North American Chinese Educational Foundation
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NACEF ProfileNorth American Chinese Educational Foundation (NACEF) is a nonprofit public organization incorporated under the Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation Law for charitable purposes. North American Chinese Educational Foundation is exclusively organized for educational and cultural exchange purposes between United States and China within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. The headquarter was started at Stanford University in the spring of 1998. A few students and scholars got together to think of ways that they could play a role in the development of the country of their origin and to promote the cultural exchange between U.S. and China. These young people shared the belief that education is a critical requisite and an effective catalyst for social and economic development between those two great countries. The first project, China Hope Project, which supports school dropouts in China's poverty-stricken area became the agenda for the action group that emerged from this gathering. The group was named NACEF represent the hope that had brought these individuals together and the hope that they aimed to bring into the lives of children in China. For this first project, NACEF have brought over 33 Chinese Students and Scholars Associations together in all major universities including Stanford, UC Berkeley, Caltech, Harvard, MIT, Yale, Columbia, Duke, University of Toronto as well as many Chinese community organizations to sign up for China Hope Project, the most influential public event in China in the 1990s. The China Youth Developmental Foundation (CYDF) has recognized NACEF as a sole cooperator in North America for China Hope Project. The effort has been continually spread out among Chinese communities today. Since then, NACEF have expanded its activities in promoting international understanding through cultural exchange, community service and volunteering education in many area, NACEF is proud of our dedicated people in promoting our exchange programs. B. Specific Purposes of the Organization North American Chinese Educational Foundation (NACEF) is organized to promote and support education and cultural exchange between the U.S. and China. Specifically, it will (1) raise funds to support primary schools and their students in China's poverty-stricken areas; (2) set up student exchange programs for college students between the U.S. and China; (3) help American corporations set up scholarships in qualified Chinese universities; and (4) support Chinese-American community educational programs in the U.S.
The Project Hope Mission Project Hope is a non-profit charity program founded by the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF) in October 1989. Its mission is to raise much-needed funds to provide children in China’s poverty-stricken areas with the opportunity for education. Contributions by Chinese and foreign institutions and individuals are currently allocated to five main areas:
PROJECT HOPE
Challenges for China’s Education With a population of 1.2 billion, China today is facing tremendous challenges in educating its people, particularly children in underprivileged rural areas. In 1996 approximately 136 million primary school students started their primary education. Although 98.8% of China’s youths began their elementary education, more than one million primary school students were forced to drop-out or never had the opportunity to attend school because of poverty each year. Most families who can not afford to send their children to school are among China’s 58 million people whose average net income is only serveral hundred RMB per year, far below the national rural average of 1578 RMB. Although the government allocates 236 RMB per primary school student annually, this is barely enough to cover management fees and teaching wages, let alone the cost of basic teaching aids and materials for students. As a result, families are often asked to pay more than 100 RMB per year to buy texts and exercise books for each child. For many poor families who make less than 460 RMB annually, sending children to school is often too much of a financial burden. For those children fortunate enough to attend primary schools, they are faded with poor facilities, and a shortage of books and appropriate materials. More than 7.7 million square meters of classrooms in China’s countryside are in need of major repairs; and even worse, some villages hold classes outdoors because they lack the funding to build a proper school. China’s Illiteracy Rate There are 200-300 millions people have been found illiterate in China
*** A Survey Report of Real Situation of Elementary Education in Rural Areas of Poverty-stricked ProvincesTraining China’s Future Generations by Beijing Review's Staff Reporter Ma Baolin On the first day of the fall term last year, Nan Xin, a 10-year old ace student at the Hope Elementary School of Jinzhai County, Anhui Province, was absent from school. Her teacher, Wen I-Iui, immediately knew that Miss Nan was to become another drop-out. That evening, Wen tracked down the mountain trail to visit Nan’s home, a two-room mud- brick hut that could hardly house the family of seven. Nan’s father, a former village doctor, was resting in bed, close to death. He had suffered from lung cancer for more than two years, leaving the family with a debt of almost 5,000 yuan. Nan’s mother, the only bread earner in the family, had to do all the work on the family farm. Nan has three younger sisters and an ailing grandmother. As the eldest child, Nan Xin had no choice but to help around in the house and in the fields. For her, going to school had been her most treasured experience, and finally became an unaffordable luxury.
