Chapter 529 Hope Primary School
After listening to Zheng Guo's statement, Lin Weimin felt heavy-hearted.
He was the one who initiated the China Youth Education Development Foundation and the Hope Project, to which he donated 10 million US dollars. After a vigorous publicity campaign at the end of last year, he thought the foundation would soon become self-sufficient.
Then continue to expand the scale and frequency of charity activities to help more young people in need.
But now it seems that it is not feasible to expect to become fat in one go.
In fact, compared with the foundations established in China in previous years, the China Youth Education Development Foundation and the Hope Project were born with a silver spoon in their mouths. The Chinese Literature Foundation, which also had Lin Weimin participate in fundraising and serve as vice president, had a start-up capital of only a few million Hong Kong dollars that year.
But the situation of the Chinese Literature Foundation is very different from that of the China Youth Education Development Foundation. The initial purpose of the Chinese Literature Foundation was to help literary comrades in difficult circumstances, but its greater purpose was to support the creation, dissemination and reading of domestic literature, and to achieve the goal of flourishing literary creation and improving the quality of national culture.
The purpose of the China Youth Education Development Foundation is to provide domestic young people with a better growth and learning environment so that they can have a better tomorrow.
To put it bluntly, the cultural attributes of the Chinese Literature Foundation are greater than its charitable attributes, but the China Youth Education Development Foundation is different. It is a thorough charitable activity and has a vision of benefiting the entire country.
Therefore, the amount of funds required for the development of the China Youth Education Development Foundation is completely not on the same level as that of the Chinese Literature Foundation.
After pondering for a moment, Lin Weimin agreed to Zheng Guo's request.
A few days later, Lin Weimin and his comrades from the foundation, including Zheng Guo, boarded a train to Ningxia. Also accompanying them were reporters from CCTV, People's Daily, Yanjing Youth Daily and other media outlets.
The name Xihaigu is taken from the first characters of the names of Xiji, Haiyuan and Guyuan counties. It was under the jurisdiction of GS Province in the past few years. After that, the administrative divisions changed several times and finally became the southern mountainous area of Ningxia, covering 9 counties and districts including Yuanzhou District of GY City, Xiji County, Longde County, Pengyang County, Jingyuan County, ZW City, Yanchi County of WZ City, and Hongsibao District.
In 1972, it was identified as one of the least suitable areas for human survival by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. In recent years, Xihaigu has become one of China's regional poverty alleviation and development pilot areas. Together with Dingxi, Hexi Corridor and Xihaigu in GS Province, they are collectively known as China's "Three Wests" and are famous for their poverty.
After more than two days on the road, Lin Weimin and others arrived in Xiji County.
"Oh! Welcome, welcome! A warm welcome!"
As soon as Lin Weimin and his companions got off the car, they were greeted by a cloud of wind and sand. The county leader who came to greet them just said a few words and pulled them into the car without even bothering to say hello.
Looking around from the car, the entire county town is flat, with few tall buildings to be seen. The infrastructure level of the county town may not even catch up with some wealthy towns in the southeast coast.
"Pah, pah, pah! Where does all the sand come from?" On the bus, Xiao Song, a young man from the foundation, complained unintentionally.
The bus that picked up Lin Weimin and his companions was specially dispatched by the Xiji County government. The secretary-general on the bus looked apologetic and said with a smile, "I'm really sorry. This is the weather here. There is a wind every year, from spring to winter, and the wind is mixed with sand and stones from the desert and Gobi."
Everyone looked out of the car window. The sky was dark because of the wind and sand, which made people feel unhappy.
Lin Weimin and his group were arranged to stay at the county guesthouse, and the county arranged for them to have a meal in the evening.
The conditions in the guesthouse were simple. We stayed there for one night, and the Hope Primary School was opened early the next morning.
Xinglong Town is the southernmost town in Xiji County. One of the first 10 Hope Primary Schools of the Hope Project was built here.
The bus bumped along the dirt road for nearly an hour before everyone arrived in the town.
Xinglong Town is called a town, but in fact, apart from the town government and seven institutes and eight stations, it is not much different from an ordinary village.
The car did not stop when it reached Xinglong Town, but continued driving for a few more kilometers before arriving at the village and stopping in front of the school gate with a sign that read "Xiji County Xinglong Town Hope Primary School". The town leaders who had been waiting here since early in the morning immediately came up to say hello.
Not only people from the Lin Weimin Foundation and media reporters came today, but also leaders from governments at all levels and local media reporters.
The first batch of Hope Primary Schools of the Hope Project were established in the three western regions. The governments of each place attached great importance to it. The establishment of Hope Primary Schools in the local area has alleviated the shortage of local educational resources to a certain extent and helped the government solve difficulties.
Moreover, the Hope Project is very ambitious. If it develops smoothly in the future, perhaps more Hope Primary Schools will be built. These leaders cannot ignore it.
A team of dozens of people marched into the newly built Hope Primary School, and people from the town introduced it to everyone.
Xinglong Town is the southernmost town in Xiji County. Its economic development lags behind. There are 32 natural villages in the town, but not that many primary schools. Most of the time, several villages share one primary school.
