CBFA Campaign, June 2012
Recently the Chinese Beneficence Federation of Australia (CBFA) held a series of related activities so as to underscore its concern for children's health and growth, with such events as visiting children with disability and their parents, cultural performances at schools, presenting books and gifts to schools as well as individual children.
The CBFA is a charity founded in Sydney in 2011. Its campaign reached its climax when on June 16 Mr James Liu President and other members visited the Chinese Parents Association-Children With Disabilities (CPA), with which the CBFA has had a long history of partnership.
The visitors first attended a CPA-led therapeutic class where disabled preschool children were observed as fully engaged in the therapy process through playing games, dancing and linguistic training. The highlight was a stage performance from the school band (all the grades being involved), which performed the song "Tomorrow Will Be Better" with guitar, keyboard and tambourine accompaniment. Volunteer artists as well as staff from both the CBFA and CPA also performed dances and pop songs for the children and their parents.
"The purpose of having kids with disabilities perform in front of a live audience is to help them get more sociable and better integrated into society,” Mr Liu declared.
Three additional cultural events were also organised by the CBFA as part of the campaign and to frame International Children’s day, jointly with the Daisy Learning Center, Campsie Public School and Harcourt Public School. During the performances the children were not only entertained by such classics as the ribbon dance and Chinese Kungfu, but also they were given a strong sampling of Chinese culture.
Ms Elly Li President of the CPA, Ms Nina Corda Director of the Daisy Learning Centre,Ms Susan Shan one of the owners of the Daisy Learning Center, Ms Elizabeth Bransgrove Vice-Chancellor of Campsie Public school and Ms Elizabeth Markovski Vice-Chancellor of Harcourt Public School all expressed their thanks to the staff of CBFA for their contribution to the community and for having enriched the children’s potential.
One of the highlights occurred when on behalf of the CBFA Mr Liu presented touch-to-listen Chinese books to the schools, which immediately captured the attention of the children. Simply touching the words of the book with an animal-shaped pen, they heard a sweet voice reading the Chinese words and were manifestly delighted.
Mr Liu expressed his view that the children can definitely benefit from sharing International Children's Day and its multicultural dimensions. “They can better understand the multicultural characteristic of the Australian society," he declared at the end of the CBFA campaign.