When her teacher appeared at the door, Nan burst into tears. She told Wen that she could no longer go to school because the family could not pay the 60 yuan (US$10) annual school fees. “I want to go to school,” she said. “But my family is too poor.” Wen was obviously struck by the plight of the little girl. She asked Nan to go back to school and promised to pay the school fees for her. The next day, Nan was back at school. Since last fall, the fourth grader has remained one of the top five students in her class. She is always the first to arrive at school and often cleans the classroom before her classmates begin to trickle in. She seldom eats breakfast. Her teachers say it is a wonder that Nan Xin has stayed in school at all. Hope
Project It would have been ironic if Nan had dropped out of the Hope Elementary School, which was named after the “hope project” founded by the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF) in 1989 to help children like Nan Xin stay in school. In Nanxi, the small town in which the school is located, local residents take great pride in the school because it was the first hope elementary school built in the country. Formerly known as the Nanxi Elementary School, it was rebuilt, refurnished and renamed in 1990 with 40,000 yuan in donations from the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF), an organization set up three years ago by the youth league to collect donations for the hope project. Since its establishment, the hope project has won widespread support from Chinese citizens, who have generously donated money, clothing and school supplies to help poor children in rural areas stay in or go back to school. The setting up of the project indicates that the Chinese authorities have finally come to terms with realities in the countryside, where life is still difficult, and, for many young children, going to school is economically infeasible. In China’s vast rural areas, especially its poverty-stricken mountainous regions, many farmers have almost no income other than rice, wheat and corn. Some families raise pigs and chickens, which they sell for a little cash to buy salt, clothes and other daily necessities. Without spare money, many parents keep their children at home because of an inability to pay school fees, which for elementary students usually range between 60 and 80 yuan, or less than US$15. per year.
Recent statistics show that, at present, there are more than 30 million school-aged children, ages 6 to 14, who have either never gone to school or dropped out of school before completing an elementary education. These children are quickly joining the existing 220 million illiterates in China. Despite a consensus that education is of primary importance in China’s modernization drive and notwithstanding the well- known stereotype of traditional Chinese reverence for learning, the government’s allocation for education, as a proportion of the entire state budget, has been very low. Out of 149 nations surveyed by the UNESCO in the late 1980’s, China ranked 130th in the proportion of Gross National Product that it allocated for education. The picture becomes more gloomy when the country’s 1.3 billion-strong population is taken into account. According to statistics, per capita educational spending in China is about 40 yuan (US$7) a year, which ranks next to last in the world. Moreover, school facilities are maintained at a minimal level. Some elementary schools in the countryside consist of mud-brick houses built years, decades, or centuries ago. Lacking basic maintenance, many schools are falling apart. In the Mahe Elementary School in Jinzhai County, students attend classes in a 350-year-old ancestral temple. As in many other schools, the desks are made of piles of mud bricks. In some schools, the students have to bring their own stools.
To help solve the problem, China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF), the highest ranking youth organization in China, launched the hope project. Its aim was to send millions of young children, who cannot alone afford the related costs, to school. With donations from individual donors, mostly urban residents, the CYDF offers annual scholarships of 40 yuan to children who cannot go to school for financial reasons. The money covers only basic school fees, excluding books and other supplies, which students have to buy for themselves. Once awarded, scholarships last for 5 years, or until the recipient graduates frcm elementary school. The CYDF has also built 17 hope elementary schools in the county try to replace buildings that are falling apart. A Distant Dream
Yet the number of children who have benefited from the scholarship programme is extremely limited compared with the number of dropouts or potential dropouts who need help. In the Dabie Mountains, which cover the three bordering provinces of Hubei, Henan and Anhui in central China, thousands of children cannot afford to attend school, even though the CYDF has already awarded 2,500 scholarships in the area. The Dabie Mountains region is among the least developed areas of the country today. Children there regard going to school as a hard-won privilege. Chen Congmei, a 13-year-old girl in Dianming Village, Hongan County, dropped out of school after four years of study at the Dianming Elementary School. Her teachers tried to persuade her to return to school by visiting her family on three occasions, but failed to bring their best student back. Chen’s father said it was already difficult for his family of five to subsist while keeping Chen’s younger brother in school. Asked whether he would send his daughter back to school if she were awarded a scholarship, the father replied affirmatively without hesitation. Chen is now waiting for a
