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| Amari shares how she raised money for earthquake relief. |
The day after Grade 3 student Amari raised 17,600 RMB for earthquake relief by swimming 20 laps in the pool, she sat down with the school journalist to talk about her experience. Perched daintily on the red couch in the Community Relations & Development office, her sneakers, capped with frilly socks, came nowhere close to hitting the floor.
Lianxi: Let me make sure I'm interviewing the right person. You look awfully small to have swum all those laps and raised so much money.
Amari: (giggles and stretches out her thin legs) I know, I know, I'm small.
Lianxi: How big are you?
Amari: I'm not sure...20...25kg? And I'm 110 cm.
Lianxi: How many kids participated in the swim-a-thon?
Amari: Five kids. We're all in Ms. Taylor's class, and in Frank's class, too. Frank is our swimming teacher. We all take swimming lessons at the clubhouse where we live. During yesterday's practice we just swam laps to raise money.
Lianxi: How many people sponsored you?
Amari: Well, I filled up one sponsorship sheet and had to start another. Altogether, 24 people sponsored me...some were my mom's friends, and some were mine.
Lianxi: How far did you swim?
Amari: I swam 20 laps. It was the longest I've ever swum before.
Lianxi: Which strokes did you swim?
Amari: Just breaststroke.
Lianxi: You must have been hungry after all that swimming. What did you eat for dinner last night?
Amari: I ate rice.
Lianxi: Is that ALL?!
Amari: (giggles) ... and I ate some broccoli.
Lianxi: How do you hope this money will help people in Sichuan?
Amari: I hope more kids will be able to get operations.
Lianxi: Have you ever been to Sichuan?
Amari: No, but I've seen it on the news. Some people were trapped and had to be pulled out. I hope all of those kids are able to have surgeries and get well.
Lianxi wishes Amari a good night's rest for all of her hard work!