Welcome to Beijing Buddies
Beijing Buddies is MCF’s drop in volunteer project – and you can get involved, whether you’re in Beijing for a day, a week or a year!
Every week, our BB volunteers travel to a migrant school in Beijing and become a ‘buddy’ to the pupils – all of whom are the children of migrant families living close by. As a buddy, your job is to devote your time and attention to these children, and to create an environment where they feel happy and secure. In the course of their ordinary lives, migrant children spend a great deal of time in the classroom, working or helping their families: our aim is to allow them to do what children do best and have fun! We run Beijing Buddies sessions on two days during the week – Fridays from 1.00pm to 4.00 pm and Saturdays from 10 am to 1.00 pm.
Our Aims:
- To foster cross-cultural engagement between volunteers and migrant communities
- To give volunteers the chance to see a different part of the city and to contribute to the wider Beijing community
- To encourage children to play as well as learn – the focus of Beijing Buddies is upon nurturing as well as educating
- To foster creativity, literacy, physical activity and self-respect amongst the children
- To encourage leadership and mentoring skills
Be a Beijing Buddy!
You don’t need any specific skills or qualifications to be a buddy (except for our Friday teaching sessions) – you just need to be enthusiastic and willing to give your time and attention to these children for a few hours. Depending on the session you attend, you might teach a child a new skill, read a story book, make a huge handprint collage or referee an energetic game of basketball.
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