Hello AISG Community! We are the Upper Secondary GCED (Global Citizenship Education) group, Indifferent to Difference (ItoD). We work with autism centers and organizations around Guangzhou to raise awareness on this sensitive issue as well as supporting those with autism.
Before we begin, we would like to express our deep gratitude to everyone that has allowed this community service group to prosper despite the difficult circumstances for community service groups in the last three years. Thank you to our supervisors, the PTA, faculty members, interested parents, and anyone who has supported our mission and contributed to our growth since 2020. The time they have contributed and the money that they have generously donated have gone lengths to guide our group and our cause. Thank you.
We’d love to share with you all the fruition that your support of our group has yielded in this quarter, and we look forward to sharing our future projects as well!
Visit III
One of the aspects of service that we hope to do better moving forward is to increase the amount of awareness our community has on this unique issue, starting from our own ItoD members. Two days after completing our spray-painting event, we hosted our third “Visiting Trip” to the autism center Bellway Education, located in Baiyun. Students listened to professional instructors teach the appropriate ways to interact with autistic children, and participated in various activities with the kids, like painting, shadow puppetry, toy unboxing, and much more.
Trips like these are an opportunity to bring our members out into the real world and give them the experience of interacting with the community that we serve, rather than reading generic information about this community off a PowerPoint. The only way to truly benefit this community in a meaningful way is to first understand them, to get hands on experience, and see the “why we do what we do.”
Composite Canvas and Spray Paint I
One of the projects that we have been attempting to put together since last school year is our Composite Canvas project. Half of the canvas is made by AISG students, while the other half will be made by students at the autism center, creating one cohesive piece of canvas to be hung in the school. We hope that our little piece of art can symbolize our connection and support of the autistic community for years to come.
To create our AISG student side of the canvas, we decided to use warm colored spray paints, turning this into a Thursday afterschool community event called Spray Paint I. Our group took safety precautions and primed the canvases ahead of time before our members arrived.
To create the autism center side of the canvas, we purchased cold-colored acrylic paints and turned it into a hand painting and bonding activity with the kids at the center. The activity was quite fun.
Future Projects
We are grateful of all the support we have received from our community, allowing us to run our service projects and awareness campaigns. We have many events coming up, and we’d love to let you see some of the projects and ideas that we’re anxious to share. Stay tuned for our new events, and once again, we sincerely appreciate all the support!
At AISG, we empower our community to take action locally and globally to bring about positive change. The Global Citizenship Education program offers students a chance to learn and grow by contributing their time and talents to a variety of service projects.