Projects

EVHS focuses its efforts on three main projects:

  1. After School Child Care Centre and Program
  2. Nanny Nurture Program
  3. Sewing Project

After School Child Care Centre and Program

The EVHS After-School Child Care Program was to provide learning and social growth opportunities for children in Nam On and the surrounding area. The goals of the program are:

  1. To provide supplementary education to the orphaned and abandoned children who are living in poverty in an orphanage or in poor rural villages where the option for further education or enrichment is not possible.
  2. To provide school supplies, books and other teaching tools that will teach the children English other essential skills
  3. To provide proper nutrition.
  4. To provide agricultural skills that will sustain the children for a life time

Phase I: After School Activities (Current)

The After School Program employs 2 part time Coordinators who come to the village from nearby Taishan. Both are university or college educated and have a passion for working with children. Their ability to speak the local language as well as teach English has been extremely valuable to these children. This program has much the same goals as a Boys and Girls club would have in Canada, yet it lacks the resources or space to provide the programming that will truly enrich the children’s daily experience.

There are 21 children in the program who have a wide range of needs including physical and health concerns, lack of immediate parental presence (so called “left behind” children whose parents live elsewhere for economic reasons), lack of nutritious food, clothing and learning or recreational resources. Our project makes an impact where and when we can in the lives of these children. Education is of primary concern.

Children in the village attend school until grade 6 – further education is not possible due to economic constraints.

 

Phase II: Sustainable Gardening (Jan 2010 start date)

In addition to the enrichment activities, the After School Child Care Program is planning a Gardening Project that will teach the children to grow vegetables in an environmentally sustainable manner. The Village of Nam On has donated 20 acres of land on which we can build an ecologically responsible garden, a fish pond and a structure for storing supplies.

Personalized plots for the children will enable them to grow local vegetables for personal nutrition, supply to the nearby orphanage and sale in the nearby market. Proceeds from the sale of vegetables will provide a further education fund for the children.

Volunteers and local university students are working on the initial planning process. Information has been collected on what vegetables will grow successfully in the village and planning on the logistics of the program are underway. Our goal is to plant the first crop in the 3rd quarter of 2010.

 

Phase III: Retrofit School House (2010/2011)

The After School Child Care Program takes place wherever there is space available in the community, either in someone’s home or in the seniors’ centre. Unfortunately, the facilities being used are less than ideal and required materials are in short supply. To truly thrive, the program needs a home of its own. Further funds will be required if this program is to reach its full potential by retrofitting the old school house in the village that is not currently being used.

The retrofit will see solar electricity and heating installed in the building as well as desks, chairs and teaching supplies.

 

Phase IV: New Child Care Learning Facility (Long Term Vision)

The long term vision of this program is to create a new, ecologically sound structure in which the children can continue their education and from which the gardening project will be coordinated.

Nanny Nurture Program

The Taishan Orphanage is home to the unwanted, unloved children. EVHS’s goal is to provide these children with nurturing, education, foodstuff with nutrients, hygiene, and medical assistance.

The EVHS Nanny Nurture Program trains local women to provide basic care to orphans; women and the teens learn early childhood education skills and the children benefit from their care.

The Taishan state orphanage is the only 'home' these children have ever known in their short time on earth. These children have physical, emotional, and psychological needs; every care will be taken to provide a well-rounded life for them while in the state orphanage. Our Taishan project will be led by General Manager who will teach local villagers of Nam On to nurture, care and love two children that they have been assigned in the orphanage. This program is intended to provide the orphans with a sense of love, security, education and hope for the future.