POWER OF LOVE

"Power of Love", a charitable organization registered in Hong Kong, was established in 1998, with the aim to improve the lives of young children in poor rural regions of mainland China, through education.  In collaboration with the Local and Central Ministries of Education in the mainland, "Power of Love" has completely rebuilt and expanded 60 dilapidated schools in Guangxi, Guangdong, Qinghai, Guizhou, Hubei, Henan, Hunan, Inner Mongolia, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Gansu provinces of China, since 1998, with donations ranging from RMB150,000 to RMB300,000 depending on the size of the buildings and the student population.  These schools have a total student population of about 13,000.  Many of the beneficiaries are primary school children whose parents are poor subsistence farmers.  All the Directors are volunteers and Power of Love operates without any full time paid staff, and hence "Power of Love" has only minimal administrative fees.

"Power of Love" has noted that about 15% of these students who attend these schools come from families who live well below the poverty line, where these students lack basic materials such as books, stationery, clothing, shoes and items of personal hygiene.  This translates to about 2,000 children from these 60 schools.  Although there is free education for children from Primary One to Form 3 in mainland China, each student needs to pay for their books, stationery, miscellaneous charges from the schools amounting to about RMB1,800 for the 6-year primary education.  Furthermore, students who live far away from home have to pay additional boarding fees to the schools, YMB200 to 300 per month.

Their parents simply lack the means to pay their children's daily needs, let alone the additional schooling charges.  We strongly believe that education for these children is the main way for them to escape the vicious cycle of poverty.  With education, these children will then be able to make use of the opportunities in life to improve their own standard of living and those of their future generations.  In the longer run, it will be for the better of our whole community.

We would be most grateful if we can have your generous support to the good cause. We propose to fund

a) HK2,000 (YMB1,800) for provision of basic necessities to a pupil for 6 years

b) HK$3,500 (YMB3,000) for a student annual boarding fee

c) HK$4,500 (YMB4,000) for 250 sets stationery for all students in one school

d) HK$30,000 (YMB25,000) for one classroom

e) HK$170,000 to 300,000 (YMB150,000 to 250,000) for one block of school building

I hope to appeal to your kind thoughts for funding of the above.  Please let me know if you have any enquiries. Ms Ivy Lam (tel: 9125 7728) is Honorary Director of this Organization, would also be happy to elaborate and provide more details on their track record of school building in poor rural regions of China.

Once again we thank you in advance for your kind support to the “Power of Love”. We look forward to receiving your positive reply.

S. L. Ho

Professor in Neurology

The University of Hong Kong

Honorary Advisor

Power of Love

August 18, 2008