Basketball Empowers 200 Chinese Migrant Girls

Dear ABC Friends and Family,

On the weekend of November 22nd, a total of 622 participants comprised of 411 students, 96 volunteers and staff, and 35 guests gathered to celebrate the TALENT Graduation of children from six migrant schools. The event was a special opportunity for art, basketball, music and dance students to showcase their hard work and achievements to classmates, volunteers, friends, and relatives. Art students displayed their work in an exhibition, and everyone played an interactive game that led to a fuller appreciation of the students’ artwork. Those art students who had several pieces of work displayed felt extremely proud as they introduced their work and explained how they had created it. At Qinghonglan School, an art volunteer designed a special art event, where all participants could experience part of the art program by painting and drawing on a massive canvas on the wall. Music students performed a variety of songs and gave well-rehearsed performances on recorders, melodicas and percussion instruments. Dance students performed dances of different styles including Uighur traditional dance and modern dance. Finally, the activity reached a crescendo as the basketball students took part in a competitive tournament while their classmates cheered on their favorite team from the sidelines. The day ended with an awards ceremony, where the top students, the basketball champions, and the winners of the art game were recognized. Overall, the graduation was a wonderful opportunity to showcase and celebrate 10 weeks of hard work.

One week later, on November 29th, 80 volunteers, ABC staff, DREAM students, and guests gathered at Tsinghua Middle School to celebrate the last event of the TALENT program’s fall semester: the Volunteer Appreciation Event. The evening opened with an introduction from ABC staff and participants watched two videos reflecting on the highlights of the semester. The first was prepared by an ABC staff member, Kate, and the second was a special video of interviews by volunteers prepared by a very gifted music volunteer, Song Mumei. Following this, photo volunteers presented their best work, the achievements of all volunteers were celebrated and special recognition was given to outstanding volunteers. The evening ended with an interactive discussion between Steve, the volunteers, and Tsinghua students, which gave everyone in attendance the opportunity to get an inside look at ABC International. Volunteers gained a real insight into how ABC was founded, how the organization worked and how invaluable volunteers were to the success of ABC. All volunteers agreed this was a fantastic addition to the evening and that it made them feel that they were an important part of the ABC team. Overall, the evening was an enjoyable and meaningful way to reflect on the contributions of all volunteers and the success of the TALENT program’s fall semester. (Content written by Kate Williams)

Regards,

Zadok Huang