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News from around VSO > China
Life and work of VSO volunteers in China shown on the Central TV station
7 February 2007
Paul Hider and Lesley Tidmarsh, two VSO-China volunteers were the subjects of a live TV programme on China’s Central TV Station just before the New Year. The programme was available to an audience of more than one billion Chinese people and was therefore an excellent opportunity to promote VSO’s profile in China and to popularize the spirit of volunteerism.
Paul Hider came to work in China in the summer of 2005 and worked as a teacher trainer to help the English teachers in middle schools in Yiliang County, Yunnan Province—a very remote and poor area in China. In the summer of 2006, Paul went to work in Jiangcheng County, another remote area in the province, and has been working there till now. Paul focused his training on the New English Curriculum, which gave trainees a badly-needed opportunity to improve their teaching methods. Paul also facilitated regular short-term courses, which enabled participants to be trained without actually leaving their posts—in fact the only way for them to receive this training. Paul’s training was very successful and he became very popular in the areas in which he worked.
Lesley Tidmarsh came to work as an English Teacher in Simao Teachers School in Yunnan Province with her husband and two children. Lesley and her family adapted to life in the remote area quickly and got along very well with local people, making many friends there. Lesley’s teaching was highly appreciated by her students and she also tried hard to help her colleagues to improve their capacity by co-teaching—i.e. to teach alongside her Chinese colleagues, passing her skills to the latter so that her work will be sustained after she leaves the project.
New funding for improving English language teaching
(1 February 2005)
VSO has secured a second year of funding from JP Morgan Chase to improve the teaching of English in rural middle and primary schools in China's poorest provinces.
The Chinese Government has identified English as a priority subject, crucial for school leavers' employment opportunities. The funding will support a volunteer to work with colleagues on teaching methodology, as well as on improving the skills and confidence of the teachers in English.
Spreading the Dandelion Seeds
(14 January 2005)
As part of its efforts to combat the increasing levels of HIV and AIDS in China, in May 2004 VSO organised a workshop to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS and enable participants to pass on what they had learned.
Students and teachers from 15 teacher training colleges in the eight provinces where VSO works joined volunteers to discuss ways of sharing learning on self-protection. The Dandelion Project aims to spread this knowledge like the seeds of the plant.
One way to do this is through the latest VSO China Newsletter where you can read testimonies from workshop participants as well as more information about the project and other VSO work in China. For a copy of the newsletter (in English and Mandarin) please e-mail melinda.chaudhry@vso.org.uk.
Kofi Annan wearing VSO-developed AIDS ribbon during visit to China
(4 November 2004)
During his recent meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was photographed in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing wearing one of the 2,500 Chinese red AIDS ribbons made by VSO volunteers in Guiyang college in Guizhou province. Annan said that he was glad to see that the Chinese Government has earnestly launched a campaign to fight against AIDS. VSO China's HIV and AIDS programme also helped distribute the ribbons, woven in the style of a Chinese good luck charm, in many provinces. The programme aims to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS and combat stigma. Find out more about VSO's work on HIV and AIDS in China.
VSO volunteer presented with State Friendship Award
(18 October 2004)
Moira Laidlaw, a volunteer advisor to the Centre for Action Research for Foreign Language Study at Guyuan Teacher's College in Ningxia has been awarded one of the annual State Friendship Awards. These are given to foreigners in the areas of education, social development, civil engineering and ethical business-management.
SARS
(5 January 2004)
On Monday 5 January World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed a case of SARS in a 32-year-old man in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. This is the first confirmed case of SARS in 2004, and the first case not linked to a laboratory accident that has occurred since the initial outbreak of SARS was declared contained on 5 July 2003. Following the initial outbreak, VSO China volunteers returned to China (none are placed in Guangdong) during August and September 2003.
We are confident that this isolated case does not pose any threat to the health of our volunteers and although our office in Beijing will be monitoring developments closely we do not anticipate the need to take any further action.
More informationHIV and AIDS - opening the doors for discussion
A recent workshop in Yinchuan, attended by volunteers and partners from Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai and Xinjiang provinces (including Deans, Co-teachers, and local government officials) looked at how VSO China's work in Education incorporated other development issues, primarily HIV and AIDS, a growing challenge in China. At the workshop two VSO volunteers from South Africa described how they had worked in partnership with the president of Gansu United University in Lanzhou to start raising awareness of HIV and AIDS with the adult in-service English teachers.
Shortly after the workshop, Morten Skovdal of Red Cross Nordic United World College contacted VSO to pass on his thanks for opening up the HIV and AIDS debate in Ningxia Province for his organisation to campaign and raise awareness of HIV and AIDS more widely. Below is Morten's message:
Dear VSO,
I am writing you on behalf of Red Cross Nordic United World College.
We are a group of volunteers sent out by RCNUWC funded by Fredskorpset; the Norwegian Peace Corps. We are working as teachers at the University of Ningxia and additionally work as helpers at orphanages and at a blind school. As the 1st of December is coming up, World Aids Day, we have been busy organizing a seminar on stigma and stigmatization and making information stands to scatter out in Yinchuan on the day. In the process of organizing this campaign we have been in close contact with government officials of Ningxia. We initially thought we would be denied the right to campaign, as the campaign is not initiated by the government but by foreign individuals.
Today we had a meeting with the government officials, and to our positive surprise, they were fully supporting us. These officials were for two weeks ago at a two-day workshop set up by VSO. These officials were now recognizing the scale of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, thanks to VSO, and were happy for our initiative and willing to help us. We are now setting up a programme for us to go around middle schools in Ningxia and talk about HIV/AIDS, causes and consequences and of course; how to prevent this disease.
On behalf of Fredskorpset and Red Cross Nordic United World College I would like to thank you for your brilliant work. You have opened doors for us to carry out some important work.
Kind regards & many thanks
Morten Skovdal More information
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