A New Way of Caring for Post-disaster, Disabled Children and Orphans - 2010 'Wings of HNA - Caring for Children Summer Camp' Kicks Off in Hainan, China
HAIKOU, China, Aug. 23 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- On August 20, 2010, a summer camp designed to help children with special care needs and orphans, and to help the children realise their rights was officially kicked off in Hainan province, China. Up to 41 children coming from seven different provinces throughout the country will enjoy their time on the beautiful Hainan Island in the week starting from August 20. The 2010 "Wings of HNA - Caring for Children Summer Camp" will be jointly held by China's Ministry of Civil Affairs and UNICEF for three years in a row with HNA Group as the sponsor to support children with special care needs in a new way.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100823/CNM012 )
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100823/CNM012 )
(Photo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2010/08/20/20100820443004.jpg )
The 41 participants aged 7-16 come from seven provinces including Sichuan, Qinghai, Henan, Heilongjiang, Hubei, Shanxi and Yunnan as well as Tianjin. Ms. Kirsten Di Martino, UNICEF China Chief of Child Protection, said that the children who attend the camp include homeless, disabled or abandoned children, orphans as well as those with parents in prison or without parents due to the Wenchuan and Yushu earthquakes. Participants are made up of children from the Han ethnic group as well as minority communities such as Zang and Dai. For the first time, the campaign will bring together children with special care needs, accompanied by professionals and volunteers, to learn and improve social and life skills and cope psychologically in a harmonious environment.
The number of orphans and children in especially difficult conditions due to parents' divorce, death or long working hours is increasing in China, while the pubic also has been increasingly concerned about the psychological recovery of children after natural disasters such as earthquake and flood. Children who suffer from psychological trauma or physical injury during childhood as a result of unfortunate circumstances have become a socially vulnerable group. There are approximately 712,000 orphans in China, including over 5,000 in Yushu district alone, according to data released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs for June. In addition, the public should provide long-term care and support to families adopting orphaned relatives, families that have survived disaster, those with disabled children and those single parent families as a result of disasters.
Li Hao, chief of Welfare for Children, the Department of Social Welfare and Charity Promotion, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, pointed out that it is the common obligation and duty of the whole society to care for these vulnerable children, give them more love and warmth, improve their skills to participate in society, raise their confidence and change their families' environment and atmosphere.
Chen Feng, the board chairman of HNA Group, also said that the Ministry of Civil Affairs, UNICEF and HNA Group look forward to urging the whole society to pay attention to the healthy growth of children with special difficulties and mobilize more organizations and enterprises to participate in philanthropy for children like the 2010 "Wings of HNA - Caring for Children Summer Camp" campaign. The group will also continue to fund the continuous running of the summer camp, providing involvement opportunities for more children in need of help.
Along with the development of the society, China's welfare security system for children becomes remarkably mature and standardized. Take HNA Group for example, it turned from focusing on such material donations as the simple donations of money, goods and construction of schools more than a decade ago, to the establishment of philanthropy projects in cooperation with charitable institutions, including Hainan Charity Federation, and is now currently supporting child protection projects, conducted by UNICEF and the Ministry of Civil Affairs of China, exploration of a long-term welfare security system for children and the demonstration of kind-hearted persons' and enterprises' increasingly important role in the philanthropy. In addition to an unremitting effort of helping children with goods and money and caring for their survival and physiological difficulties, HNA Group also pays great attention to children's mental health based on an international philosophy. These moves will enable caring for children to be more humanitarian and for families and involve the children and families in the harmonious society.
