"I know that only I can change the future for me and my family. I am
the hope of my family and they have very high expectations for me, so
I must work hard. Perhaps the only way is for me to enter university.
I have to study in the best university and let my family live a better
life...

I finally understand that real fortune comes from your contribution to
the society, the caring you devote to the others and the people you
have helped instead of the happiness, confidence, the perfect family
or the wealth you have."

-AIDS orphan in her memory book given to her by China Memory Book Network


Big Sister Big Brother Program
As we studied some of the thousands of memory books completed through our China Memory Book Project, we realized that in order to help bring the children out of their dark, seemingly inescapable present, we need to not only help them deal and connect with their past, but also with their future.
There was a section in all of the memory books for the children and parents to describe their hopes and thoughts on the future, and not by accident, many of the parents wrote that they hoped for an education and a bright future for their children while the children wrote their accounts mingled with uncertainty and worries.

China Memory Book Networks' Big Sister Big Brother Program aims to inspire and nurture the children with the future and the children's right to higher education and professional career in mind.

Hope, a friend, a future. Though the scale of the first chapter of the Big Sister Big Brother Program is limited, it has big potentials throughout the country in the coming years. The mentorship program with Chinese university students will be launched summer 2006 at Hua Nan University of Technology in Guangzhou July 26-30 for 10 children ages 7-12 and at Fudan University in Shanghai Aug 2-6 for 10 children ages 13-18. The children will be in a nurturing environment, accompanied by their village teachers and caring Chi Heng Foundation staff. The program for the children includes one-on-one interaction with their university student mentors, with the possibility of starting a long-term relationship through correspondence or mutual visits, a memory book workshop and various games and activities planned on campus and around the city.