Posts
- Jun Luo, Board Member, as a panel presentation at University of Toronto China Conference, March 27 2010
I guess I am supposed to speak on the “society” part of this panel on “society, policy and law”. But I am no expert of society. As a non-profit organizer, I work from within the fabric of society. I will thus speak from the experience of Dream Corps itself, on its character and its journey, as a concrete example of social forces contributing to the harmonious development of China.
3S
In spring 2004, a set of photos were circulated in a discussion group of Chinese students at Duke University and UNC. This group, named 3S (or三思), for Science, Society, and Self-Awareness, has been a forum for open-ended discussions on topics ranging from ubiquitous computing and cyborgs, to phenomenology and Buddhism, to demography and traditional Chinese art. The photos, which depicted hardship of life in rural China, agitated members of 3S. We wanted to do something about the poverty we saw in the photos. And we did. That was the beginning of Dream Corps—from passionate reaction to real action, a common enough beginning of a nonprofit.
Ambition
In the beginning, we were incredibly ambitious. We wanted to set up websites linking farmers to the market of their produces. We wanted to teach in rural schools. We wanted to do youth engagement. We wanted to train teachers and farmers in new technologies. We wanted to offer consultation in law, health, and policy. We attempted, or at least attempted to attempt, most of these in that first summer of 2004. We really had imagination; (and imagination we still have, plenty of it). Fortunately, we were also receptive and the reality on the ground cooperatively snapped us into the right mental frame. By the end of that summer it has become clear: We could be doing any one of these things, if we seriously organize ourselves around it, but probably no more than one.
Focus
In that hectic summer, we visited many schools. Every school we visited had a library, or really a room filled with shelves of books, sitting there gathering dust. It was a universal pattern, a pattern some of us knew firsthand when we ourselves were in grade schools back in China. At one of the schools, however, we brought some new books, opened up the school library that’s already filled with books. An essay contest on books and reading was organized; students’ reading responses were broadcasted through the school’s announcement system; a program integrating library access, reading, school newspaper, and broadcast station was struck, under the leadership of the school’s vice-principal. The power and charm of reading were palpable on the campus.
In our post-summer deliberations: this experience allowed a focus for Dream Corps to emerge: libraries, more specifically, open access to library materials that are already there. That, we felt, could be the most cost-effective way for us to help out; and we could send volunteers every year to stir and spur. Clear and simple, or so we thought.
Motto
While we were naive about what it would really take to open up libraries and keep them open, we were not too naive. We were all passionate, we knew that. But we were also wary of how transient passionate reactions tend to be and what damages they could do. We understood that the ground from which our actions sprung must not be passions on our part alone; it must instead resonate with all parties in the endeavor: students and parents, volunteers and organizers, teachers and administrators. Thus, Compassion instead of passion. We also knew clearly that we did not have the answer. We had instead a challenge. And Dream Corps could never be the whole answer to that challenge. It could be a part, a small but maybe catalytic part. That is, we are committed to Participation. And, of course, we wanted to do well, to be Excellent. But we did not want what is excellent to be defined by ourselves, to be defined as our feeling good. Excellence, for Dream Corps, does not mean “we” surpassing “them”, but rather we surpassing ourselves through enabling collective excellence, enabling children to achieve their own excellence.
The spirit of Dream Corps, in a nutshell, is excellence through compassionate participation.
(to be continued)
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 RegistrationFriday, May 21st, 2010
8:00-8:15 Icebreaker8:15-8:30 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 Icebreaker8:30 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...
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!
read more...
不久之前，我们号召大家在Twitter上帮我们转发一条信息。
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，
我们十分感谢Couchange那些可爱的人们：吉佳、
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，
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)