Recently the Amity Foundation signs a cooperation agreement on Orphan-aid project with the Guangdong Orphan Education Society, planning to support 2000 orphans in the poor areas of Guangdong Province in the next three years.
The two charities will join hands to provide financial assistance to orphans and "de facto orphans", children with one or two parents alive but unwilling or unable to raise them. Funded students will receive funds based on their grades ranging from 1340 to 5000 yuan every year.
In 2002, the Amity Foundation started the rural orphans fostering project, to support orphans in poverty- stricken areas by providing grants for basic living expenses, including medical treatment as well as education. In 2008, the Tencent Foundation teamed up with Amity and jointly started to raise funds online for this project. Up to March 2017, more than 128 million Yuan was raised to support those children in need. The orphans are mainly distributed in more than 330 counties in Jiangsu, Henan, Shandong, Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Ningxia, Guangxi and Chonqing, helping more than 24,000 orphans up to now.
Although Guandong province is on the forefront of economic development in China, due to the uneven development of rural and urban areas, there are regions in northern Guandong where people are still living in poverty. Especially for orphans who lack the love of parents, life is difficult and many of them drop out of school. "I am happy Amity Foundation and the Orphan Education Society in Guangdong are working together and I hope we will be able to help more children who are in need and will give them the equal opportunity of education, and healthy grow-up and raise awareness within the larger society with the aim to nurture social volunteers who serve the public," says Hewen. According to statistics, Orphan Education Society in Guangdong has provided support for 24,346 students since 2004.
By providing visits and camps, Amity supports the psychological well-being of the orphans and ensures that the help is received. Therefore, the Amity Foundation is teaming up with local grassroot NGOs sharing the same holistic vision as Amity and as it is stated in the Sustainable Development Goals: Leaving no one behind.
Translated by Karen Luo
With Source: Amity Foundation
