Summer festivals are usually a time for barbeque food, cold drinks, music and outdoor sports. But it could be more than that, as seen at the 2016 summer festival held on May 28 by Wellington College International Shanghai.

Despite the rainy weather, hundreds of international students, parents and teachers still came out in full force to help promote the festival's main purposes, which were to raise funds for disadvantaged children and celebrate the creative talents of the students.

A wide range of mouthwatering international food and drinks were offered in the dining hall along with musical performances provided by student bands. Bouncy castles, obstacle courses and basketball were also available for kids in the Sports Zone.

An Arts Zone allowed younger children to create screen printings, bamboo handicrafts and drawing along with a gallery display of paintings and sculptures made by Wellington students. 

The organizers of the event were a committee comprising Friends of Wellington (FOW) and Wellington staff. According to Heather Salmon, Chair of FOW, they added new elements into this year's event.

"Last year's fest was named 'the Summer Fayre' and the theme was a more traditional British Summer Fayre," said Salmon. "This year we also wanted to incorporate the highlights of last year's event, but fuse it with a festival spirit and demonstrate our school's strong talents in the arts, music and performing arts."

She added that Wellington summer festival is a collaboration of parents, teachers, students, the Wellington marketing department and the FOW.

"The FOW is a committee of dedicated parents and teachers, who support the school to provide events for our families and students. Our objectives are to link and enhance the community," she said.

Mifan mamas

At the end of the day, the festival culminated in a charity raffle draw, which collected over 35,000 yuan ($5,329) to support the FOW's chosen charity, Mifan Mama. Fiona Gao, project manager of Mifan Mama, told the Global Times that the money will go partly to the cost of supplying powdered milk and partly to the cost of providing educational support for 12 needy children.

Mifan Mama is a registered Scottish charity founded in 2008 that sponsors and helps Chinese orphans with visual impairment and students who cannot afford to go to school. It was established by a group of expat and local mothers who originally wanted to support orphanages in Anhui Province by helping feed the children.

"Rice is pronounced as 'mifan' in Chinese, and this is how we named the organization," said Gao.

At first the charity primarily provided food and clothing donations to orphanages, but gradually it started other charitable projects, such as educational support for students in underprivileged areas.

Gao pointed out that some of the students who received their help in the past have already finished their education and established good lives.

"For example, one female student we support has managed to graduate from school. We provided her with an internship at a hotel during her summer break, where she earned living expenses. Now she is married and has her own family," Gao said.

Apart from educational support, the charity also runs the Shining Star project that helps children with sight problems. Shining Star was launched in June 2012 and provides a residential home for blind and partially blind orphans.

"Here the children benefit from one-to-one care and instruction in basic life skills. The project is run as an extended family, where the resident care manager, daily staff and volunteers work with the children every day," Gao told the Global Times.

Notably, Mifan Mama also provides heart and eye surgeries to disadvantaged children. Gao said that this idea came from the first child in the orphanage they sent to Shanghai for surgery.

"We took care of the child; supported and provided him with after-surgery care. We then launched a project helping other orphans with visual impairment," she said.

According to Gao, Mifan Mama has supported over 20 children for either eye surgery or heart surgery.

"Thanks to after-surgery care by Shining Star's rehabilitation home, five of them have been adopted by families," she added.



 

 

 

Students perform and have fun at the 2016 summer festival of Wellington College International Shanghai. Photos: Courtesy of the school

 
Newspaper headline: Summer charity