Last Fall when I visited the LingYun region of southern China, near the border with Vietnam, I was amazed to meet little children who hike for hours on mountains paths to reach rural schools. These same children then live in dorms ... not getting home for weeks at a time. The living conditions for these children was saddening.
It was hard to imagine 10 to 12 year old children living away from home at such a young age. Thus, I'm expanding my dorm project to include Legos! These "dorm children" have nothing except what a small backpack holds. Wouldn't it be neat if in addition to rebuilding their dorm, we gave the kids some basic Legos to play with? ... nothing fancy ... just basic building kits. I've found Legos to be almost indestructible, and for children the fun of building is universal. When school and homework are completed for the day, these children could play with Legos! Last year I brought books to the school I rebuilt. This year ... Legos and Loppets!
If you have used Legos, please send them to me. I will take them to the children of LingYun. I have two requirements:
- Legos should be in good condition
- Legos should be basic construction pieces
You may either contact me by email for more instructions, or just send (or drop off) your Legos to:
- Rich Hoeg (the Northstar Nerd!)
- 3924 Wisconsin Avenue North
- New Hope, Minnesota 55427
In addition, please consider a financial donation to help cover the cost of rebuilding the dorm. In the U.S.A., your donation is tax deductible via the China Tomorrow Education Foundation (CTEF). Here is background concerning the dorm rebuilding project:
Finally, I've attached two photos and a map from my recent trip to JiaYou. One photo shows me with the JiaYou kids; the second photo are some LingYun children who need your help.
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