Report_2005

I was supposed to go to China in Spring 2003 but the SARS epidemic prevented me from participating. On October 12, 2003, we arrived in the major city of Chengdu. We quickly went from Chengdu to Nanchung to begin inspections.
In Sichuan we had 8 volunteers and we paired up into 4 teams. My team went to Southern Junior High School 1 and Southern Junior High School 2 to hand out tuition checks. At those two schools, I saw many of the students who were eligible for subsidized support tear open their envelopes immediately upon receipt. Tears of joy would flow from their eyes. This left me feeling very moved. After the check giving process, we would speak with the new student applicants. Many were orphans who had much to worry about but still placed education as a top priority. We were both impressed and heartbroken at the same time. Before we were able to find sponsors for these children, we privately gave some of our own money to help them out of the time being. When we saw their appreciative faces, it was all well worth it. I hope they can pass the miserable winter and see the beautiful coming spring.
The next day I went with a Board of Education official to inspect Kai Chun Elementary School. The entire village was thrilled that the kids had a new facility.
The next day I went to inspect a school that was at the end of a dangerous path. The road was beautiful but after two days of rain, the roads were treacherously muddy and slippery. We had to walk for 2 hours before we came upon a building.
The next morning we went to Shi Hwa Teacher’s College and Jia Ling High School in Southern City. We handed out the tuition checks and quickly moved on to the city of Chengdu. At night in the grand ballroom of the hotel we stayed at in Chengdu, we handed out the tuition checks to the college students who went to school in Chengdu. Sichuan’s inspection thus ended successfully.
On October 16, 2003, we took a plane to Guiyang to continue our mission. After arriving at Guiyang, the whole crew took a rest and enjoyed the old architecture of the city. In Guizhou, we split into 3 groups to cover 3 different areas- Juan Yi City, Chien South County and Chien Southeast County. Within each group we were split into 3 more groups. I was assigned to Chien Southeast Group #1. We went to Kai Li, Chien Gong ad Zhen Yuan. My group was the most relaxed group but we were still incidents that made my heart pound.
On the morning of October 17, 2003, we took a 3 hour car ride from Guiyang to Hsia Tsi Mei An Elementary School. From Hsia Tsi East Mountain village we drove 2 hours in ravenous terrains that were thousands of stories high. The winding roads without safety fences made my heart stop. I was to find out that every road in the area was similar. This made me admire the driving skills of our driver. The next day I went to Cheng Gong to inspect Shen Jia Wen Elementary School.
Every school I visited gave us a big welcome. In ShouChi, I accepted a red scarf and participated in the flag raising ceremony.
On October 19, I had an experience of a lifetime while inspecting Fan Hsuan #10 Elementary School. Walking up the mountain took 2 hours. I took a sampan coming back down and experienced 33 white water rapid areas. On land, we had to climb over high mountains. On water, we had to push past high tides. It took us two and a half hours on Chun An River to finally arrive at Three Bridge Point.
There are three bridges there, each built in a different era of China- during the Ching dynasty, during Nationalist rule and under the Communist regime.
On October 22, we headed out to Kai Li Teacher’s College, Zhen Hua Junior High School to hand out the checks and returned to Guiyang. On the night of the 23rd, we visited Guizhou Industrial University which concluded our entire trip.
(Post Script: On the 23rd, Wen Ruh and I went to Hway Shui city to see a student named Sun Chang Zheng. Sun’s eyes were blind. The famous author Liu Yung took her to Beijing around Christmas time for treatment. Sun was neglected three days after birth. Her first aunt had four daughters of her own but was kind enough to take her in. Sun’s operation was successful, thank goodness.
EEP fulfilled my desire for volunteer work but I regret never have met the founder, Howard Chen. I never had the opportunity to meet him in person. When we left on October 24th for Shanghai to connect
to our flight back to the States, we received news of his death. I felt extremely saddened by the news. I remember after our final excursion on the 23rd, we all gathered for a nice meal.
Wen Ruh said that the meal was on Howard. He wanted to thank all of us for our hard work. He still cared about each volunteer even in his ill state. This journal is dedicated to Howard so that he knows what is going on from heaven. I hope this is a positive reflection of the organization and I wish that more people will join me in the future. )