April Chiasson

Do you look forward to falling in love? What do you think falling in love will be like?  These are some questions, Xiaochun, a teacher at Tuanjie Town Middle School in Yunnan asked students during a CWEF-sponsored mental health class this past fall. 

Teacher Teng talked in depth with students about how to have healthy romantic relationships.  Together they discussed many things including the difference between liking someone and loving someone:

• Liking: Refers to mutual empathy, which includes a positive assessment of each other as well as a shared respect and appreciation.
• Loving: Includes a need for intimacy with the other person. It also includes a shared dependency and tendency to help each other. Additionally, it involves exclusively loving that one person. 

The class also discussed 5 principles that contribute to having a healthy romance:

1. Expectations: Clarify the emotional expectations for yourself and others. 
2. Timing: early adulthood (18-25 years old) is an important time for establishing intimacy, students should reserve their best selves for the right person. 
3. Distance: students discussed four types of interpersonal distance, so that they can understand the importance of maintaining appropriate interpersonal boundaries 
4. Capacity to Love: students were encouraged to first learn to love themselves and then to develop an ability to understand and work well with others before seeking out a romantic relationship
5. Alignment of Values: students reflected on the importance of sharing the same values with their significant other 

Concluding Message:

Always believe in love and look forward to it. Have the confidence to love yourself. Cultivate an ability to love others. Love can be perfect, or it can have regrets. Whether the students experience the luck of falling in love at first sight or the sadness of unrequited love, both are part of life. It is hoped that students can face the gains and losses in their future relationships with a positive attitude, learn to grow through love, and have faith that someday they will enjoy sharing life with someone who is a great match for them!

THANK YOU for partnering with CWEF and supporting the mental health of young people in China!  Because of you, these students have a better chance of enjoying healthier romantic relationships and making wise choices about love both now and in the future.

Few decisions are as impactful on personal thriving as the ones made about love and romance. Thank you for being part of equipping these students to become leaders that will strengthen their own communities.

Hello!  Thank you for generously supporting education for young girls from Yunnan China!

 One of the young ladies you support, Zibu, wrote you a thank you letter. Here are a few excerpts from it:

#1 “Despite my family’s poverty and my parents’ constant ill health, which prevents them from working outside the home to earn a living, I have always lived frugally at school, constantly worried about overspending and adding to their burden. However, since receiving your generous financial support, I have felt less burdened and more confident. My parents have also been relieved, and my entire family is deeply touched. We have realized that even in dark times, there is light and warmth.”

#2 “Thanks to your selfless assistance, we have overcome one obstacle after another.”

#3 “Your support has been like a boat on my academic journey, carrying my boundless hopes and dreams across vast seas, propelling me towards poetry and distant horizons. No matter how arduous or tiring life and studies may be, they cannot deter my steps. For on my path of endeavor, your care and companionship have ensured that I never feel lonely or lost.”

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Did you catch that? According to Zibu, YOU have helped her feel less burdened and more confident. YOU have shown her that even in dark times there is hope. YOU have helped her overcome many obstacles.  And YOU have ensured that she never feels lonely or lost. THANK YOU for standing in the gap and generously helping to educate young women in rural China like Zibu!  

*Please note that, due to new laws, we are no longer able to share images of our scholarship students.  Even without their faces, I hope that you can hear Zibu’s gratitude for all that you have done. 

Would you like to know when there are opportunities to support students like Zibu? Sign up for CWEF updates here.

By Hayley Steinbauer, Program Impact Coordinator, Cambodia

Interview with Navin, CWEF Scholarship Student studying Public Administration 

Navin climbs the steep stairs to show me where she and the other students sleep. The room is large and has around three bunk beds. There is a bathroom unattached from the bedroom. She lives in a Christian dorm with six other girls while she studies in Phnom Penh. Most universities in Cambodia do not have housing options on campus; students either live with family or rent out a single, windowless small room big enough for a bed and a few belongings.   

Those from rural areas may not have family living in Phnom Penh and renting a room may be too expensive. It’s a roadblock for many students. On top of that, young believers are leaving their church communities back home. In a country that is 3% Christian, young Christian believers, who are often first-generation Christians, are thrust into a new environment without their usual support systems.  

Can you imagine living your whole life in a village with less than 115 families and then moving to a city with 3 million people where you don’t know anyone? Can you imagine being a new believer and having to leave your church community? It sounds like a recipe for leaving the faith and dropping out of school, doesn’t it? But it doesn’t have to be that way. 

CWEF recognizes that graduating with a degree is one achievement but also growing in character and faith is vital. We care about who they are becoming, not just what they know. So, we connect our Cambodian scholarship recipients with vetted dorms that can also be spiritual communities.  

That is Navin’s story. As a recipient of a CWEF scholarship, we connected Navin with a Christian dorm in Phnom Penh. The dorm is safe, clean, and provides her with continued spiritual and emotional support. The Christian community further develops her faith while she is attending university.

Navin enjoyed her first year studying Public Administration. She participated in many group projects and trips that allowed her to grow professionally. And she also had a lot of chances to build relationships in her dorm.  

None of this would be possible without your donations. Thank you for supporting new believers as they grow academically and spiritually. By giving to the scholarship program in Cambodia, you are helping to make disciples of all nations!  

Q&A WITH NAVIN:

1. Tell me about your family. How would you describe your hometown? For girls, what is the norm in your hometown – do girls get married young, drop out of school, graduate from high school?   My name is Navin. I have 5 siblings, 2 brothers, 2 sisters and me. My father passed away in 2013. In the last few years my mother was not sick. She went to the rice field in seasons to do farming. When she has time free and is not working in the rice field she does housework. My village is a remote area. It is not far from district, but it is not too big. There are only 115 families. People know my village because we have a lot of children there who do not go to school. The majority of girls stop studying at the age of 15 years old and are then up for marriage. Other girls work outside the country. 

2. How many people were in your high school graduating class? Six hundred people have graduated from my high school. My class had 33 students, 19 girls and there were only 5 girls that continued onto university.   

3. How many of your family members have been to university?  In my family, I’m the only one to study at university.    

4. How has your family reacted to you wanting to attend university?  I told my mother, I would continue to the university. She allowed me to attend, but she did not have enough money for me if I continued. So I needed to find someone to support me because she was not able to support me.    

5. What will this university degree do for your future?  After I graduate, I am going to apply to a good job.  

6. Is it easy or hard to get a job with the degree you are getting? Why or why not?  When I get my graduation certificate it is easy to apply for jobs. Recently, they need people who have graduated with degrees in public administration. 

7. How much does a someone in public administration make in a year?  The income for working in public administration is $3160 to $5600 a year. 

8. Why did you want to go to university?  I went to university because I want to help myself, family, and my external society through my special skills and resources that I have, especially in learning the Bible from Jesus.  

9. Would you have been able to attend university without this scholarship?  I continued in the university without a scholarship, but I was troubled with finances between studying and working together.

10. If you could say something to one of our donors, what would you say? If I met with the donors, I would like to say thank you for supporting my study in the university.