Prepared by:
Grace Lim & Jill Ji
Background
10 May 2007 is a significant day for Huaqiao Foundation. It is the day for the groundbreaking ceremony of Ng Phoy Leu Primary School which lies in DongCheng District, ShangShui county in Henan province.
This is the first school project under Huaqiao Foundation. A joint investment of RMB500,000 was put into this project by Huaqiao Foundation and Shangshui Charity Foundation. The school, once completed, will bring education nearer to the children in Wangdaoping Village, who now travels 1 to 3km daily to attend school.
A beautiful Thursday morning ….
What a beautiful day! Windy and cool. Some 400 villagers and children turned up at the groundbreaking ceremony. The children lined up in rows and waited patiently and quietly for the ceremony to start.
Our overseas friends ….
At 8:40am, a coach arrived bringing with it our friends from overseas (Rotary International, Denver GSE from District in USA D5450, Denver Colorado USA) who have come specially to attend the groundbreaking ceremony. They are our friends from Rotary International who have come specially to attend the ceremony and visit our children.
The villagers and children were excited to see them. You can hear some exciting whisperings among the crowd as they arrived and got themselves seated at the stage area.
Our great supporters from Shangshui County
Other than our overseas friends, we also have great support from the Shangshui County government. Spokespersons from the Shangshui County Government. Shangshui Charity Foundation and Wangdaoping Village were among the people who were present to deliver their speech at the groundbreaking ceremony.
The groundbreaking ceremony starts ….
As all our VIPs arrived, the groundbreaking ceremony started at 9:00am with drumming and firecrackers. It is a Chinese tradition to have firecrackers during special occasions to ward off all evil spirits.
Opening speech by Shangshui County government
Mr. Yao GuoAn, from Shangshui County government was invited to deliver the opening speech for the ground- breaking ceremony. He expressed his greatest gratitude towards Huaqiao Foundation and encouraged such Chinese virtue of Chinese virtue of giving and helping the needy to spread to more people.
Speeches from Huaqiao Foundation
Speeches from Mr Yih and Mr Ng from Huaqiao Foundation sets a more relaxed and friendly atmosphere at the ceremony.
Mr Yih, the president of Huaqiao Foundation, started by asking everyone to call him Grandpa Yih. He also introduces to the audience the other projects that Huaqiao Foundation have at Henan province.
Mr Yih hoped that all the children who were present at the ceremony will study hard at the school once it is completed.
Speeches from Huaqiao Foundation
Mr Ng, who is also under Huaqiao Foundation, and the biggest donor for the school project, introduces his father, who is already 76 years old, to the audience. He told the audience that his father, Mr Ng Phoy Leu, which the name of the school is named after, worked 12 hours a day and 365 days a year before he retired.
He believes that if his father had received more education (Mr Ng Phoy Leu only studied until grade 9), he would have been able to get a better job and lead a better life. Thus, he urges all children to study hard in school as this is the only way to change their lives.
Speech from Rotary International
Ms Patricia Fiske from Rotary International, representing the Denver GSE team, also expressed her great excitement to be present at the groundbreaking ceremony. She hopes to be back once the school is completed and to volunteer to teach the children.
The stone laying ceremony
After all our VIPs have delivered their speeches, the emcee requested that they moved forward for the stone laying ceremony.
Shovels were prepared and sand were thrown onto the stone foundation to signify the official start of the construction for Ng Phoy Leu Primary School.
News in Henan newspapers
News of the groundbreaking ceremony was found in all newspapers in ZhouKou the next day.
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