Best Birthday Gift Ever/我最想要的生日礼物

Donna Peng, 2009 Beijing Team Volunteer, has decided to give her birthday presents to Dream Corps. Find out how and why you can help. 2009年北京队志愿者彭丹决定把自己的生日礼物送给梦想行动。这到底是怎么一回事儿呢？

Dear friend,

In the past two years, you might have received a lot of messages from me, inviting you to attend this or that Dream Corps event. You might have wondered, what is this Dream Corps? I know I own you an explanation. 

Dream Corps is an NGO working to build libraries in rural China, founded in 2004 by oversea Chinese students like me. Since its beginning, Dream Corps has sent over 100 volunteers to rural communities of China, bring books and funds to build a local library. We share our love of reading with children there. Yes, we. Because, last summer, I became one of those volunteers. The New Century Library in Zhufang Village, just outside of Beijing, became one of my homes. A year has passed, but I still remember the days that I spent reading with the kids. I still remember their names.

Su Le. Wang Guoqing. Wang Shufan. Li Jingwen. Chai Shubin. Chai Mengyuan. Liu Weiyuan. Huang Jiacheng. Fu Bin. Ceng Kun. Wang Ye. Wang Yang. Wang Shuai. Wang Xinglong.　And there's Zhang Doudou. Doudou, the five years old boy who beamed and frowned widely, showing his missing teeth.

August 12th, this coming Thursday, is my birthday. A lot of you have given me books as gifts in the past. But, today, I would like you to give gifts of books to these children. The children in Zhufang Village, but also the children in Chaling County, Hunan, the children in Nanguang Sichuan, and the children in Laochangying, Henan... There are many of them. They might be voracious readers, but they don't know that yet, and Dream Corps' mission is to provide the reading environment that they need.

I hope that you would donate to Dream Corps, and if you share our cause, I invide you to join us, to become part of Dream Corps.

Thursday will be my 22nd birthday. $22 is enough to buy 10 books in China. 10 GREAT books, selected closely by my colleagues in Dream Corps' Book Committee.

All my love and thanks,

Donna

You can donate via Facebook cause:

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/birthdays/420136?bws=sl

or at the official website: 

http://www.dreamcorps.org/donate.html

============================

你好，我的老友、损友，很久没见或是素未谋面的朋友，

也许你并不在Montreal，但是在过去的两年间，你也许收到了很多这样的邀请：
Donna希望你能参加梦想行动的XXX活动。你也许纳闷过：梦想行动？那是什么东西？

梦想行动是一个为中国乡村学校建设图书室的公益组织，今年已经六岁了。六年来，上百名来自全球各地的志愿者在每个夏天前往中国农村，带去书和修缮图书室的经费，与孩子们分享阅读的喜悦。去年夏天，我也成为了他们中的一员。于是，北京清河朱房村新世纪图书室成为了我生命中的一个点。一年过去了，不能忘记的是孩子们读书的脸。

苏乐。汪国庆。汪舒凡。李静文。柴书斌。柴萌园。刘蔚圆。黄嘉诚。付彬。岑坤。王也。汪洋，汪帅。王兴龙。还有张豆豆。豆豆，五岁，讲故事喜欢扭来扭去，写作业也磨磨蹭蹭，他最喜欢说，你真是个厉害的妖怪。

即将到来的8月12号是我的生日，以往大家送我的总是书。但是今天，我希望你们能送书给这些孩子们。他们在北京五环外的城中村里，他们也在湖南茶陵、四川南广、河南老常营。。。他们也许很喜欢看书，但是自己还不知道，而梦想行动的任务，就是为他们创造阅读的环境。

我希望你们能把替我买书的钱捐给梦想行动。如果，你有同样的愿望，我还希望你以后能来参加我们的志愿活动，加入梦想行动。

今年我22岁。$22，在国内可以买十本书，十本由梦想行动图书小组的同学们精挑细选过的好书。

谢谢大家。

彭丹

捐款通道：
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/birthdays/420136?bws=sl
也可以去官方网站：http://www.dreamcorps.org/donate.html

read more...

