Service Learning Trip to Shaoguan in Guangdong

In the north of Guangdong province, there is a small village in Shaoguan with around 100 children that now has access to a newly painted and stocked library, the final product of a service learning project that involved sixteen Morningside students. Prior to trip, which took place last week, the students conducted preliminary research on issues surrounding education in rural China and compiled background information about the region in question. This research was then supplemented by investigative interviews that students held with local primary school teachers, village elders, parents of the village children, and even with the children themselves. Armed with knowledge about the community’s needs and desires, the students went on to prepare the library, which involved cleaning out an unused village schoolhouse, putting fresh paint on the walls, and stocking newly made shelves with a combination of new and used children’s books. At the end of a long day and a half of preparation, the village children, who had by then gained a great interest in the visitors from Hong Kong, learned how to use and maintain the new library and immediately began to take advantage of their new supply of books. 

This summer, Morningside College offered four service trips for students as part of the General Education programme. Upon their return to Hong Kong, students will enroll in the Service Learning course, which will ask them to critically analyze and reflect upon their service work through a journal, essay, and poster.