Rabobank China team brings sustainability education to Hope school

In early November Rabobank China staff visited our Hope School with an altitude of 2,400 meters in Yunlong County, western part of Yunnan Province over 500 kilometers from Kunming. In 2008 a new three-story classroom building sponsored by Rabobank Shanghai Branch was put into use and the school was named ‘Yunlong Rabobank Hope School’. Since then continuous efforts from the bank and staff have been made to improve the learning and living facilities of the students. Apart from the annual donation of stationary and books, we helped build the computer room, the dormitory, the student canteen and sometime ago a purified drinking water equipment donated as a result of a TCF client event.

The school currently has around 67 students ranging from pre-school level to fifth grade. The two-day activities in the school revolved around the theme of ‘Sustainability’ and brought sustainability education to children in enjoyable ways. Following a warm welcome from the headmaster and the children, Paul Schuilwerve, CEO of Rabobank China and Vivian Li, Chief Risk Officer gave a joint lecture to all students on ‘Tips of Environment Protection’. Later, we split ourselves into different groups to give lessons to each grade, including athletic dancing, leaf painting, scientific experiment, and introduction on the Netherlands (Why Dykes and Delta works, windmills, Royal family, tulips, skating and Ajax) .The next day started with tree planting, an activity to raise sustainability awareness for the children. The excitement and enjoyment continued when we played various fun games with the children afterwards.