Helping Hands

Natasha Weaser

Yew Chung International School of Shanghai

Natasha Weaser, a student at Yew Chung International School (YCIS), started getting involved with charity work and community service after a Year 8 trip to Yangshuo.

It was her "first time seeing any poverty ... [it was] a real eye opener," Weaser says. After returning to Shanghai, the 17 year old made it her mission to look up local charities she could work with.

She decided on the charity Heart to Heart, an organisation which raises money for children with heart defects, and has been volunteering for the last five years. On weekends, Weaser spends time with Heart to Heart children, and volunteers at Heart to Heart’s bazaars.

Lucky enough to help carry the Olympic torch in 2008, Natasha also used the opportunity to do her own “sponsorship run”, collecting enough money to eventually fund heart operations for three children.

But that’s not all. The busy teenager also helped organise a clothes drive at YCIS this year, collecting fall and winter clothes for the Jo Charles Foundation to distribute in rural Sichuan. On Saturdays, Weaser also teaches English to migrant children with her friends.

When asked what her favourite part of working with children is, Weaser says: "Definitely their smiles. They are so happy we are there."

Cedric Brenninkmeijer and Holly Brooke

Dulwich College Shanghai

Cedric Brenninkmeijer and Holly Brooke aren’t just giving back to the community. They’re also showing other students how to do the same.

The two senior students at Dulwich College have been working together to start a student-led charity committee at their school.

Brooke is the founding committee chair, and together with Brenninkmeijer, the committee secretary, they have been organising various fundraising events for their school to get involved with. One of the most successful has been a school bake sale, which started as a monthly event but is now a weekly fundraiser for local charities.

The funds raised by the student charity committee are primarily donated to two organisations: Home Sweet Home, and the Jo Charles Foundation. Home Sweet Home organises students to teach disabled, homeless factory workers English, while Dulwich’s charity committee raises money for the Jo Charles Foundation to help build schools in rural China.