New Day – for women and girls in crisis across Asia

Girls at LOVEQTRA

Click here: Loveqtra2 to see a slideshow.

Our involvement and funding of the girls at the Sengchemdrukmo Girls Vocational Training School in Darlag County, Qinghai, continues in 2011.  SGVTS is a home and school that welcomes disadvantaged Tibetan girls who have often been rescued from a life of domestic bondage with no educational opportunities or hope for the future.  LOVEQTRA is the organisation that founded and runs the home.  They are also involved in disaster relief, senior care and medical assistance efforts in Qinghai.

After many obstacles in 2010 remitting money to Chinese NGOs, we were finally able to fund a heating system and washer/dryer for the home.  This was co-funded by our partner Silvercrest Foundation.  As a washing machine was subsequently donated to the home, LOVEQTRA will be using the remaining funds to build a laundry, canteen and new kitchen.

At a meeting with LOVEQTRA founder Philip Poh in Hong Kong this year we were pleased to hear of the progress of a number of the SGVTS girls, some of whom are now studying at better provincial schools and even at the Guangzhou Foreign Language School.  Please have a look at the LOVE REPORT 2010 for more information about the fantastic work they are doing.

We hope that New Day members will finally be able to visit SGVTS in 2011!

On the 23rd of August New Day co-funded a CNY118,518 grant along with the HK-based Silvercrest Foundation for the Sengchemdrukmo Girls Vocational Training School in Qinghai province, China.  The grant will be used by LOVEQTRA to install a heating system in the school and home as well as to purchase 2 industrial washer/dryer machines for the girls and staff.  This will be the first time that the girls will receive proper heating as they have had to rely on simple yak dung heaters in the past.  They will be able to improve their standards of hygiene and health by being able to wash their clothes and bed-clothes regularly whereas before they had to hand wash everything only a few times a year in the freezing stream.

SGVTS Building

This is the second grant that New Day has made to LOVEQTRA.  We wish them continued success with the wonderful work they are doing and we are happy to be a small part of it!  Thank you to the Silvercrest Foundation for partnering with us.

Girls at LOVEQTRA

In late February New Day approved a second grant to LOVEQTRA for the installation of a heating system in the girls’ home and school as well as the purchase of an industrial washer/dryer that would allow all the residents to regularly wash their clothes and bed clothes.  We secured co-funding from the HK-based Silvercrest Foundation and transferred the money to Qinghai.  Unfortunately the funds arrived on the 2nd of March a day after Beijing had implemented severe restrictions on the foreign funding of local NGO’s.  LOVEQTRA was not able to withdraw the funds from their account and they had to be repatriated to New Day in Hong Kong.  We are very sad about this and remain committed to LOVEQTRA.  We are currently looking for a solution to getting the funds to them but will have to wait until the situation calms down.  For details on this project you can have a look at the funding proposal we prepared for Silvercrest Foundation here;

LOVEQTRA proposal for Silvercrest Foundation

Ingrid Sun received the final report from LOVEQTRA on their use of the HK$98,000 in funding they received from New Day in June 2008.  They used the money to equip a new kitchen to feed the girls, construct a dining room table and benches where the girls eat their meals and complete the construction of the 3rd storey of the Home.  This 3rd storey space will house computers for the girls.

Have a look at the report for more details.  It is full of photographs of the Home and the girls.  final-report-for-new-day-sgh-nov-20081

Thanks, Ingrid, for all your hard work on this project!

Girls Home under construction ….

Girls sitting on their new benches …