chance. But for Zou Zilan, an 11-year- old girl in Baishuwan Village, going to school may be an unattainable goal. Zou did go to school once, for only four months. She dropped out after her mother died three years ago. Zou’s father did everything he could to feed his four children. Now that Zou Zilan, the eldest daughter, is 11, she has learned to do various types of farm work, including transplanting rice shoots and harvesting grain. In the meantime, she baby-sits her younger brother. Chen and Zou are among the 213 children in Dianming Township who do not attend school. In 1990, 40 dropouts returned to school after receiving scholarships from the CYDF. Zou Mingyuan, the township mayor, said that for children in poor families, the hope project is like “sending in charcoal in a time of snow.” “But it is not enough,” he noted. “We hope it will continue. Although the hope project has been conducted on a national scale, so far it has enabled only a tiny proportion of dropouts to return to school. In counties the project has not reached, the situation can be appalling. In Chenjiashan Village, Macheng County, 20 out of 28 children between the ages 6 and 15 have dropped out of school. This mountainous village of 154 residents has been hit by droughts for two years. Villagers there have only survived on relief funds and grain subsidies from the state. Without enough food and clothing, going to school is simply out of the question. Li Qinghua, a 12-year-old girl in neighbouring Lijia Village, never went to school. Lacking the shyness that possesses most rural children in front of strangers, Li said in a loud voice, “I want to go to school. I don’t want to be a cowherd.” Both of her parents are afflicted by the Down’s syndrome, a disease that is common in the entire Dabie Mountains area. But Li is cute and clever, although she shows obvious sign of malnutrition. She coughs almost endlessly, but has never seen a doctor or taken any medicine. Her relatives are afraid that she has been afflicted with pneumonia. Like Li, almost all dropouts interviewed say they want to return to school. In Muzidian, a small mountainous town of Macheng County, most of the dropouts are girls. They are victims not only of poverty, but also of the traditional and outdated Chinese notion that men are superior to women. Many parents send their sons to school while keeping their daughters at home to do housework. Xu Guiying, 13, dropped out after three years at school. She is now a cowherd at home while her two twin brothers continue their studies. Xu used to be an excellent student, but when her parents asked her to quit, she complied. Despite seven visits from her teachers, Xu’s parents say they cannot afford school fees for all three children. Yet Xu has never given up on study. Every evening, she reads at home under the dim light of an oil lamp. She hopes that someday she will go back to the classroom.
The Purpose of Learning Xu was reluctant to answer why she wanted to go back to school. Her former teachers answered the question for her. Children in this mountainous region who long to study have a hidden dream in their mind, that someday they will enter a college and leave their poverty-stricken homes for a better life. For most rural students, the ultimate purpose of learning is to pass a national examination and enroll in a college or university. Only then can they abandon their agricultural roots for the cultural luxuries of the city. Local residents call this “jumping out of the country gate.” However, not many people succeed in passing the highly competitive exam. Every year some three million high school graduates take part in the national university entrance examination. Twenty percent of them are actually enrolled. But for students in rural areas, the percentage is much smaller due to the lower quality of their elementary and middle schools. Given the fierce competition, students have to study under enormous pressure. Their parents, relatives and teachers all have high expectations of them. In the Dabie Mountains, many students with poor scores choose to quit school, or are urged to quit by their parents, who regard staying in school as a waste of money if there is no realistic hope of entering college. They would rather have their children learn to do farm work and start earning their keep at an early age. In their eyes, it is enough for their children to be able to write their own names. Today, most farmers above the age of 50 in the Dabie Mountains are illiterate or semi-illiterate. For those who have never stepped out of their mountain hamlet to see the outside world, life goes on without the benefit of an education. Children in such families usually face an uphill battle with their parents and grandparents if they want to go to school. Dai Manju, a 15-year- old girl whose dream is to enter college and become a teacher, has made an arduous journey to the Luomeihe Middle School. Before attending junior high, Miss Dai dropped out of Yejuao Elementary School several times. Dai’s grandmother ardently believes that going to school is useless and forced her granddaughter to drop out. The plan only failed when Miss Dai’s teachers interfered with several family visits. However, Miss Dai has her own reason to quit. Her family is poor even by local standard. Her parents are unable to pay school fees for her or provide her with rice and other basic necessities. One day Miss Dai was jeered by fellow students when she asked to share a classmate’s quilt. Humiliated, she left school. Her teacher, Zhang Chunxiu, found her at home and dragged her back to school. Dai said her family was too poor and that she had better quit school. But Zhang would not let her go. She offered to pay school fees for her pupil, and Dai finally stayed. Two years ago, Dai’s fortunes started to change due to a miracle of errors. Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times’ Beijing correspondent, interviewed Miss Dai at Yejuao and wrote an article on the plight of impoverished students and dropouts. The piece prompted a number of readers to send checks, ranging from US$13 to US$100, to help Miss Dai and her classmates slay in school. With donations from the United States, Dai was able to get through elementary school
and enter junior high. However, not all donations went to Miss Dai herself. The biggest sum, US$10,000, was utilized by the local government to build a new elementary school - the Hope Elementary School of Luotian County. Local residents were amazed that an American could be generous enough to donate US$10,000, which is equivalent to almost 200 years’ income for a local peasant. As a matter of fact, the US$10,000 donation was the result of a clerical error by an American bank that processed a US$100 contribution by check to Dai. A bank clerk made a mistake with the decimal point in the exchange rate between the dollar and the Chinese yuan and sent US$10,000 worth of yuan instead of US$100. Later a bank spokesman said the bank would not reclaim the extra US$9,900 it sent and that they were happy to make a donation of the difference. With that money, plus a 100,000 yuan donation from the Stone Corporation, China’s foremost computer company, and a 70,000 yuan investment from the Hubei provincial government, local authorities and villagers were able to complete the school last year to replace the dilapidated Yellow Mud Elementary School. Today students have moved into the new school and no longer have to worry that their classrooms might fall apart.
Wu Xirnei, a 39-year-old mother of three, is almost as lucky. Widowed eight years ago, Wu has done farm work regarded as suitable only for men in order to raise her three children. With a debt of 4,000 yuan, the family lives in sheer poverty. They never use cooking oil, which they produce but sell for cash. “All I do is for my children,” Wu said. “I can endure hardships, but I can’t keep my kids out of school.” Wu sent all three children to school and never owed a penny of school fees. When they were studying at the elementary school, the cost was minimal. Now that her two daughters, Zheng Hongjiao, 17, and Zheng Hongyan, 15, are both studying at junior high, the cost has increased substantially. And her son, Zheng Jun, 13, is expected to enter junior high this fall. “As long as they study hard,” said Wu, “I will keep them in school even if I have to continue borrowing.” But Wu doesn’t have to worry about borrowing money any more. Last year a group of People’s Liberation Army soldiers spent several months in Wu’s home town, the Matishan Village, doing an investigation. The soldiers learned of Wu’s situation from other villagers. Later Wu began to receive a money order of 20 yuan every month from someone named “Lei Xiang.” Wu had no idea where the money came from. She reported the case to local authorities, who in turn traced the benefactor for Wu. It turned out that “Lei Xiang” was a soldier’s pseudonym, which translates as “fellow villager of Lei Feng.” Lei Feng was a heroic, selfless figure in the 1960’s whom the Party urged the people to emulate. Last spring, the story was reported by the national press. From then on, more and more money orders have been sent to Wu, who in turn writes “letters of thanks” to every contributor. Among the people who have sent money to Wu are “Lei You,” or friend of Lei Feng, and “Ai Xin,” or loving hearts. Country Teachers While students in the Dabie Mountains have received aid from across the country and the world, the most direct help comes from their teachers. Many students have returned to school and/or stayed in school only after their teachers promised to pay school fees for them. In Luomeihe Township alone, a total amount of 163,679 yuan in school fees were paid by the teachers in the past 10 years. Most of the money has been repaid. But for students who were unable to pay the money back, the teachers have simply made a donation. When these young teachers first came to Luomeihe 10 years ago, most were still teenagers who had just graduated from colleges. Many of them shared backgrounds similar to those of the students they taught. They were the sons and daughters of farmers, and were determined to give every child in the township an opportunity to go to school, which they soon found was a difficult task. Luomeihe is one of the poorest townships in
the Dabie Mountains, with an annual per-capita income of only 160 yuan (US$25).
Many peasants still suffer from insufficient food and clothing. And a large
number of children cannot afford to go to
school.
