Smiles of China: COVID-19 Update

First and foremost, Smiles of China GC extends our best wishes to all those experiencing significant impacts from the coronavirus pandemic. The following post outlines our response to the ongoing situation. 

Adapting to the conditions of remote learning, we decided to resume our weekly lunchtime meeting via Google Meet. We understand the importance of maintaining communication and consistent meetups in developing a more flexible routine and ensuring the continued development of our activities. Most importantly, we recognise the necessity of resuming our service activity, promoting our cause and supporting our partner NGO, the New Hope Foundation in these difficult times. We are currently getting in touch with the New Hope Foundation, and will provide updates on the impacts of the virus on their daily operations in upcoming posts. 

Unfortunately, being unable to physically go to school, we are unable to carry on with our Milk Tea Sustainable Enterprise Project as planned. We are very much looking forward to resuming this project once we return to school, if possible.

For the time being, our main focus would be:

1. Developing our portfolio: Redesigning and updating content. 
2. Reflecting on our progress with our projects (Milk Tea Enterprise, Sustainable Enterprise Product, Boomerang Bags collaboration).
3. Creating videos (or other material) for advocacy and GC promotion.
4. Creating a calendar plan for the next school year.
5. Resume our work with the Sustainable Enterprise Product (soaps) when possible, with the aim for approval by the start of next school year.

 We recognise the value of advocacy and awareness raising for our cause and New Hope Foundation within the wider school community and will place our main focus on revamping our portfolio and developing content in hopes of sharing our GC’s growth.

Reflection is another important aspect to service activity. This was imperative to our transition from regular, face-to-face meetings in school, to the digital platforms and routines of remote learning. From weekly reflections to wider reflections on the past two seasons, we will implement aspects of the SWOT analysis to better organise our thoughts. We recognise that reflections not only entail identifying areas of development but also celebrating the achievements of our GC. Through such reflections, we seek to further improve the efficiency of our GC and allow future members to learn from our mistakes and successes. We are taking a future focused approach, and would like to use this “digital” period to improve and set an effective base platform for the upcoming year.

A skill well represented within our GC has been self awareness and self management. A clear example of this is role distribution and delegation. This is an important element to collaboration due to its link to group cohesion and efficiency. Our weekly meetings are beginning to display increasing efficiency, as members grow more familiar and effective with the routines and technologies. Despite being in such unpredictable times, Smiles of China GC is determined to uphold our values, showing commitment to our cause and support for the New Hope Foundation.