长沙晚报：北美留学生茶陵支教五年 美国街头表演募集捐款

——2010年6月22日，长沙晚报报道了“梦想行动”2010年暑期志愿者项目中的五队志愿者在湖南株洲市茶陵县的经历。24名志愿者们来自不同的国家与背景，但都在中国农村教育的艰辛和孩子们对知识的渴求中得到了激励。作为自2004年来第六批来到茶陵的“梦想行动”志愿者，他们分别在5个中小学校建设与完善“梦想图书室”，为学生开设课外阅读和英语教学活动。他们同时带来的，还有如何在北美为图书室募捐的故事。

        今天，来自大洋彼岸的20多名“梦想行动”志愿者就要离开株洲茶陵。“这些乡村的孩子太可爱了，我们简直舍不得离开。”昨日，来自美国宾夕法尼亚大学沃顿商学院的MBA张卉在电话里告诉记者。作为“梦想行动”志愿者，今天她和其他23位伙伴，就要告别相处了20多天的茶陵乡村学校的师生，不舍之情溢于言表。

　　据了解，“梦想行动”是2004年初由留学生和旅居海外的华人发起创建的非营利性组织，由留美学生以及外籍华人作为志愿者，其宗旨是通过深入乡村小学了解当地办学情况，帮助完善农村小学图书室建设，参与当地教学等活动来提高农村地区的教育水平，所有的活动经费都系自筹。“梦想行动”第一次与茶陵结缘是在2005年5月，当时在美国杜克大学就读的蒋洪生是茶陵人，经他牵线，志愿者到茶陵舲舫乡中心小学进行了为期20天的义教帮教活动，当时带队的是在杜克大学就读的陈怀远。五年来，“梦想行动”与地处偏远的茶陵贫困乡村中小学结下深厚情谊，每年都有一批志愿者不计任何报酬地来到这里进行一个月左右的志愿行动，为乡村的孩子们带来知识和欢乐。

　　这次是“梦想行动”第六次来茶陵开展活动，共有24位志愿者参加，其中有十位女生。他们分别来自美国和加拿大。志愿者分为5个组，在5个中小学校就图书室建设与完善、学生课外阅读和英语教学等工作进行服务活动。上月27日抵达茶陵后，志愿者们就马不停蹄地开展工作。志愿者们为每所学校送去了数百本科普、人文等方面的图书，“这些都是留学生们在美国加拿大等地募捐来的。”张卉告诉记者，有的美国同学得知情况后还主动上街进行文艺表演，为活动募捐，场面非常感人。然后，他们将美元寄回国内兑换成人民币，再根据乡村孩子们的需要购买书籍。

　　在枣市小学服务的向超群毕业于美国伊利诺伊州一所大学，他是今年三月在网上看到“梦想行动”招募志愿者的启事后，主动报名参加的，“要经过面试、培训，才能正式加入组织。”为方便小学的图书管理，他和同伴们安装了一套图书电子管理系统。

　　和张卉一道在虎踞中学进行志愿行动的同伴，有三位是在美国和加拿大出生的华裔，以前从没到过中国。这次来茶陵，一切都令他们感到新鲜，也让他们看到了中国农村教育的艰辛。他们每天早上七点起床后就开始工作，直到晚上11点才休息。虽然很忙碌，但孩子们渴求知识的眼神，让他们忘却了疲惫。

read more...

2010 Dream Corps Summer Volunteer Program Training

On May 20th to 26th 2010, Dream Corps held our annual pre-summer volunteer program training in Beijing. It is the biggest gathering of the sort since the founding of Dream Corps, because, this year, we have invited the teachers and librarians from our sites to join us at the training. In total, 42 volunteers and 13 librarians attended the training camp.


