Article by XIANEASE
Many groups were formed in the wake of COVID-19, as many of us looked to bond with others after our time in lockdown. Now, a year later, many of those groups are still going strong. Amongst them is the Xi’an Foreign Parents Community, a support and socialization group for families living in Xi’an. To better get to know this group, we talked to the founders, Gary Wood and Alex Rambaud, to see what this group is all about.
- How did this group come about?
GW: Xian’s international schools are quite homogenous. I was interested in setting up a foreign parents’ community with the hope that my daughter could meet people from all different cultures and walks of life. I knew Alex would be keen on such a project, so I immediately asked if he would like to help me organize a foreign parents group. As expected, he was more than willing.
- What are the requirements for joining this group?
GW: Basically, the child’s nationality is irrelevant, but one of the parents must be a foreign national. We brought forward this requirement as we wanted to keep the group as diverse as possible and stop the community from turning into a ‘Free English class’. The rest of the requirements can be found on our web-page at xfpc.weebly.com
- What would you say is the main purpose of this group?
GW: The main aim is to allow our children to meet a diverse range of people from all different cultures and walks of life.
- What kind of events do you hold?
GW: Generally speaking, our events involve meeting in a public place, i.e. a restaurant, having food, and organizing a wide range of fun activities for the children. The children are at the centre of the Foreign Parents Community.
- What are some of the most memorable moments that you remember from your events?
GW: To be fair, all of the events are brilliant and the kids, and adults, do get a lot from them as we meet people from all walks of life. All of our events have fun activities for the kids so there is always a great time to be had.
- What are your plans for this group in the future?
GW: The main plan is to keep it going. The WeChat group has over 100 members now and at each event we average at least sixty guests. That number includes children and adults.
Special thanks to these guys and everyone that helps to make life in Xi’an a little bit easier. We are looking forward to what the Xi’an Foreign Parents Community will do in the future. To find out more about this group, check out their webpage at xfpc.weebly.com.