Donate a pencil to Support Girls‘ Education

It has been a while since schools started and hopefully students are settling in well after the long summer break. In Hong Kong, we tend to take education for granted but for girls in Cambodia, they are forced to drop out of school and get married because of poverty, and are exposed to threats like violence and pregnancy complications.

Sangorn’s father abandoned the family to remarry after the death of his wife, leaving the burden of supporting the family to the 15-year-old. Sangorn eventually had to drop out of school and get married, for the sake of having a man to provide for the family.

To support girls’ study and raise awareness of the issue of child marriage, Plan International Hong Kong will launch the 6th Donate a Pencil Campaign.

The public is invited to donate unused pencils or purchase pencils on site (HK$20 per pack). For convenience sake, we have also launched an online charity sale (HK$60 for 3 sets of pencils with a greeting card). In order to support more needy children, Emperor Watch and Jewellery (HK) Company Limited will match HK$60 for each online pencil donation. Meanwhile, you’re welcome to visit our Facebook page and share the specific post starting from mid-October.  Angel Tong (International) Holdings Limited will donate HK$10 for each share.

Your kind gesture will support girls to receive education, a powerful tool to lessen their chances of becoming victims of child marriage.

Child actor Leander Lau calls on public support

Back in late August, Leander Lau visited Cambodia and spent a unique summer holiday there. Realising it is not easy for underprivileged children to go to school, he encourages the public to support the meaningful initiative, “By donating pencils, you can encourage students to stay in school and pursue their dreams.”

Leander encourages the public to support the Donate a Pencil Campaign.

Fund use

Pencils collected this year will be sent to children in Cambodia and Hong Kong (via Silver Stationery Shop). The funds raised will be used to support Plan International’s work in Cambodia:

• Build a primary school equipped with basic teaching tools and access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities
• Provide training to community leaders, village chiefs, teachers and health workers and invite them to conduct awareness education sessions with parents and teenagers on the positive impacts of delayed marriage and how to prevent teenage pregnancy

Last year’s event highlights

Over 31,000 pencils were sent to children in Vietnam and Hong Kong. A total of HK$440,000 was raised to support the construction of a dormitory. Plan International also organised workshops to promote the importance of education among girls and their parents and enhance their knowledge in harmful consequences of child marriage and trafficking, etc.

Workshops were organised in Vietnam to promote girls’ rights.

Since the launch of this annual event, over 230,000 pencils were collected and sent to children in China, Ghana, Nepal, Northern Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Hong Kong. The funds raised were used to support Plan International’s programmes to support girls in developing countries.

The 6th Donate a Pencil Campaign is supported by the following corporate sponsors: