It takes a child to raise a…

The World Expo, taking place in Shanghai this year, has already had 44.5 million visitors since May 1. Amongst these were 26 children who visited the Luxembourg Pavilion at the Expo on August 20, marking a very special anniversary.

Xinhuamen Primary School in Tianshui City, Gansu Province was badly damaged during the Sichuan earthquake in 2008. ArcelorMittal Foundation actively helped local government rebuild the school. The new primary school was completed on August 20, 2009.

Believing that you are never too young or too old to start caring about the world you live in, the pupils took part in a Zero Carbon Journey summer camp organised by ArcelorMittal China in Shanghai. They were joined in this journey by kids of ArcelorMittal colleagues from facilities in Beijing, Shanghai, Changsha and Rongcheng. During the two-day summer camp, the children visited the Shanghai Energy-conservation Exhibition Center, participated in an exchange activity with Shanghai local primary students and of course, visited the Shanghai Expo. Pierre Ferring, Consul General of Luxembourg in Shanghai, also attended the event at the Expo.

The children drew pictures of how they imagine the green cities of the future will look like. In true Chinese tradition, they even wrote blessings for these future cities. The day celebrating the school’s re-birth ended with a short dance performance given by the pupils and the presentation of a special work of calligraphy to the Luxembourg pavilion.

Each participating child was gifted a special Green Expo transport card which was purchased by ArcelorMittal Foundation (50% of the cost of the card is donated to projects that reduce greenhouse gas emission and to funding planting of trees).

And these cards by offsetting emissions during the Expo, are what made this summer camp a true ‘Zero Carbon Journey’.

In collaboration with: Sally Tao, ArcelorMittal China