Hiba charity in action Ⅱ

Kindness is a key Hiba Value. One particularly powerful way to put that value into practice is through charity. Last week, we explained why charity and community outreach are so important in helping our pupils grow to become globally minded citizens of the world. 

▲Click to read "Hiba charity in action"

This week, we are going to share some of the great our pupils, parents, teachers and the wider Hiba Community are doing to make a difference to help others. 

The ‘Elevating People Through Kindness’ programme was launched by the FOH Charity Fund. It supports high-quality charitable programmes to be carried out on campus and provides our pupils with opportunities to make a difference in their community.

The Hiba Organic Farm was the first programme to be subsidised by the FOH Charity Fund. It is an opportunity for pupils to learn what goes into producing the food they eat — from tilling the soil and planting seeds to crop management techniques and ultimately harvesting. They also learn the importance of environmental stewardship.  

This year, the Hiba Organic Farm has become a partnership model combining charitable action with education. It has grown from a small rooftop garden to a real organic farm, and our children are learning how to run it like a social enterprise. Their earnings from selling vegetables will go to a good cause.

As stakeholders, pupils are compelled to reflect and address environmental problems. Additionally, they learn to approach social problems with an enterprising mind. Our pupils also plan to establish a ‘Hiba Commune’, a non-profit group that focuses on sustainable development.

Recently, our pupils invited children from the Fudu School for Children with disabilities to participate together in Hiba sports and cultural activities.

They also visited the Fudu School to experience first-hand their counterparts’ school life. This activity made them gradually build connections.

▲Hiba Academy Shanghai visiting Pudong Fudu School

This programme has yielded mutual benefits for our pupils and their peers at Fudu. Pupils at Fudu have opportunities to learn from Hiba art teachers and interact with our pupils who are eager to share the Hiba experience with them. Likewise, our pupils gain a wider perspective while learning empathy and the Hiba Value of Kindness.

Our youth grant-writing initiative teaches our pupils the value of due diligence in charity work. They investigate and analyse charitable organisations and decide which ones are worthwhile recipients for donations.

This April, our pupils formed a team and started identifying social issues that were important to them.

They narrowed a broad list down to migrant workers; education; culture, art and sports and people with disabilities. They then formally invited charitable organisations to apply for funding.

In nearly two months, they collected 35 funding applications and shortlisted four charities to visit, evaluating and submitting proposals to the council. Eventually, they selected two projects for funding: ‘From the Mountains’ and ‘Support for Migrant Children’.

This programme supports the cultural development of China's ethnic minorities, inviting local craftsman and art teachers to teach children local music, dance, handicrafts, painting, language and writing.

▲Pupils in presentation in the Hiba 

intangible cultural heritage programme 

The Hiba Junior High School grant-writing project will fund the 'From the Mountains' charity's 10th anniversary performance. Several pupils have committed to being coordinators of this event and are even volunteering to perform.

Through these activities, they will get to learn more about China's rich and diverse cultural tapestry as they engage in cultural exchange and cultivate their own creativity.

Migrant children in China live much of their young lives separated from their parents, who live in major cities to earn money that they can remit to their home villages.

This can have a considerable impact on their mental health, which is all the more compounded by the fact that migrant children live in underserved areas.

The Hiba Junior High School grant-writing project is also helping to solve this problem by working to make mental health services more available to these disadvantaged children.  

The Friends of Hiba Charity Fund connects individuals to the community. With their support we are able to make a positive impact on our community.

Charity work is the first step for Hiba pupils in making positive changes in their lives. It builds character while they help to improve the lives of others.