During the weekend of January 14-15,

2012, six current teachers and two

alumni of Concordia Leadership Acad-

emy (CLA) met together in Jiangmen,

Guangdong, China to support each

other and to advance the CLA program.

CLA is a leadership and life skills train-

ing program developed by CWEF and

implemented by middle school & high

school teachers at their schools.

The meeting participants came from

Xiangshan High School (Guangdong),

Heshan #1 High School (Guangdong),

and ECNU #3 Middle School (Shanghai).

The Guangdong schools have been

involved in the CLA program for sev-

eral years, and their annual winter

meeting is a time for teachers to come

together, share successes, learn from

one another, and build community. The

two Shanghai teachers, Xie Xinchun &

Yan Yingchun, are launching CLA with

migrant students at their school during

Spring semester 2012. Being new to the

program, it was invaluable for them to be

welcomed into this community of teachers

in Guangdong who see the value of CLA

for their students and wish to share their

knowledge with other educators.

The group discussed the purpose of CLA

and ideas for how to improve evaluation

of the program‟s impact. Teachers also

formed teams to plan sample CLA lessons

and together they demonstrated these

lessons to the rest of the participants,

followed by discussion and suggestions for

improvement.

We were also very pleased to have two

alumni of CLA come back to join the

meeting. Jenny Xu and Ocean He are

former CLA participants at Xiangshan

High School. Both are currently attending

university and plan to become teachers

themselves.

Build Community to Serve Youth

Improving Lives Through Education and

Service

S P R I N G 2 0 1 2 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2

Chen Ming talks with participants

Improving Lives Through

Education and Service

Dolphin Liu leads discussion

P A G E 2

Clean Water in Cambodia

Community Health Education In the last six months, 20 vil-

lage volunteers shared what

they have learned through

giving training to 1,205 Chi-

nese villagers in basic health

concepts following the meth-

ods of the Community Health

Education (CHE) program.

Starting six months ago,

CWEF staff trained 20 villagers

in CHE concepts. Since their

first training, those trainers

have led an additional 33 train-

ing sessions.

Long is 35 years old. He is a

villager in one of the villages

where CWEF trained local

CHE teachers. He has four

people in his family, including

his wife, son (3 years old) and

daughter (9 years old). His

daughter studies in primary

school. She goes to school on

Sundays and returns to the

village on Fridays after her

classes complete. The govern-

ment school in his village area

is too far away for her to

travel there and back each day

for class, so she boards at the

school during the week. Last

year their family income for

the year was 8000RMB

(US$1250, or 85¢/day each).

Their family has been fortu-

nate that they have not had

serious illnesses. Long‟s family

participated in the CHE train-

ings given during the fall. Since

the training, his family mem-

bers now all brush their teeth

every day. CWEF will continue

to encourage the local trainers

in all of the health topics as

well as monitor the village

situations to look for longer

term changed habits and im-

proved health and sanitation

conditions.

A filter unit lasts 2 to 4 years

before it needs replacement.

It filters out harmful bacteria,

viruses, and chemical compo-

nents. RDI manufactures, sup-

plies and teaches about the use

of their filters, but they aren‟t

able to reach every town and

village.

Last month CWEF distributed

40 filters to Bos Pul in north-

ern Cambodia and this month

40 filters will be given to more

families in the same area. Vol-

unteers participating in service

learning events are trained to

distribute and educate families

about the filters. The volun-

teers teach in groups of two,

with the help of translators, to

small groups of villagers con-

sisting of 7 to 10 people.

For many, clean water is the

difference between sickness

and health, working or staying

In a country that floods annu-

ally during the rainy season,

Cambodia‟s amount of water

available is not always a prob-

lem. The problem for many

rural communities is the

cleanliness of their

water. CWEF sup-

ports rural communi-

ties through a part-

nership with Re-

source Development

International to meet

a need for clean wa-

ter.

RDI is a Christian

organization that has

developed a water

filter unit for families.

The device consists of a plastic

container, a clay pot, one plas-

tic O-ring, a spigot, a scrub

brush for cleaning, and a plastic

lid. All components are spe-

cially designed for the purpose

of cleanliness and efficiency.

I M P R O V I N G L I V E S T H R O U G H E D U C A T I O N A N D S E R V I C E

home, sanitation or filth.

CWEF plans to continue dis-

tributing filters and educating

about clean water use, striving

to serve the great need in

Cambodia.

Distribution of water filters in Bos Pul

Distribution of water filters in Bos Pul

P A G E 3

CWEF Thanks “Giving Back” Volunteers

Yunnan Introduces: Cai Long CWEF welcomes Cai Long to

our Yunnan office as health

manager. Cai Long‟s focus at

university was Joint Traditional

Chinese Medicine and West-

ern Medicine.