The first two days of training were tailored for librarians from different sites. We hope to assist them in their day-to-day work with new tools, so the libraries that Dream Corps helped to build will best serve the local communities while developing sustainably. Experience sharing sessions were conducted, as well as themed panel discussions. There were also studies of successful cases in reading promotion and workshops lead by experts in library management.


Later on, as the volunteers arrived on May 23rd, the volunteers training camp officially began. The purpose of the three following days is to inform our volunteers so they can use their time on site most efficiently. The activities that took place are designed to foster good team dynamics, to encourage cross-site communication and to inspire creative uses of the library's collection through reading programs. More interestingly, in addition to attending workshops, our seven teams also had to complete assignments: they all presented the draft of a timeline for the tasks they hoped to complete on site. Before boarding the trains that would take them to Henan, Hunan and Sichuan, the librarians and volunteers visited Dream Corps' Beijing site, the New Century Community Library.


Now, as we speak, Dream Corps volunteers are busy setting up libraries throughout China. In a few days, we will publish their team journals, written at the trenches of reading promotion. For those readers who are interested in the detailed training program, we have attached the agenda of those five days of training.

LIBRARIANS' TRAINING

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

8:00-23:00 Librarians/Teachers Registration

Friday, May 21st, 2010

8:00-8:15 Icebreaker
8:15-8:30 Welcome and Overview of Training


8:30-8:45 History and Mission of Dream Corps
resenter: Lili Lai


8:45-9:30 Introduction to Site Libraries
The daily work of librarians, the opening hours and rules, the main problems and challenges
Facilitator: Ruoxia Li


9:30-10:15 Discussion: Common Concerns and How to Address Them
Facilitator: Ruoxia Lia


10:15-10:30 Tea Break


10:30--10:50 Presentation: Reading Together: Tales from reading promotion in Hongkong
 Presenter: Yan Liu


10:50--11:50 Discussion：The Role of the Librarian?
Successful Case: Principal Jiang from Lingfang, Hunan
Facilitator: Yan Liu


11:50 Lunch
14:00-14:15 Activities Time
Facilitator：Ruoxia Li


14:15-15:00 Talk: Reading and Child Development
Presenter: Jin Zhu, Children's Reading and Learning Center, Beijing Normal University


15:00-15:45 Discussion: Reading and the Goal of Education
Case studied: Principal Li from Huju, Hunan
Presenter: Lili Lai


15:45-16:00 Tea Break


16:00-17:00 Talk: Children's literature
Presenter: Xiaoying Wang


17:00 Dinner


18:30 Workshop: Introduction to Library Management Software
Presenter: Jingwei Fan

Saturday, May 22nd, 2010

8:30-9:15 Recapitulation of the Previous Day


9:15-10:00 Talk: Finding Books Locally
Presenter: Junsheng Jiang
10:00-11:00 Talk: The Development of Community Libraries and the Use of Resources
Presenter: Yi Wang


11:00-12:00 Discussion: The Goal of Library Development/ What can Dream Corps Do?


12:00 Lunch


14:00 Tour of 14th Middle School Library
Workshop: Book Categorization and Library Management
Presenter: Jinghong Yang

VOLUNTEERS' TRAINING

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

8:00-23:00 Volunteer Registrations


10:00 Team Leaders Orientation (Team leaders only)
Financial matters, logistics, responsibility, safety, ethics, teamwork; checklist & package; training facilitators; contact each site.
Facilitator: Ruoxia，James and Liu Yan

Monday, May 24th, 2010

8:00 Icebreaker
8:30 Promotion Video: A Visual introduction to Dream Corps
8:45 Welcome and Training Overview


9:00-9:40 Panel Discussion: How to “Sell” Reading (to different people)? /Communication Methods


9:40-10:20 Team Presentation
List key stakeholders in the school and communities. What have you contacted so far? What agreement you have reached? What adjustment you have made according to feedback from local contacts? What kind of further communication is necessary?


