The Amity Foundation

Service learning: testimonials from two Japanese students

Service learning students at the Amity Printing Company

Miku Kanamori and Kimie Hoshino from Japan were among the participants in the most recent round of Amity’s service learning program. They sent us their reflections.

I had many experiences through this service learning activity. All I did I found valuable and enjoyable. My main activities were translation at the John Rabe Memorial Hall and playing with disabled children at the Amity Home of Blessings.

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World Autism Day workshop

Shirley Paterson, an autism expert from Scotland, led a workshop for parents and teachers at the Amity Children’s Centre to mark World Autism Awareness Day on 2 April. Participants discussed several issues relating to the behaviour of autistic children. Ms. Paterson is an educational psychologist specialising in developmentally disabled and autistic children. Prior to the workshop, she had spent two weeks observing the children at the Centre and working closely with the teachers.

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Bakery sale at Nanjing park

In the run-up to Qingming Festival (“Tomb Sweeping Day”), one of the major holidays in the Chinese lunar calendar and this year falling on the Tuesday after Easter, clients of the Amity Bakery have been selling baked goods at Gongde Park in the Yuhua neighbourhood of Nanjing. The stall of the Bakery at the entrance to the park drew big crowds of people as the young people from the Bakery, supported by their parents, offered their products. All the proceeds from the sale are going to the Social Welfare Office of Nanjing City.

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Toys, books for school children from Deloitte

In January, Deloitte China appealed to all its branches to donate study materials, toys and books for students’ use after class for the benefit of students at Yuwangmiao Primary School (Shaanxi Province). Employees at the different branches contributed eagerly, and donations started piling up around Spring Festival. By the end of February, a total of 17 boxes had been sent on to the school. They contained more than 600 books as well as stationary, toys, sports equipment and clothes.

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Happy Cookie Angels at the Amity Bakery

A few days ago, the Amity Bakery welcomed a group of children – students from Yuhua Foreign Language School, Wulao Village Primary School, Youfu Street West Primary School, Dangu Street Primary School and Zhiyuan Foreign Language School. The youngest of them was ten, and they knew exactly what they wanted: learn how to make cookies.

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The future of deaf education in China

Photo courtesy of Stiftelsen Signo

Amity’s Wu An An, who heads the Social Welfare Division, was in Norway recently on behalf on the SigAm Bilingual Deaf Education Project. She had discussions with her counterpart at Signo, Knut Rune Saltnes, and with Prof. Stein Erik Ona from the University of Stavanger, who prepared a scientific evaluation of the project last year.

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The Amity Bakery: an Interview with Chu Chaoyu

The Social Venture Group, which advises foundations, corporations and individual donors on philanthropic opportunities in China, has published an interview with Chu Chaoyu, the director of Amity’s Social Service Center. In 2007 he helped set up the Amity Bakery, a social venture which aims to provide job skills training for the mentally challenged.

Giving the gift of Loving Heart Chocolate

The “Loving Heart Chocolate” campaign on Amity’s Chinese website has found strong resonance and has been supported by people from all walks of life. A lot of Nanjingers phoned in to order chocolates made by the disabled young people working at the Amity Bakery and to help make their dream of professional training come true.

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Letter from an Amity volunteer

Amity volunteer Lena Kassautzki has been teaching in Gansu Province since this summer. She has just sent us her first report, which we are publishing here.

Lena (right) with Amity volunteer Lea Steinlein

Ni hao! That is the normal greeting in China, the “middle kingdom”. For nearly three months, this amazing country has been my new home. I was not really sure about my year here: being so far away from home and with no one here who I know … and not least: I am an English teacher for Chinese middle school students. I could cope with all challenges (until now) and some of them turned out to be wonderful tasks.

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Home of Blessings staffers in Scotland

Amity staffers Chu Chaoyu and Wang Jing are visiting Scotland for two weeks to find out about techniques used to teach autistic children, The Press and Journal reports.