Friday: English movie and discussion at Chicago Coffee
Chicago Coffee will host its weekly English movie and discussion at 7pm tonight. Admission is free with any purchase – call 5389288 for movie details.

Friday: Earthquake benefit dance party at TC/G Nordica
Beginning at 8 pm tonight TC/G Nordica will host a dance party with all proceeds from the door going to the earthquake relief effort in Sichuan. Admission is 10 yuan.

Friday: Jiabe school benefit at The Hump Bar
Beginning at 9pm on Friday night The Hump Bar will hold a benefit show to raise money for renovations to a dilapidated school in the small Tibetan village of Jiabe in northwestern Yunnan - see this post for more details. Performers from Makye Ame Tibetan restaurant will start off the evening, followed by the Tribal Moons, Lumberjack Jon and DJ Fan. Admission is free with performers donating their remuneration to the school in addition to 30 percent of bar takings.

Saturday: Excess Luggage at TC/G Nordica
Saturday night TC/G Nordica will be hosting Norwegian piano-organ-drum trio Excess Luggage for an 8 pm show. Admission is 30 yuan.

Jiabe kids image: Matthieu Lelievre

Tags: Chicago Coffee, Excess Luggage, Jiabe, Makye Ame, Sichuan, Speakeasy Bar, TC/G Nordica, The Hump Bar, Tribal Moons, Wenchuan earthquake

In the last several weeks the tragedies of the Myanmar Cyclone and Wenchuan earthquake have shaken Kunming residents into giving what they can to help their neighbors who have fallen victims to natural disaster.

Seeing how impoverished many of these areas were prior to their respective disasters is a reminder of how many areas in this geographically varied and ethnically diverse part of Asia are in need of all kinds of assistance – even without disasters.

This Friday night at The Hump Bar, a free evening of music will be held to benefit the only school in the small Tibetan village of Jiabe (佳碧). The benefit show was organized by Kunming resident Matthieu Lelievre, who first visited Jiabe – his fiancée's hometown - four years ago.

Located in a Tibetan area of northwest Yunnan, Jiabe has a population of 130, with 30 primary school students. Remote and impoverished, the town is located near the Lancang Jiang, the headwaters of the Mekong River.

"The village used to be the county seat of Yunling until 25 years ago - they had all the facilities there," Lelievre said. "Then there was a flood which destroyed much of the village, especially government buildings."

"There was no damage to the one school in the village, but the government moved to another village, and the school hasn't changed since then - it's a 30-year-old building in pretty bad condition. When I saw it, me and my fiancée thought it would be nice to do something so that the children get a better study environment."


The benefit party at The Hump Bar is aimed at not only raising cash to renovate the school, but to also recruit volunteers to teach Chinese and English to the students of Jiabe village, Lelievre added.

Starting at 9 pm, the benefit show will begin with a Tibetan musical performance featuring performers from Makye Ame Tibetan restaurant. Afterward, entertainment will include a performance by The Tribal Moons plus DJ sets by Fan (formerly known as DJ Christian) and Lumberjack Jon.

All performers will donate their normal remuneration to the school and The Hump Bar has pledged to donate 30 percent of bar sales from the evening. A donation box will also be present for those who want to donate directly. Admission to the benefit show is free. For more information, call Matthieu Lelievre at 13708732507.

Update: Matthieu Lelievre contacted GoKunming and said the benefit raised 5,000 yuan for Jiabe's school He also requests that anyone willing to teach Chinese or English at the school contacts him at 13708732507 as teachers are urgently needed there.

Related article:

Earthquake benefit raises more than 10,000 yuan

Tags: education, Jiabe, Matthieu Lelievre, The Hump Bar, Tibet