Chehepu Story

Dazhangzi Town in Xinglong County , Hebei is a needy region, drought and lack of water. Peasants are poor and education is restricted. Local government ceded 80 mu of farmland as the practice field to Chehepu Middle School . The school raised ?18000Yuan on its own for finishing basic construction on 10-mu sapling nursery such as field housing, drilling drinking water well, electricity and etc. without government's appropriation. The field construction was in difficult situation because of fund shortage and long-lasting drought. Teacher Tinglu Liu got connection with the PF and posed the tuition aid program with the help of the county education bureau. The PF agreed on the sustainable tuition aid scheme after the on-the-spot investigation and evaluation. In Apr. 2001 Hong Kong Green & Shine Limited and the PF co-funded for setting up the tuition aid program - Green & Shine Orchard.

The tuition fund from the PF poured into new vigor for the field construction. The school drafted a new development plan based on local conditions. They boldly introduced new fine varieties including “Jingyou 9428” wheat seeds, “Huangguan” Pears, “Brazalian land” rice seeds, “Lumeikesi” herbage and etc. The school invested ?25000Yuan in drilling new well and purchasing spray irrigation. Teachers and students cleared the field, put land wall dykes in order, and cleared away weeds. It made the whole orchard an entirely new look and paved the way for fine operation of the program.

To assist needy students is the main aim of the program. The PF set up “Green & Shine Alma Mater's Scholarship” to fund those needy but excellent students while offering stock capital for the tuition aid program. The program supported 161 school children to continue their schooling and provided a scholarship of ?11750Yuan.

According to the PF's requirement, the community council was set up to discuss openly problems related to the program operation, income distribution and etc., and drew up the field personnel work system, the duty system and the financial system in order to develop the program orderly.The school owed substantial achievements to teachers' devotions and efforts.

Teacher Wenxue Zhao was always busy in the field in spite of illness. His family strongly supported him by undertaking most housework initiatively.

Teacher Cuiqin Jiang is female but undertaking heavy work as male teachers without any complaints. She had never mentioned she held up her treatment when she was ill for several times. She cooked meals for the field people during work.

Teacher Chunpu Liu had been taking the field as his own home, and always took good care of the orchard.

Teacher Wengui Zhao moved to the field from another post, and was unfamiliar with the fieldwork at the beginning but adapted himself to the new work soon. Now he was working on the ordinary post with a teacher's special sense of responsibility.

Now the Green & Shine orchard is flourishing including 20-mu “Jinfeng” pears, 20-mu “Huangguan” pears, 20-mu “Maihuang” apricots, 10-mu “Wulinghong” haws and the 10-mu example garden of chestnuts. It contains eager expectations of children in Chehepu.