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Amy Nip

No gifts were allowed when the vice-principal of an international school celebrated his 50th birthday.
Instead, Arnett Edwards,  of King George V School,  asked his guests to donate to a home for disabled children on the mainland, which he describes as his third home - after his hometown in England and Hong Kong, where he has lived for 12 years. 
'I don't feel like I really need anything. But clearly there are children who need something,' he said. 
In the past decade, Edwards has raised more than HK$500,000 for Xining  Children's Home,  co-run by Christian Action  and the Xining government. He also takes Hong Kong students to visit the 150 children there every year. 
Edwards says the home gives him strength. 'I admire the children. You gain so much strength watching what they overcome. What we face is minor as compared to the difficulties they face. They approach what they are doing with a huge smile,' he said. 
The children in the home are orphans with  mental or physical disabilities. 'Sunshine', who has mental disabilities and cannot walk properly, is one of them. He joined the home at the age of six  after he was found chained to the gates  during an open day. He is now known as an extrovert who enjoys singing.
Another,  'Little Golden Cow', is paralysed and in a wheelchair. 'Staff thought he wouldn't survive ... but he's now huge,' Edwards laughed. The boy is now in Primary Three. 
Edwards' work with the disadvantaged children started 10 years ago when he was head of the upper school at West Island School. He wanted to take a group of students to work  on the mainland and the home in Qinghai , which had opened two years earlier, caught his eye. 
Qinghai is a remote part of China and the temperature can  drop to below freezing. 'It's a tough part of the world to live in,' he said. 
A total of 100 students have each spent about a week at the home in the past decade. The young volunteers help by feeding the children and taking them on  excursions. 'There's a lot of tears in the end because of the bond they form,' he said. 
Patricia Yu Mon-yee, 17, went to Qinghai this year.  She smiled as she  spoke of Binbin, who was born with deformed hands and had more than 10 operations on them.  'He taught me how to play the piano,' she said. 
Over the years, Edwards has organised  fund-raising events  for the home, such as a  gala dinner at Government House before Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen moved in.  It raised HK$220,000. At  his 50th birthday  party this year, he raised HK$15,000 from family and friends. 'This gift is so much bigger [than  other gifts],' he said.



Vice-principal shuns gifts to help needy children in Qinghai