She is a Shanghai girl and he is from rural Canton.
As a teenager, she served as a volunteer “little teacher” to the refugee kids in the neighborhood poor-housing units during the end of Japan China War. This early experience convinces her that education is the foundation of self-assurance and brings her satisfaction in helping others.
He is brilliant young man who succeeds with hard working and believing-- He believes that higher education means better use of one’s wisdom and empowers one with life time fulfillment.
Maria and James Koh are CTEF’s first couple. They share the desire to quietly offer what they can spare for others—opportunity for education, a life time gift.
The Koh’s is a long time Seattle couple and is well respected by the community. They witnessed hard working CTEF founders and were impressed by their honesty and dedication. They then donated significant amount to CTEF while their own 4 kids were working their way to pay college tuitions. This generous donation won us our credential to the Seattle Chinese community. The couple consecutively donated to us annually for more than 6 years. At that time, each $1000 can build one class with 2-3 bunk beds for teacher and students.
We are grateful for The Koh’s guidance to our board operation as well as their generosity. They emphasized the core mission at earlier stage is to build schools and provide critically needed material such as books and equipments given the desperate demand for fundamental facility. They stress the importance of site visiting during the whole project cycle—including design, monitor and maintenance. They advocate the practical way to make sure the donor’s money is well at work by checking on student’s progress and retention rates. In 10 years, CTEF grows and still carries many of these early beliefs.
The Koh’s is the founder of our library project. With Waisiu’s help, they published three volumes of colorful bilingual children story books with accompanying CDs. CTEF distributed about 5000 copies a year freely to children in rural area.
The Kon’s family is currently committed to education as well as health care. In their own words, they are investing the best asset.
