Letter to Volunteers of the World

Dear Friends,

The Mothers' Bridge of Love (MBL) is a charitable organisation, registration number 1105543. It was founded by Xinran, author of ‘The Good Women of China' & ‘Sky Burial', and columnist for The Guardian [G2].

Tens of thousands of Chinese children, mainly girls, have been adopted by western families since 1992.As they grow up they face some painful questions:

“Why didn’t my Chinese mummy want me?”

More than half of the Chinese population lives in poverty. Millions of children in the countryside can only dream of a decent education:

“How can I ever go to school”?

Meanwhile millions of overseas Chinese children hardly understand their roots:

“What is Chinese culture?”

MBL’s mission is to help find answers to these questions; to build a bridge between China and the rest of the world; between birth culture and adoptive culture; and between rich and poor.

We have set up a head office in London as well as a Culture Centre in Beijing, which runs the MBL web site and the MBL magazine first published in October 2004.  There is also an Events Centre in Nanjing for Chinese children to learn traditional Chinese art and music and to provide an opportunity to go to see how children live in the countryside.

We hope a new generation of Chinese can develop more pride in their heritage and become interested in what being Chinese is in today’s world, and through this to help more poor kids experience the support and love of people around the world.

MBL has received a lot of support from across the world since our web site was published.  Now, our London office has 10 volunteers working on daily management tasks and website upkeep.

We need your support to Chinese children in the following ways:

A. Advisers Group

This group helps to develop our membership through one or two events and activities every year, to check the monthly MBL magazine’s language, and to advise on the development of the web site.

B. Networking Volunteers

These volunteers will help organize ten westerners to write letters to Chinese children every month about who they are, what they are doing, what they think about Chinese culture including food, theatre, urban culture, etc.  These letters will include photos and a simple introduction according to the writer’s discretion.

C. Student Volunteers (divided into 3 groups)

These volunteers will either work with the planning and organization of events, office work (one afternoon per week) or, if you have an interest in Chinese art, in the Exhibitions section.

Your time at MBL will become valuable working experience as well as a valuable addition to your CV. If you are interested in volunteering with MBL please email your CV, photograph and ‘five sentences’ about who you are and your thoughts about MBL.

Lots of love and regards from MBL and all Chinese children.

Please contact John McGovern or Li Yi at:
headoffice@motherbridge.org

MBL