10:20-10:40 Tea Break


10:40-12:00 Books and Readings
Presenters: Li Ling


12:30 Lunch
Screening: Animating Reading — Reading in Hongkong
14:00 Fun Activity


14:15-15:00 Presentation: Sustainable Reading Activities Recommended by DC
Presenters:
Liu Yan: Library Week
Wang Mengxing: Story-telling Competition
Andy Yu: Principal Reading Time
Jiang Junsheng: school broadcast station


15:00-15:30 Presentation: Teaching Activity and Library Use
Presenter: Gao Lin


15: 30-16:15 Team Discussion: What kind of reading programs can be sustained by school teachers and administrators？


16:15-16:45 Panel Discussion: Family Visit and Understand Community
(Families with children left behind and migrant families with children)
Presenters: Wang YI


16:45-17:00 Teamwork Division and Timeline
Importance of program objectives, roles in the team, task divisions, projects timelines


17:00~night Assignment 1: Teamwork Division and Timeline
Facilitators: All Team Leaders
Each team will draft their teamwork division proposal, projects and program timeline (May 26 – June 22) and activity design, compile into a PowerPoint for team presentations tomorrow (20 minutes presentation, no more than 30 slides)


Assignment 2: Teams Contact Local Contacts
Facilitators: All Team Leaders
Each team will contact their local contacts to confirm local lodging arrangements, arrange transportation, book arrival，and ask for their opinions and choices on activities.


22:00 Team leaders meeting, bring Assignment 1, and share result of Assignment 2

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

8:00 Team Presentations (20 minutes for each)
Facilitators: All Team Leaders


11:00 Safety, Ethics, Logistics


12:00 Lunch


14:00 Visit to New Century Library


16:00 Tour to the National Library and Reading Week Site


17:30 Farewell and Group Photo
17:45 Team Shopping Trips
Facilitator: All Team Leaders
Teams can go shop for reading program materials, library facility decorations, volunteer daily life products (shampoo, sun screen, bug repellent, etc.)


Teams Final Confirmation Phone Calls
Facilitator: All Team Leaders
Each team makes final confirmation calls with sites.

read more...

Dream Corps Wins $20,000 in Donation Though Couchange in Twitter Competition

Remember the twit that we have asked you to help spread around? Now you will learn what became of it. 

The TWITCH contest, or Twitter Pitch, is part of the $100K MIT Entrepreneurship Competition. A $500 cash prize is awarded to the organizer who sends the most retwitted and the most creative message. 

The social venture startup Couchange , an organization that develops innovative fundraising technologies to help nonprofits access over $8 billion dollars annually in abandoned assets such as leftover giftcards, frequent flier miles, and other reward point currencies, won the competition and donated their $500 prize to Dream Corps. 

This $500 is matched personally by Jia Ji, the CEO of Couchange. After hearing that Couchange was donating the MIT100K prize money to charity and that Jia Ji promised to match the MIT100K donation, Paul Fireman of the Paul and Phyllis Fireman Charitable Foundation raised the contribution to $20,000. 

We are very grateful of Jia Ji, Pian Shu, and Meng Yan, the wonderful people at Couchange who catalyzed the event and collaborated with Dream Corps to raise awareness on education equity in rural China. A big thank you goes to Mr. Fireman for his most generous donation, which will bring about much good work.

We also want to thank the many twitters who helped Couchange and Dream Corps win by retweeting and voting for Dream Corps. Through their help, we reached a total of 60,000 followers and generated retweets from across the United States, Europe and Asia. Thank you!

Dear readers, please follow us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/dreamcorps) if you haven't done so. This way we'll be able to communicate the latest news to you as they happen. The following month is bound to be eventful, since our summer volunteer program is starting on May 23rd, 2010. See you then!