In order to lower the rate of nonattendance, teachers visit the family of every school-aged child several times a year. Before the beginning of each term, the teachers go to students’ homes to remind parents of the school’s opening. After school begins, they go back to the families of those who did not come to school. Many times they are told that because the family is poor, the child should stay home to become a cowherd. At this point, the teachers explain at great length all the reasons the child should go to school and, as a last resort, promise to pay school fees for the child. The parents usually give in and promise to let their children go to school. But sometimes they do not follow through on their word. Zhu Dongming, principal of the Hope Elementary School of Luotian County, has taught in Luomeihe for 10 years. During that period, Zhu has paid more than 5,000 yuan in school fees on behalf of his students. Only 4,000 yuan was repaid. As the principal, Zhu draws a salary of 130 yuan a month, which is one of the highest wage levels in the school. “It is a sacrifice only to stay here,” Zhu said, referring to the hardship of life in the poor mountains. For 10 years, Zhu has personally persuaded 250 parents to send their children to school. It is not clear how many hundreds of miles he has walked over that period. Admittedly not every family visit has been successful. Once the father of a student told Zhu that he would let his son go to school only if Zhu or some other teacher served as a cowherd for the family. For the peasant, the logic was simple. Zhu admitted that it is too much of a burden for the teachers to pay school fees for every student. “This kind of thing cannot last long,” he said. “There will be a day when we teachers are unable to bear such a burden.” Zhu is already owed 800 yuan. Zhu’s own home town is much better off than Luomeihe. And he could have left the forsaken backwardness of the village. Five years ago, his girlfriend found a job for him in Macheng city and invited him to join her there. In China, this would be an opportunity too good for almost any country teacher to squander. But Zhu passed up the new job and stayed. “If we all leave, who will take care of the children here,” he said. He asked his girlfriend to settle down with him in Luomeihe, but she refused. Eventually she abandoned Zhu. But Zhu said he has more important things to worry about. He has an ambitious plan to make his school self-sufficient by engaging the students in a work-study programme. He has applied for a piece of land near the school, which he will use to open a school-operated tea farm. “If everything works out,” he said, “by 1995 we will make enough money to exempt all students from any school costs.”*** BEIJING REVIEW, August 24-30, 1992
Hope For China’s Future----Achievements in the Past Eight Years In addition to the Hope Mini-library Series, Project Hope
donations from 1989 to 2000 have:
Levels of Sponsorship Project Hope and the China Youth Development Foundation appeal to individuals and institutions to continue their support of Chinas children. North American Chinese Educational Foundation(NACEF) is estalished to facilitate your support to CHINA PROJECT HOPE in North America, NACEF currently is a section 501©(3) charitable organization dedicated to the purpose of public education. Accordingly, your donation to North American Chinese Educational Foundation is tax deductible. We welcome contributions in any of the following categories: A. Sponsor a student &. the planting of a cherry tree: A donation of US$70 will cover the cost of books for a child to complete the primary education and the cost of planting a cherry in the Lucheng International Garden of Hope. Every donor will be presented a donation certificate which gives the number and the coordinate of the tree. The donor will be provided with the personal files of the aided child and may correspond with him or her. B. Sponsor a Hope Mini-library Series: A donation of US$ 400 can furnish one Series which contains 500 books to a village school. In turn the donor will be remembered by students by the inscription of the donor’s name on every volume of the set. C. Sponsor a student: A US$ 50 will cover the cost of books and supplies through his or her elementary schooling. Donors may obtain the basic information of the child and correspond with him or her throughout the student’s career. D. Sponsor renovating a school: A donation of US$ 12,200 will cover the costs of renovating and refurbishing a school. The school thereafter will have a monument erected to commemorate the donor. E. Sponsor the building of a Hope school: A donation of $US 24,400) will cover the costs of building and furnishing a school with modem facilities. Donors may specify the village they wish a school to be built. The school in turn will be named after the individual or institutional contributor.
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Contact InformationNorth American Chinese Educational Foundation(NACEF) is a section 501©(3) charitable organization dedicated to the purpose of public education. Accordingly, your donation to North American Chinese Educational Foundation is tax deductible, If you have any question, please contact us through address bellow.
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North America Chinese Educational Foundation
: Hope Project progress
