• Subscribe
  • Advertise


Welcome to The Charitiarian.

Thanks for dropping by! Feel free to join the discussion by leaving comments, and stay updated by subscribing to the RSS feed.

Rural Teacher Training with British School of Beijing

On February 8, 2012, In BASIC: Brazil, Africa, South America, India, China, Corporate Social Responsibility, Education, By Charitarian

From 5th – 10th December 2011, British School Beijing(BSB) hosted 20 rural teachers from across China for Cultural exchange. Wang Liwei was responsible for managing the Government relations and for selecting the teachers from Chongqing, Shandong and Anhui.  Headmaster Mike Embley(picture 1) made a humorous welcome speech on the first day and then Fred Li, Yimeng Li(picture 3) and I of DLA Piper together with teacher, Val Pearson(picture 2), taught the first three mornings of English lessons. We went through English daily conversations using creative learning methods such as picture drawing, acting, games etc. Fred and Yimeng shared their own English learning experience with the teachers. In the afternoons, teachers were divided into groups, each group having the choice to observe different BSB classes. After class, they played Ping Pang with BSB staff and us. By the end of the program, teachers taught students in BSB a lesson in English. Through 22nd April to 24th April, the group visited the Great Wall, Forbidden City and Olympic Park.

This is the second training program since April 2011. The next one is about to start in April 2012. This project helps the rural teachers to broaden their horizons, receive new and advanced education ideas and gain exposure to different teaching methods. It also helps to balance the education standards between the city and the countryside. One teacher can influence the future of 10,000 rural children.  In the long term,  we hope through the development of the teacher, they can bring back their inspiring experience in Beijing and apply to daily class, so that thousands of thousands rural students can benefit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
2 Comments
Leave A Response

Clare’s Second Report From BMW Buenos Aires Forum

On November 20, 2011, In BASIC: Brazil, Africa, South America, India, China, Corporate Social Responsibility, By Charitarian

Last night I visited a hotel designed by Phillipe Starck. Enclave of manicured well off. This morning I jet-lagged walk at 530 am and saw numerous long-term homeless on street near hotel.

Human rights walk in the morning took us to concentration camps from 70 and 80′s government. Back for lunch and Chairman of BMW talked on commitment of BMW to pro-social products in every continent.

Lunch with incredible social entrepreneurs – my table is “empowering women through sport NGO” uber glamorous fencers from Kuwait; Eco-Muslim founder who works for peer in UK; Head of social responsibility from Luthansa; Singaporean diplomat from India; Magic bus from Mumbai; Two Chinese from Germany; Swede designer; social Dutch architect; and Brazilian businesswoman from Washington. Complex group. Now talks on making poor people part of your business; not part of the social problem.  Workshops this afternoon. Where’s the coffee!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
1 Comments
Leave A Response

Clare’s First Report From Buenos Aires “Third World Young Leaders Forum”

On November 17, 2011, In BASIC: Brazil, Africa, South America, India, China, Corporate Social Responsibility, By Charitarian

I arrived at the Intercontinental in Buenos Aires for the Third World Young Leaders Forum. People were coming in from all over the planet speaking all types of languages. Registration is quite entertaining. There are a number of Chinese delegates, some of whom I know from the NGO sector and some high powered media types. We looked at workshop options for our three day stay.  I signed in for the Human Rights Tour tomorrow morning and workshops in “Technology as a means of helping people achieve democracy in Syria and Egypt” as well as “New trends in philanthropy” which will update me on global trends. I read the list of 100 attendee bios. They are extremely diverse but all involved in an aspect of social entrepreneurship inside or outside their day job. It is hot and the people are very welcoming. Tonight I meet an old university friend who lives here. I cannot wait to learn more about this stunning city.

 

 
0 Comments
Leave A Response

British Ball at Beijing

On November 17, 2011, In BASIC: Brazil, Africa, South America, India, China, Corporate Social Responsibility, Fundraising, By Charitarian

The British Ball Beijing was attended by over 650 people on 12th November at Shangri-La’s Kerry Centre hotel. It was a roaring success with over RMB 200,000 raised for charity. Wang Liwei of Charitarian made a speech on behalf of Wuxun foundation which trains rural teachers and provides equipment of impoverished schools.  Attended by the Ambassador, it was a great evening with a theme of ‘a day at the races’.  Charitarian contributed a picture for the art auction which, with other prizes, raised substantial funds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
0 Comments
Leave A Response

Crisis in Charity Talk by Wang at Bookworm

On November 17, 2011, In BASIC: Brazil, Africa, South America, India, China, Corporate Social Responsibility, Government Social Responsibility, By Charitarian

Crisis in Charity is the common theme in China at the moment.  Sure, some money has gone astray. Guo Meimei, the 20 year old who claimed to be Business General Manger of Red Cross Commerce flaunted her luxury lifestyle on sina microblog. Lu Xingyu, the inexperienced 24 year old executive chairman overseeing a RMB 1.5 Billion  fund at China-Africa Project Hope. Soong Ching Ling Foundation in Henan reportedly made large loans to several companies and converted a charitable construction project into a luxury apartment. But I do not think it is so much a crisis as an evolutionary process.  Charity is quite new in China.  It only really started 7 years ago as the yawning gap between rich and poor became a chasm.

