Community Service through Art

June 15th 2019 once again showed that Wellington College Tianjin has many pupils who are ready to devote their time and energy to a good cause. Senior School pupils Eva, Edgar, Susan, Maggie, Timothy, Harry, William and Yuki showed what putting the Wellington values into actions really means.

“As volunteers, we conducted a Star Blessed Baby Skilful Hands’ Day charity activity to help eight children with autism aged 3 to 17 years. Autistic children, also known as children from the stars, live in their own world and find it hard to communicate with others. But these children often have extraordinary artistic talent. Wellington College Tianjin has a remarkable tradition in art education. From the beginning of this term, we planned a charity activity to help autistic children to enjoy the world of art through craft production. We named it Star Blessed Baby Skilful Hands’ Day.

On Skilful Hands’ Day, volunteers were divided into eight groups to make three-dimensional stickers and flower buttons with autistic children. As soon as the children entered the school, they were deeply attracted by the art work on display in the corridors, and the sense of distance between unfamiliar environments was diminished by the art. When they entered the art classroom, the enthusiasm of the volunteers defused the shyness of the children. Soon, the youngest volunteer, Year 9 William and Year 11 Edgar, were clapping their hands to encourage the children in the group. The 17-year-old boy in Timothy's group wrote “thank you” to Timothy on a piece of paper after finishing the sticker; the girls in Susan's group made flower buttons,  and there were many volunteers working with their children: Yuki was playing with a little boy, Macey and Maggie were drawing with two little girls, with Harry and Mary helped their children to do the handicrafts.   In that moment, I suddenly felt that we were all grown up. In the process of helping autistic children to recover, we felt a sense of responsibility, love and patience. We also harvested the happiness of helping others. I would like to sincerely thank the volunteers, Ms Rogic and the school for their support. At the end of next term, Star Blessed Baby Skilful Hands’ Day will continue, and more students are expected to participate in it; we are looking forward to harvesting and growing together in these charity activities.”   “When Eva contacted me with the idea to help autistic children I was touched by her enthusiasm and willingness to unselfishly do something for others. Their integrity and kindness in helping these children and their families, fed by a sense of responsibility for the community they live in, helped them up be courageous and step out of their comfort zone on a Saturday morning and use their time to support and encourage autistic children in making beautiful pieces of art. It was heart-warming to see these young people involved in this amazing project which, I hope, we will see happening more frequently and with more student support in years to come. ”