to have 4TREES in 2019

Tongji MBA 4TREES Tongji MBA 4TREES, a non-profit organization initiated by the MBA students at Tongji University, consists mostly of MBA students and alumni. It upholds the principles of “Love Family, Love Life, Love Philanthropy, and Love Nature”, by providing a charity-oriented platform where all MBAer in Shanghai can communicate with each other. By organizing charity activities dedicated to education, orphanage and children with autism and cooperating with other groups on similar projects, it aims to create an enabling environment where people can get involved in those activities and evoke MBAer’s sense of responsibility. At the same time, it has carried out extensive cooperation with other universities and social welfare organizations to establish a public welfare exchange platform for the MBA group.