The Wires are serving in China through the Amity Foundation, an organization created by Chinese Christians to work with partners from both within and outside China to further the economic, social, and health of the nation.
Hugh Wire is one among more than 70 volunteer teachers of English as a second language whom Amity has trained and placed and will be supporting in 2001-2002.
Fifteen volunteers were introduced to their prospective roles as English teachers in China at a one- week orientation in June, 2001, at Stony Point, New York Pictured in the center (in orange shirt) is the Rev.Victor Hsu, Church World Service, who organized the orientation, with Ting Davis and Bob Freud on either side who led orientation on working in China and teaching English as a foreign language.
Immediately following this orientation, Rev. Hsu accompanied the executive director of Church World Service, the Rev. John McCullough, on a visit to China and Amity. Excellent trip notes were made and are included in this link, along with description of process for applying to serve as an Amity English Teacher.
Amity Education program leaders place volunteers in teacher training colleges, increasingly chosing those located away from major urban centers. Teachers pictured above will be serving in Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Anhui, Shanxi, Shantong Provinces, and in Inner Mongolia. Many of the students trained in these colleges will return to serve in rural communities. The intent of the program is to help extend opportunity to young people who are outside the urban core.
U.S. denominations through Church World Service and the United Board
for Higher Education in China, an American and Canadian non-profit, assist
Amity with funds for training and stipends for the volunteers. They
also provide support for other of Amity's growing programs in development
assistance.
Several of the current group, including the Wires, join others who
have been commissioned for this teaching by the Presbyterian
Church (USA).