The operating conditions of each primary school are also very poor. The school buildings were built spontaneously by the villagers in response to the government's call. There are not many students in each school. The local economy is poor, and many families are reluctant to send their children to school.
The Xinglong Town Hope Primary School was chosen after the young staff of the foundation traveled a long way to investigate on site, and was finally located in Yujiawan, where the school building conditions were the worst.
The new Hope Primary School was built next to the original school building. The contrast between the new and old schools, which are right next to each other, is shocking.
"This school is built so well!" A staff member of Xiji County government muttered to himself as he looked around the brand new Hope Primary School.
The new Hope Primary School has two rows of school buildings, one horizontal and one vertical, one in the north and one in the west. The north side has classrooms for students, the west side has teachers' offices, dormitories and canteen, and there are dry toilets on the east side of the school.
The entire school is more than 200 meters square, with a building area of 1,400 square meters, including 12 classrooms, 3 teachers' offices, 6 dormitories, 1 canteen and dry toilets.
"After the completion of our Hope Primary School, children from at least seven or eight surrounding villages will no longer have to worry about going to school. Recently, our school teachers have been going from village to village to promote the benefits of Hope Primary Schools to adults.
Children go to school with free meals, so everyone is willing to send their children to school."
The principal of the school is surnamed Li. He is not yet fifty this year, but his skin is dark and his face is full of wrinkles. It would not be wrong to say that he is in his sixties.
According to him, the original Yujiawan Primary School covered seven or eight surrounding villages, but not many parents sent their children to school. At most, there were only a little over a hundred students in the entire primary school, with an average of less than 20 students in each class.
Moreover, the higher the grade, the fewer students there are in the class, because the children are getting older and older. When they reach a age where they can help with housework and serve as half of the labor force or even the entire labor force, parents will not allow their children to continue their studies.
Now that the Hope Primary School has been built, after publicity, parents know that their children will be provided with meals when they go to school, which can save the family a lot of money each year, so they are not so resistant to sending their children to school.
The school building is new and well built, and can easily accommodate four or five hundred students. Principal Li smiled as he spoke, and the wrinkles on his face became deeper.
Today is the launching ceremony of Hope Primary School. Students gathered in the playground early, looking at the adults walking into the school with curiosity.
The launching ceremony was very simple. It was held in front of the rostrum at the south end of the school playground. Under the organization of the school teachers, Lin Weimin and his group watched the students raise the national flag, and then the leader gave a speech.
At the end, everyone pulled Lin Weimin aside and asked him to say a few words, and Lin Weimin was pulled to the podium by everyone.
"Let us welcome Mr. Lin Weimin, a famous writer in my country and the founder and donor of Project Hope, to give a speech to the students!"
Principal Li introduced Lin Weimin and applauded enthusiastically, and the students below also applauded.
Lin Weimin stood on the podium, looking down at the students. Their faces were tanned black, their clothes were patched, and the expressions on their faces were innocent and ignorant. They might not even have heard of Lin Weimin's name.
Lin Weimin was silent for a moment, then said in a loud voice: "I don't have anything to say. If I must say something, then I would like to borrow a few words from Mr. Liang Qichao: If the youth are wise, the country will be wise; if the youth are rich, the country will be rich; if the youth are strong, the country will be strong; if the youth are independent, the country will be independent; if the youth are free, the country will be free; if the youth are progressive, the country will be progressive; if the youth are better than Europe, the country will be better than Europe; if the youth are more powerful than the earth, the country will be more powerful than the earth."
When Lin Weimin recited this passage, the primary school students did not understand the meaning of it, but the adults present were very moved and their expressions were excited.
Lin Weimin smiled and continued, "Children, you may not understand what these words mean. It doesn't matter, you will understand when you grow up."
After saying this, Lin Weimin returned to his seat, and Principal Li took the lead in applauding again.
After the ceremony, everyone, led by Principal Li, visited the school building, and reporters took photos along the way.
Lin Weimin followed the crowd to visit the school building. It was a brand new school building, brand new desks and chairs, everything was brand new. Principal Li, with his wrinkled face, looked a little younger standing inside.
More than ten reporters came to the scene today, some were invited by the foundation from Yenching University, and some were local reporters. This group of reporters have been busy since the beginning of the ceremony, and now they are interviewing everyone one by one, even the primary school students who are running around are not spared.
After the ceremony, the group of students did not attend classes and ran around the classroom and the playground.
After Principal Li finished the interview with the reporter, he looked around several classrooms and then grabbed a student.
"Where is your teacher Xiao Li?"
"have no idea."
Principal Li asked two more students, and one of them said, "Teacher Li is sleeping in the dormitory!"
The town leader nearby frowned upon hearing this. The Hope Primary School was being launched and so many people came to participate in the event, but the teacher of the school was actually sleeping!
"Principal Li, what's going on?"
Principal Li looked unhappy, but he still explained: "He must be too tired from preparing for today's ceremony. I'll go get him!"
Principal Li said this and walked towards the dormitory, and no one paid any more attention to it.
Unexpectedly, after a while, a fierce quarrel broke out in the dormitory.
"What? What can I do? It's just a few wages, and they don't pay me every year. I might as well starve to death!"
(End of this chapter)
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