The joy of giving

High school students find innovative and viable solutions to tackle power crisis and control the scourge of malaria in Africa, Xing Wen reports.

Charity should begin at home, but should not stay there, says 17-year-old Li Yuqi, who's always on the qui vive for an opportunity to help the less privileged in strife-torn African nations.

An 11th grader at the Affiliated High School of Shanxi University in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, Li often yearned for a chance to volunteer in programs meant to benefit refugees and impoverished communities in Ethiopia, ever since she heard heartrending stories about their loss and despair from the family of a childhood friend who moved there.

Three years ago, she participated in an online research on empowerment of African women, which stiffened her resolve to help. The right opportunity came knocking this summer in the form of a competition that encourages high school students to propose and execute public welfare projects to improve medical, nutritional and educational conditions of vulnerable groups in Africa.