The Voice of Jingjing Xu: How Volunteering is More About Simply Giving
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Oct. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- For Jingjing Xu, the core of her entrepreneurship journey is marked by a deep commitment to social responsibility. It was during one summer break when Jingjing travelled back to a rural part of China that she accidentally noticed the radical gap between rural and cities in terms of educational resources. Due to the disparity of economic development and lack of government investment, children in remote areas did not have access to proper education that they should be having at their age, and often spent most of their time helping their family with fieldworks.
"Something needs to be done as soon as possible," Jingjing thought as she sensed the urgent-ness of the situation. Shortly after the visit, Jingjing got in touch with several of her friends from the U.S. and founded an organization named the "Sower," a volunteer program that connects college students from around the globe to teaching opportunities in schools in rural China. Through publication, Jingjing successfully formed a group of volunteer students, who share the conviction with Jingjing that a simple action of kindness from them is urgently needed by and might have a life-changing impact to the children; they not only teach children core subjects including Math, English and Science, but also introduce the children to a variety of cultural backgrounds. Experimental as it was, the program turned out to be a huge success as the children all spent a fruitful summer that they never have had before.
For Jingjing, volunteering is not about showcasing oneself but about addressing the children's needs for educational resources and mental guidance. One common problem of some of the volunteer teaching programs is that they tend to have a cursory understanding of the children they want to help. It is easy for people to donate occasionally or act to help those in need in a period of time, but such momentary passion should be grounded upon a thorough understanding what are the issues for those who need help. For the children, their paths of education are not completed after one summer and they still need continuing guidance that allows them to step beyond life in mountains.
"Our mission is to provide children with what they need at this moment as well as to continue caring about them in the coming years." Driven by such conviction, Jingjing collaborated with other NGO organizations to publicize the platform of the "Sower" program, with the aim to recruit more volunteers to schools in rural China. She and her partners introduce a variety of programs to support children from different perspectives. For instance, she launched online teaching project that brings remote teaching to children. She also connected recent high school graduates to opportunities of programmes in companies such as Huazhu Hotels Group. "To truly care about the children involves not only moments of kindness, but more importantly, a sense of responsibility that committed to the growth of children in a long term, and this, I think, is the core value of the Sower," says Jingjing.
Media Contact:
Jingjing Xu
(212) 216-9549
[email protected]
SOURCE Jingjing Xu
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