A wide body of scholarly research has documented the benefits to children of experiential learning, especially to their confidence, self-esteem and leadership abilities. Examples of experiential learning could include teaming up with peers to make model buildings, taking a field trip to a local museum, or simply playing games that require organization and teamwork. But the unfortunate reality is that the poor children who stand to gain most from this sort of learning generally have the least access to it.

So we were thrilled to spend last Saturday afternoon providing health and wellness experiential activities to a group of particularly needy students from our home city of Kunming who come from challenging family situations or face developmental disabilities.

Donkey donated an entire weekend afternoon of his own time and the support of several of his staff members, forgoing revenue from paying customers to teach this group of needy children some fundamentals of living healthy through physical activity, basic fitness drills, rock climbing and rappelling. He also talked to the students about his own path from his youth in a poor countryside family to his current status as a successful small business owner. Dali Bar founder Colin Flahive also led the students through camping and emergency first aid activities.

Many thanks to Heart-to-Heart, TNS and volunteers from the Where There Be Dragons Princeton Bridge Year Program for making this incredible afternoon happen, we had a great time!

Last week Village Progress ran an art and English program for students at Yanhuang Elementary School, a private school in Kunming that serves students from a broad range of the socioeconomic spectrum. Yanhuang, a private school, is academically rigorous with high-performing students, but its approach to education emphasizes character-building, compassion and a broad scope of vision.

 
We had a lot of fun interacting with kids from grades one through six. After a short English lesson, local artists took the reins and taught the students how to explore their creative side making hand puppets with only a few strips of paper and a brown paper bag. As the volunteers (gap-year students, foreigners, and local artists) went from student to student offering feedback we were amazed by the creativity the students showed. Some grades had kids whose bodies had been partly burned, but these disabilities did not discourage them in the least.

 
Taking advantage of these new creations, we used the puppets to study the colors, shapes, and animals in English through role-playing activities. At the end some students named their puppets and then introduced themselves and their puppets to the class. We have more funding available from a generous supporter who instructed that it be used specifically to provide art and creative education to needy students. Anybody with ideas about deserving schools and/or projects should feel free to contact us to discuss further.