Sponsors and scholarships help disadvantaged Chinese youth

Mennonite Central Committee
Friday, 23 March 2001

AKRON, Pa. -- School costs are skyrocketing in China, in some cases eclipsing a family's annual income, said Jeanette Hanson who teaches with China Educational Exchange, an inter-Mennonite agency.

Hanson reported on a new Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Global Family project in northeastern Sichuan Province. Through Global Family, MCC's program of education sponsorship, 13 students are able to continue their studies. The project is Global Family's first in China.

"China's economy has been developing at an incredible rate over the past years, but mostly in the cities" said Hanson. "Since 70 percent of the population still lives in rural areas, huge numbers of people are left behind in the race to get rich.

"Children with no parents, from single-parent families or in families whose resources are limited for other reasons such as illness often don't have the chance to continue their education."

For more information, or to contact Mennonite Central Committee, see their website at: www.mcc.org