Since then there has been a lot to improve the situation but people still choose to criticize charity because it is one of the weaker departments in government least able to defend itself.  Wang and Carma Elliot (OBE) of China Director
of Half the Sky discussed the hot topic at the Charitarian Launch party in bookworm on 25th October.  Q&A lasted for half an hour with many in the audience impatient for improvement in the infrastructure of charitable checks and balances.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
0 Comments
Leave A Response

Trip to Sichuan earthquake rebuild site

On November 16, 2011, In BASIC: Brazil, Africa, South America, India, China, Corporate Social Responsibility, By Charitarian

On 20th October I went to visit Sichuan with the American Chamber of Commerce and local government.  We visited the site of the earthquake to see the rebuilding projects.  The main contributors to the event were Fedex, Cisco and Mircrosoft.  I was really impressed with the work government had done to build new homes for the affected people.

The stories we heard were very moving and I realized that Corporate Responsibility (CR) was not about the soft stuff but about the roof over people’s head in times of disaster.  The gentleman who showed me round (brown jacket – picture 2) had lost a sister in the Tangshan earthquake (1976) and then survived Sichuan.  He was only 40 but had lived through two of the worst natural disasters ever in China.  We discussed whether it was better to live or die if your family died.  This is not the sort of conversation you have with most people.  I had great admiration for him and the other hardy survivors who seemed so hopeful despite the catastrophe.

Chinese people are very resilient.  Companies should contribute to China in the bad times and not just ‘take’ in the good times if they wish to remain welcome here.







 
1 Comments
Leave A Response

ChinaStan Expands

On September 10, 2010, In BASIC: Brazil, Africa, South America, India, China, By Charitarian

Heads of State from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as delegates from Kyrgyzstan met in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent on 11 June to agree the legal rules for admission to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).  Touted as Asia’s alternative to the European Union, observer nations such as Pakistan and Iran have expressed intentions to join the SCO, which means that the bloc embracing China, Russia and Central Asian nations will possibly expand to South Asia and the Middle East.  Many other countries in the region, including Afghanistan have also asked to join the group.  The expansion of the SCO which covers 60% of the total territories of Euro-Asia includes one quarter of the world’s population. (more…)

Tagged with: •
 
0 Comments
Leave A Response

Military, Mining, & Media

On September 10, 2010, In BASIC: Brazil, Africa, South America, India, China, By Charitarian

Military, mining and media exchanges between China and Africa are taking on new proportions.  Chen Bingde, Chief of General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) visited Namibia, Angola and Tanzania in early June.  It was the first visit by the PLA’s Chief of General Staff to Africa since the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), and reflected the increasing military exchanges between China and Africa.  On May 24, China’s third largest steelmaker Wuhan Iron and Steel Group received approval from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) for two overseas acquisitions which are expected to contribute 2 billion tons of Iron ore deposits from Liberia and Madagascar.  On 17 June, China and African media moguls met to find ways to gain a louder voice on the international stage.  “World news is still largely controlled by Western media and it is difficult for developing countries to be heard”, Wang Chan, Minister of the State Information Office, said at the Seventh Seminar for African Press Officials in Beijing. (more…)

Tagged with: • • •
 
0 Comments
Leave A Response

Chinese tourism props up the industry

On September 10, 2010, In BASIC: Brazil, Africa, South America, India, China, By Charitarian

China overtook France to occupy fourth place last year in the ranking of the world’s top spenders on international tourism, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation said on Wednesday.  Since 2000 China has posted growth of around 22 percent per year in overseas trips, making it the fastest growing market for expenditure on international tourism.  Chinese tourists spent $43.7 billion abroad on hotels, restaurants, shopping etc. in 2009, despite the economic downturn.  As well as expanding their hotels in mainland Chinese tier two cities. Malaysian Chinese owned Shangri-la hotels will also be opening in Paris and London before 2012.  I recently spoke to a member of their Shanghai staff who said we are ‘recruiting bilingual staff in large numbers in anticipation of extensive expansion.’

(more…)

Tagged with: • •
 
0 Comments
Leave A Response

Chinese ‘apartheid’

On September 10, 2010, In BASIC: Brazil, Africa, South America, India, China, By Charitarian

The color of your skin counts in China.  I don’t mean differences in African, Asian or Arian skin tones.  I mean different shades of Han (91.59% of population) skin.  I was at a function recently and one Chinese friend made a joke to another who had been out in the sun saying that he had a ‘peasant tan’.  The fact in China is that if you are from the countryside e.g. poor or work in a manual job (e.g. migrant laborer), your skin is probably darker from being outside.  If you are rich and have an air conditioned office you will look paler.  Women are so obsessed with being white that it is hard to buy face cream without a face-whitening agent.  The discrimination based on color is reinforced by the hukou system.  This is a ‘permanent residence permit’  or local ‘passport’ based on place of birth.  A hukou can change but only if you get the right kind of job or pay certain people the right amount of money.  Still most hukous are registered in people’s hometown.  The hukou determines your right to receive services such as basic health care.  For example rural migrants to Beijing without Beijing hukou did not receive a jab against H1N1 until weeks after other residents (China Daily, May 4 Joseph Christian).  The wrong hukou also precludes you from sending your children to the state schools in Beijing.  Therefore many charities are trying to run schools to cater for migrant workers’ children who are in jeopardy of becoming tomorrow’s illiterate class.  I cannot say the system is wrong, as I am sure the Government has its reasons but I think that NGO’s that are aiming to educate these children should be tolerated if not supported by Government funding.

Tagged with:
 
0 Comments
Leave A Response
« Previous Entries