不久之前，我们号召大家在Twitter上帮我们转发一条信息。今天有好消息告诉大家。

TWITCH，又称 Twitter Pitch （推特推销），是 MIT 10万美元创业大赛中的一个项目。所有参投者中，标语被转发次数最多的，标语最有特色的就可以得到500美元的现金奖。Couchange是一家初创的社会企业，致力于发展独辟蹊径的筹款技术，让公益组织们可以利用每年流失高达到80亿美元的礼物卡、累积飞行里程、以及其他奖励点货币。Couchange赢得了TWITCH比赛，并把500美元奖金捐献给他们支持的非营利组织中得到最多“转推”（retwit）的梦想行动国际。Couchange的CEO吉佳先生同时决定以个人名义捐献500美元。得知吉佳的这一义举之后，Paul and Phyllis Fireman Charitable Foundation的主席Paul Fireman先生当场表示愿意把捐款总数升为20000美元。

我们十分感谢Couchange那些可爱的人们：吉佳、舒翩和闫梦，你们的努力将帮助梦想行动向着我们的目标——让所有孩子都能读上好书——更进一步。我们同时感谢Fireman先生慷慨解囊。这笔捐款将被用在最需要的地方。我们还要感谢所有帮助Couchange和梦想行动转推及投票给我们的twitterers——所有推友们。通过你们，我们向美国、欧洲及亚洲一共6万多名网友传达了我们的信息。谢谢大家！

亲爱的读者们，如果你们还没有在推特上关注梦想行动的话，现在就可以猛击这里（http://twitter.com/dreamcorps）。通过这个平台，我们将不断发布关于梦想行动的新闻。2010年的暑期志愿者项目马上就要开始了。5月23日，来自各地的志愿者和图书管理员、老师们将同聚一堂。我们期待着那一天的到来。

read more...

Support Dream Corps Fundraising Campaign!

Dear Friends of Dream Corps,

Dream Corps is campaigning to raise $34,000 for the 2010 Dream Libraries projects in China. We are delighted to announce that we have already raised $902 through different streams in the past few weeks. We are very grateful to those who have contributed. To reach our goal we desperately need your help to spread the word and raise funds for this summer’s projects!


You can support us in a few simple ways:


* Donate through our Dream Corps Facebook Cause. Invite your friends to join Cause also!


http://www.causes.com/DreamCorps


* Share the message below on your Facebook, Skype, MSN status.


Dream Corps: Donate to Dream Libraries | Empower Rural Children | $2 = 1 book | 请捐助梦想行动为中国农村孩子建图书室| www.dreamcorps.org/donate.html

* Tell your friends about our website and our blog

website:  http://www.dreamcorps.org/donate.html
blog: http://dreamcorpsblog.blogspot.com/

Thank you!

Ruoxia Li
Fundraising Committee Chair

read more...

Call for Application: Dream Corps 2010 Summer Volunteer Program

Organization

DREAM CORPS is an innovative non‐profit organization dedicated to bettering the learning environment for students in disadvantaged communities in rural and urban China.

Program

Dream Corps is recruiting 35‐40 international volunteers to participate in its 2010 Summer Volunteer Program in rural villages and urban migrant communities of China. Volunteers will take part in activities that include

• Building basic library infrastructures

• Developing library management system

• Reading programs

• English teaching

• Facilitating community initiatives and projects

• Community understanding

The program consists of 3 days of training in Beijing, 3 weeks of volunteer work on assigned volunteer sites, and 3 days of concluding camp in Beijing.

We also have internship opportunities in our Summer Intern Program (see below).

Qualification

This is an exciting opportunity for students, researchers, and young professionals interested in international development, rural education, and the non‐profit sector in China.

Our past volunteers were from more than 10 countries and regions and were primarily undergraduate and graduate students.

Ability to speak mandarin Chinese is mandatory.

Expense

While no fee is charged, volunteers shall cover all of their travel, board and lodging expenses during the program, including airfare for the traveling to China. Typical total expense per person during the program is around 250 US dollars.

