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May 22, 2006
Volunteers and Missions of Kindness Zhang Ming Ming
I am a girl from the countryside of Henan Province. From the time I was young, my parents taught us that kind people help others. This was precisely what I learned when I had the good fortune to meet volunteer Henry Young, a volunteer for the America-based Enlightening Education Program in October 2003. From knowing him, I learned about the nature and work ethic of volunteers. Under his leadership, I was “enlightened” about an organization that has emerged as the leading volunteer corps within China, allowing me to gain a great deal of valuable experiences and happiness in my life.
The first time I heard about the Enlightening Education Program, including its philosophy and group of dedicated volunteers, I was astonished and skeptical because I felt their work was impossible. How could there be a group of such “fools” willing to donate money to build schools and help support poor students? In addition, how could they be willing to pay out of pocket for personal expenses incurred to travel from foreign shores to the remote, mountainous areas of China in order to inspect the completed schools and to distribute scholarship moneys?
In March 2004, I joined an Enlightening Education Program volunteer inspection team with Henry Young. I harbored a string of questions when we set off from Shanghai and took part in a conference with other volunteers in Guiyang. We then dispersed into three groups, my group consisted of Henry Young, Mei Chen, Tang Yue-Qin, Li Nai-Xin, Chen Wan-Shu to our destination.
Guizhou’s high elevation and unpredictable weather affected the volunteers tremendously. One after another, Mei Chen, Li Nai-Xin, and Chen Wan-Shu all caught colds. After rains muddied the roads, Henry Young almost fell down a hillside, giving Mr. Zhang, our local guide, and other team members a good scare. Tang Yue-Qin also fell down once and suffered injuries. However, all of these problems and even worse setbacks could not stop them, because all of the hardship, illness and pain were all forgotten when they saw the hopeful looks and splendid smiles of the children. As I saw everything with my own eyes, all of my doubts turned into exclamations. I feel that more Chinese people in China should work harder to spread “enlightenment.” Here, I would like to express heartfelt thanks to all of you overseas friends.
In that week, I truly saw that each volunteer was a candle, casting their own light onto others. During this inspection, I achieved a deeper understanding of Henry Young. Even though we have a large gap in age, we have a common cause and beliefs.
In thanking the Enlightening Education Program, I would like to express appreciation to Wen-Ruh Chang, Mei Chen, Tang Yue-Qin, Li Nai-Xin and Chen Wan-Shu, each long time volunteers, for teaching and taking care of me.
After this firsthand experience, I now understand why so many such “fools” would wish to throw themselves into the ranks of these volunteers. It is because of the belief that “helping is the base of happiness” that I also became one such “fool”—because being a “fool” allowed me to be enriched, attain happiness beyond compare, and blessed me with a husband who loves me very much.
Posted by dee at May 22, 2006 07:13 AM