(The brand image management center of HNA Group +86-898-6673-9903/17)
APPENDIX: Record of charity activities for children by HNA Group
-- In April 1996, the Group made a donation for the construction of "HNA
Nationalities Primary School" in Qiongzhong county, Hainan province;
-- In May 1997, the Group donated RMB200,000 to Mu Keyang Primary School
in Aba county, Sichuan province;
-- In 1998, the Group entered cooperation for education projects with
Haikou Experimental Middle School, Overseas Chinese Middle School, Pobo
Experimental Primary School and Fucheng No.1 Primary School;
-- In 1998, an educational foundation program was introduced by the Group
in Heping town, Qiongzhong county, aiming for rewarding students who
are excellent in character and scholarship in the rural areas;
-- In January 1999, the Group helped the Li Nationality Autonomous Region
in Baisha county with a fund of RMB300,000 to set up an award fund for
students and teachers; and provided a RMB200,000 capital to build
Baisha HNA Middle School with free offers of 15 computers and 1,000
"Guided Reading in Traditional Chinese Culture" and "Children's Book in
Reading Chinese Culture";
-- In September 2000, the Group made a RMB30,000 donation to the Hope
Project Office of Hainan province for the publication and distribution
of the large album "Hope Project in Hainan";
-- In May 2001, the Group contributed RMB20,000 to Orthodoxy Primary
School in Qiongshan city;
-- In November 2001, Qiongshan city received a contribution of RMB50,000
from the Group for purchase of desks in the primary schools there;
-- In March 2002, the Group donated RMB500,000 to the Chinese Red Cross
Foundation for the building of the Foundation's Beijing Bacui Bilingual
School;
-- In September 2002, the Group used RMB30,000 for leading the
way to establishing the Hainan Children in Poverty Association,
together with the Women's Federation of Hainan province;
-- In January 2003, the Group donated RMB300,000 to the Rescue Center for
Children in Poverty in Wanning city;
-- In July 2003, the Group donated RMB170,000 to the "Mother Health
Express" program sponsored by the All-China Women's Federation and
China Women's Development Foundation, helping improve the healthcare
conditions for women and children in the western part of China;
-- In April 2004, the Group donated RMB60,000 to build a school in
Jiaochang village, Longwang town, Ningshan County, Ankang City, Shaanxi
Province;
-- On 1 June 2004, children of the Group's employees gathered together to
celebrate the Children's Day with disabled children at Haikou
Intelligence Development School. In addition, the Group donated
teaching facilities and RMB3,000 in cash to the school;
-- In March 2005, the Group kicked off the "Three-to-One, Save and Help
1,000 Poor Children" program, providing assistance to 1,182
out-of-school children or those at risk of dropping out throughout
China;
-- On 24 June 2005, the Group's party members and stewards visited the
elderly and orphans at the Haikou Welfare Home;
-- In August 2005, the Group donated RMB234,000 for the treatment of
deaf-mute child Xi Lu;
-- In January 2006, the Group donated RMB120,000 to the Hainan Provincial
Disabled Persons' Federation for the purchase of hearing aids to help
hearing impaired children;
-- In May 2006, the Group donated the RMB70,000 revenue from its first
Xi'an-Lhasa flight to the Central Elementary School of Gangdui village,
Gongga County, Tibet for the construction of schoolhouses;
-- On 1 June 2006, the Group's employees visited Ding'an County and Baisha
County in Hainan province to visit orphans, and donated RMB15,000 in
cash;
-- In August 2006, the Group donated RMB300,000 to build HNA-Qinghai
Wajiang Hope Elementary School;
-- In September 2006, the Group donated RMB94,000 to Shanghai Children's
Welfare Home;
-- In January 2007, the Group donated RMB250,000 to build a hope
elementary school in Xuancheng village, Li county, Gansu province;
-- On 25 January 2007, the Group's employees, in response to the call of
the social media, donated more than 600 old wall calendars to Hunan
Special Education School so that students there could use them to
practice writing;
-- In May 2008, the Group donated RMB30 million to Hainan province for the
building of a crop of HNA Hope Primary Schools in Waning, Wuzhishan,
Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County, Changjiang Li Autonomous County
and Lingshui Li Autonomous County;
-- After the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, the Group accumulatively donated
RMB15.299 million for the rebuilding of local middle and primary
schools;
-- In April 2009, HNA Property made an in-kind donation of RMB5,000 to
Haikou Social Welfare Institute;
-- On 16 April 2009, the Group committed RMB3.5 million to the HNA Baoting
Cihang Hope Primary School;
-- In June 2009, the Group endowed the Haikou Social Welfare Institute
with a cash donation of RMB20,000 and an in-kind contribution of
RMB30,000;
-- On 18 May 2010, the Group donated RMB3.7 million to Hainan Charity
Federation for children's charity programs;
-- On 19 July 2010, the Group assisted 142 orphans in quake-hit Yushu,
Qinghai province;
-- On 20 August 2010, the Wings of HNA - Caring for Children
Summer Camp, initiated by UNICEF and the Ministry of Civil Affairs of
China and financed by the Group, was launched in Xinglong, Hainan
Province.
SOURCE HNA Group Co., Ltd.
Share this article