Application Process

• STEP 1: Online Application at http://www.dreamcorps.org 

a. Application form

b. Personal Statement (see guidelines for details)

c. Resume or CV

We have a rolling application process and the positions fill up quickly, you are strongly encouraged to apply as early as possible. There is no application fee.

• STEP 2: Interview

Applications are typically reviewed within a week. Qualified applicants will be interviewed over the phone or in person.

• STEP 3: Notification of Decision

Final decision will be sent to you no later than March 19.

Important Dates

• Jan 24: Online application opens

• February 26: Online application officially closes

• March 19: All acceptances notified

• Mid April to Early May: Online training (4 or 5 sessions, about 2 hours per session)

• May 23: Volunteer registration in Beijing, program begins

• May 24‐25: Volunteer training in Beijing

• May 26: Volunteers departing for sites

• June 25: Program ends at end of concluding forum in Beijing

Additional Information

If you have any more questions regarding our program, please visit Dream Corps 2010 Summer Program FAQ at http://www.dreamcorps.org/2010faq.html 

If you have any questions regarding the application and volunteer selection process, please contact the Recruitment Committee at recruitment@dreamcorps.org .

Personal Statement Guidelines

Please keep your statement between 300‐500 English words or 500‐700 Chinese characters. As a general guideline, please cover the following:

1. Why do you want to volunteer with Dream Corps?

2. You previous social work or volunteer experience? Please include dates, locations, activities, and your roles.

3. Have you traveled or lived in rural China? For how long? If not, have you traveled or lived internationally? For how long? If so, please describe briefly (locations, dates and activities).

4. Have you had any teaching or tutoring experience? If so, please describe briefly (subjects, target audience and formats)

5. Do you hope to conduct a personal or academic research project during your possible stay in China with Dream Corps? If so, please describe briefly.

6. What do you believe are the values of books and reading to the lives of underprivileged children in China?

Dream Corps 2010 Summer Internship Program

Late May to late July

Dream Corps offers 8‐ to 10‐week long, unpaid Summer Internship Programs (SIP) for motivated volunteers with strong initiative and leadership to work in the areas of library management, information system support, community outreach, reading program, and organizational communication. Internship period officially starts with the Beijing Training Camp of the Summer Volunteer Program (SVP) in late May and ends in late July. Work‐related travel expenses will be reimbursed. This year there are the following positions available:

• Beijing ‐ SVP Information Specialist: Responsible for collection, selection, and organization of site‐specific SVP information, documents, and media files during and after the SVP, with the option of conducting reading program and community outreach activities at the New Century Dream Library in Zhufang Village, Beijing after the SVP. Involvement starts with the SVP online training.

• Hunan Chaling County Dream Libraries ‐ Information System Support Specialist: Responsible for setting up electronic library management system, and assisting local librarians in using the system, and provide general computer training for local teachers.

• Sichuan Yibin Nanguang Dream Library ‐ Library Management Specialist: Responsible for setting up electronic library management, providing support to local librarian, teachers, and students regarding how to use the system, and in general ensuring the school’s readiness for library access and use in the subsequent academic year.

Requirements for the SIP in addition to those for the regular (SVP) include: If applicants have not participated in the SVP in previous years, they must participate in this year’s SVP

Internships are on‐site and continuous with the SVP (running from late May to late June), with no vacation time in between.

Submission to Dream Corps of documents required for your enrollment in your university’s internship programs, such as (1) purpose or research statement and (2) funding application form, where applicable.

In addition to an application to the regular SVP, all applicants must submit a Dream Corps SIP proposal to sites@dreamcorps.org  that (1) identify their intended position, (2) explain their specific motivations and qualifications, (3) identify their specific goals, and (4) articulate their specific plan for reaching these goals. Please direct further inquiries to sites@dreamcorps.org .

read more...