On August 14-19, all of the CWEF staff gathered in Hong Kong for the annual staff retreat. Once again this year, the retreat was held at Dao Fung Shan Christian Centre. The emphasis this year was developing a greater understanding of the mission statement, the role and responsibilities of development workers and growing in faith through fellowship activities and devotions.
Staff from each of the offices had time to share with the rest of the staff about accomplishments over the past year and one of the greatest moment of celebration came when the university interns from Guangdong province presented. Many of the interns first learned about CWEF when they were high school scholarship recipients. As they began their university careers, they asked for internship opportunities rather than scholarships. With the assistance of these interns, the GROW program was started to work with left-behind children living in rural Guangdong province.
At the retreat, the interns presented their vision to develop a non-governmental organization to continue to partner with CWEF and the GROW program after they graduate from university. It was encouraging for the whole staff to see the impact of the CWEF programs not only in terms of academics but to see our organizational values of people and service embodied in the lives of these young women.
Another aspect of the retreat this year was the presentation of awards to volunteers who have supported CWEF this year. An awards dinner was held on August 15 and volunteers facilitated sessions throughout the week more awards were presented. As a small organization, CWEF is thankful for all of the support of our volunteers. It would not be possible to get as much accomplished without the dedicated love and support of these talented volunteers!