Cai Long previously worked

for Red Cross Society and

Save the Children (UK) for 8

years running health related

projects in the areas of HIV/

AIDS prevention and commu-

nity health.

Cai Long says, “I am very

happy to work with colleagues

in CWEF. My slogan is „share

experiences and learn from

each other‟. Facing the young

and little dirty faces in Kun-

ming I realized, maybe the

meaning of my job is to help

open a window, put the win-

dow in front of the villagers,

and let them have the oppor-

tunity to choose another life

style, and their life will be

changed at that time. From

then, they need not suffer

from lack of basic knowledge

and skills.”

CWEF is very excited for Cai

Long to apply his expertise to

programs such as HEAL and

CHE. Please join us in wel-

coming him to the team.

with us in those areas. Some

times these volunteers are

already familiar with us

through participation in our

short-term events. But, volun-

teers also learn about CWEF

and our mission through the

internet. Last summer we

were blessed to have four

volunteers serve with us for

one month. All four were stu-

dents finishing their MBA pro-

gram through the highly re-

garded Vlerick Leuven Gent

Management School. This MBA

program integrates a "Giving

Back" program as part of its

corporate social responsibility

coursework. All students in

the program seek out a non-

profit agency through which

they can complete a project

relevant to their interests.

These four students spent a

month in our Kunming office.

They reviewed our current

Many of you have served with

CWEF through one of our

short-term service learning

trips. A majority of CWEF's

volunteers share their talents

with us through those special

programs on location in one of

our partner communities.

CWEF also has special needs

as an organization related to

our communication and

administration functions. We

are blessed that volunteers

also share their unique gifts

I M P R O V I N G L I V E S T H R O U G H E D U C A T I O N A N D S E R V I C E

processes and made recom-

mendations for improving

CWEF project information

tracking. In addition, they re-

viewed available information

management systems and

made recommendations to us

for systems that would meet

our needs as well as be acces-

sible across our various of-

fices. The tracking improve-

ments were instituted already

in the fall and the information

management improvements

are being implemented

throughout this year. Keep an

eye out this month for our

new website that is a part of

these improvements. Thank

you to Milena Loayza, Julian

Sanchez, Miguel Ortega and

Carlos Forey for their contri-

bution to CWEF's mission to

improve lives through educa-

tion and service.

Funding Needed for 2012

P A G E 4 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2

CWEF would like to thank

our generous donors for

the financial support given

for successful programs in

2011 Please consider finan-

cial support for two pro-

grams that need additional

funding for 2012.

According to Guangdong

Education Bureau 51.5% of

female urban students in

Guangdong graduate from

high school but only 12.4%

of female rural students.

Concordia Leadership

Academy (CLA) is a men-

toring program that works

with rural impoverished

students to encourage their

desire to continue studying

and teach them methods

for coping with pressures of

meeting test requirements,

rigorous school schedules

and isolation from family

support while living in

boarding environments.

Gifts given towards a goal

of HKD$ 775,000 (USD

$100,000) supports partici-

pation of 240 students in

the CLA program monthly

meetings and workshops as

well as training for 48

teachers in 8 schools. The

program will operate in 8

schools in 3 provinces dur-

ing the 2012-2013 academic

year.

CWEF China high school

scholarships award tuition,

boarding and book fees for

each rural impoverished

student. The majority of

sponsored students are fe-

male. Students are invited

to apply for scholarships

after they receive the re-

sults of their high school

entrance examination.

Applications are reviewed

based on family financial

situation, test results and

an assessment of the

Concordia Welfare and Education

Foundation

Flat C, 6/F, Han Yee Building,

21 Hankow Road, TST, Kowloon, H.K.

Phone: (852) 2337 2036

Fax: (852) 2376 3992

E-mail: director@cwef.org.hk

Concordia Welfare and Education Foundation is a

Hong Kong based non-profit organization founded by

Lutheran Christians and dedicated to improving the

lives of impoverished rural communities in Asia

through education and service.

We partner with local communities, organizations and

governments to identify sources of poverty and imple-

ment programs in the areas of education and commu-

nity health.

We believe that education creates opportunities for

people to change their lives and create a new future.

www.cwef.org.hk

student’s intention

to continue studies

after high school.

CWEF Scholarship

program is seeking

an additional

HKD$ 217,000

(USD $28,000) to

support education

for 75 rural stu-

dents in Yunnan,

China.

Your gift of any

amount makes a

life-changing differ-

ence in the lives of

these students.