WJFB visited villages located in the midst of mountains and valleys of Jialing District, Sichuan Province, China in 2000. We realized that the education condition in that area is very poor. Some of the classrooms in their school had almost collapsed and had been shut down.

In order to continue providing education for the children, WJFB decided to build a school in one of the mountain villages in Qushui Town.

WJFB provided the funds and selected Southwest Petroleum Institute (SWPI) as the host country partner to implement this project. A designated person is assigned to coordinate with the local organizations involved in the project.

The construction of the school started mid June 2001. With the efforts of all the people involved in the project, the school construction was completed by the end of August. The local government gave us much support, providing the land, enhancing the road conditions and providing various free services.

People in the village contributed great effort towards the project. They are so happy that WJFB helped them build the new school so that their children can have opportunity to get an education. In the hot summer, they went up to the mountain to get the foundation stones for the school. Village people under the temperature of 40 degrees centigrade carried all of the foundation stones down to the school site. A local construction company was hired to build the school. It was raining all the time during this period. In order to put the school building in use before September 1, the construction team worked in the rain. Sometimes, the road was so muddy, they had to use horses to carry the bricks to the site. We would like to express our sincere thanks to SWPI’s contributions to the project and especially to Mr. Yuan Lin. During her summer holiday, Ms. Yuan devoted much of her time to communicate with the different organizations, contractors and different levels of government authorities for support. She also coordinated and reported to the WJFB office in Canada for the project.

The school covers an area of 3.5 acres. The school building has two levels and provides education for 160 students. A water well has been drilled to provide clean water to school for drinking and washroom flushing. The well also provides drinking water to the families in the surrounding area. A washroom was built outside of the classroom building and a brick fence was built around the school property. We invited the village carpenter to make the desks and chairs for the school. In order to remember the kindness and contribution from our Canadian organization, they named the school “Maple Leaf Hope Elementary School”. Besides the school WJFB built for the village, we also provided some funds for the children from the poorest families, who can’t afford to buy the study materials. From the pictures you can see just how happy the kids are in the new school.

(C) World Job and Food Bank.
jedison@wjfb.org