On Saturday Shanghai Pudong's Da Bie Shan Primary School for
migrant workers' children will enjoy a Christmas party quite unlike
anything the kids have ever seen. More than 500 students, each with
a parent, and some 60 teachers and volunteer helpers will enjoy a
bountiful spread and a whole heap of festive fun.
Santa Claus will be present but, don't tell the kids, Santa will
actually be Robert Epstone, chairman of the Shanghai Leeds
University Alumni and one of the key people behind the event.
"It's going to be an amazing party, there will be a magician,
clowns, face painting and we've even managed to get two enormous
Christmas trees," says Epstone, a clothing and fashion guru who has
lived in Shanghai for seven years.
The alumni group, which officially formed in March, started to
get involved with the migrants' school in the summer.
"Back then the school was in an appalling state, it was really
run down," says the charismatic Northerner and head of the SLUA
which has a powerful network of 350 Chinese and 30 Western alumni.
"Now Da Bie Shan really isn't the same place at all."
What began as volunteer English teaching at the school quickly
developed into a full refurbishment project with alumni donating
money, equipment and time that have literally transformed the
previously decrepit school.
"It just goes to show what can be done," says Epstone. "I love
going there, I always come away with a big smile on my face, this
whole experience has been intensely gratifying."
The parents of the pupils at Da Bie Shan Primary School are low
paid migrant workers, the teachers at the school are also low paid,
and educational standards are accordingly not the highest. Classes
of 50 are the norm. Through the efforts of Epstone and the SLUA,
the school now has a computer suite, a fully functioning modern
science lab, much improved furniture, curtains and even just
properly painted classrooms.
Ye Binghui, the school's head teacher, is very much looking forward
to the party. "This will be the first Christmas experience for
these children. They have a lot more difficulties than other
children so they need more love and support from society. This
party will provide them with a sweet memory."
Lilly Shi studied International Communications at Leeds and she
has been coordinating the 26 volunteer teachers who go out to Da
Bie Shan every Saturday morning.
"The kids are very keen to learn, they always raise their hands.
They are very happy to get the chance to study English. They
understand that their future prospects will be hugely improved by
being able to speak English," says Shi who now works for a British
consulting company. "These kids are among the most vulnerable in
society, they deserve the right to a good education and to enjoy
their childhood. It's worth the early start just to see the kids'
smiles. I'm glad we are able to help but we could do with more
volunteers."
Sponsors of Saturday's party include Gusto Fine Foods, Sherpas,
Element Fresh, Paul, the Portman Ritz-Carlton, the Shanghai Pie
Company and T8. Cooking the lunch will be T8's very own executive
chef Patrick Dang.
Gusto Fine Foods' dynamic young Managing Director James
Westwood, another Leeds' alumni, is supplying much of the raw
materials for the meal, he says: "We're going to be serving good,
healthy and hearty food. We figured it'd be silly to serve the kids
our idea of a Christmas meal so we'll be cooking a paired down
simple version that's been specially designed so the kids will
really enjoy it. We've got 200 baguettes and 1,000 sweets from
Paul, 600 pies from the Shanghai Pie Company and Element Fresh are
providing 60 staff and loads of useful stuff like napkins."
Vice Chairman of the SLUA, James Shen, studied at Leeds in the late
1980s. Originally from a poor farming community in neighboring
Jiangsu Province, Shen now works for a US biotech company. He
understands better than most the value of education.
"Without a proper education these already disadvantaged kids are
further disadvantaged. Through our efforts we hope that these
migrant kids can compete from the same starting line with kids from
Shanghai," he says. "These kids are smart, they don't have any
problem with math and Chinese."
In the future the SLUA hopes to improve the school playground,
provide more books, computers, art supplies, music facilities and
teacher office facilities.
(Shanghai Daily December 19, 2007)