LinQuan, Anhui Province

This date marks, as near as I can remember, the one year anniversary of the beginning of my volunteer work for Heart to Heart, a community outreach group in Shanghai that raises funds to provide for heart surgery for Chinese children. Along with sponsoring the surgery, the organization then makes two to three trips per year to visit the patients post surgery. At that time, donated clothing are distributed to the families, the communities, and elementary school libraries are set up. Last year, if you recall, I made it to the spring trip to Jingdezhen (check the archives on the side for April 19 2008).

Let me begin the story where the two trips were similar. Both times, we loaded and boarded a private bus early in the morning. The two trips were of relatively similar lengths- we spent many hours going there and back. We sponsored three libraries and visited roughly the same number of families. We were met by the local officials, ate some great meals and stayed in comfortable, but gently used Chinese hotels. All participants were struck by the need to continue to raise funds for the surgeries (since they are life altering not just for the patient, but also for the family) but also the libraries.

Where the two trips differ, begins with the area. This particular county and province is one of the poorest area in this country. The main employer is a fertilizer factory and then I think that the remainder of income for people is derived through agriculture (rice). It is also quite a bit more remote and not on the tourist path. This was our first visit to the area. The group that went on this trip was very compatible and certainly took the opportunity to become better friends.


Owing to the wet and cold weather conditions, we were unable to get to two of the schools; the roads were impassable for our large bus. The headmasters came to the hotel where we also met all the families and patients together, and each accepted one of those giant cardboard cheques. Both schools brought photos of the books and computers purchased by the donation, so we could have a sense of the volume the dollar amount represented. We were disappointed that we could not go, as the school visit are our only opportunities to mingle with the young children and we are usually prepared with bags of books, pencils, balls and candy to meet them. This next photo is of the school master representing the school that my friends and I sponsored but could not go to. Next to him on the right is my friend LKB.



The one school we did visit, almost made up for the loss of the other two. The children were waiting for us in the muddy courtyard sitting on their little wooden stools. We were given some to sit on too as we listened to the presentations from the officials, the headmaster and our representative. The books and the computer and printer were all on wooden tables behind the speakers. Someone designed and printed library cards that the children would be assigned and they were gracious enough to send us home with some too. After paying close attention to the speeches and clapping at the appropriate parts, we were let loose to give out our loot to them. There were children at the windows in the classrooms behind us. I'm not sure about the selection process, but only some of the children were permitted to sit with us. This was the children's first exposure to foreigners and we were met with large eyes and questioning glances. It was clear given the more than gently used facilities, that had we not provided them with these books, they likely would not have received any during their school life. I cannot imagine a childhood without books; I still have some of mine and think of them as one of the important tools that helped form who I am.


Another new component of this trip were the nightly visits to the local middle and high schools in order to engage in English conversation with them. In total, we made three presentations to students of English. We stood on stages, introduced ourselves, and then reconfigured ourselves into smaller groups in order for them to practice what they have learned. Once they lost their shyness, and their worry about their "poor" English, we were engaged in lots of conversations. They wanted to know our age, something about our countries of origin and why we were so happy! We also received lots of compliments (" you are beautiful when you smoke," "did you dye your eyes that [blue] color?" and "you are fat, but beautiful") and requests for e-mail addresses and phone numbers. They swarmed us and posed for photos and asked for hugs. Although exhausting at the end of the day, it also gave extra purpose and meaning to the day; I wonder if they will remember us in a few years. This trip offered us the opportunity to get really close to the community members.


We were so impressed by the length that our local contacts went to make us feel welcome. Our rooms all contained a spectacular platter of fruit (finger mangoes, cherry tomatoes and kumquats). The local officials toured us around their community, held us up as we trekked through the mud, and ate dinner (with lots of toasts to everything that worked as a reason for extra beer). The chefs went all out to make sure that we had a range of foods to choose from; we had some lovely deep fried salmon, mutton soup, noodles, meatballs (!! my first in this country!!), dumplings (*!!!*), shrimp, vegetables, and even french fries! The award for most effort however, goes to the cookies that had been made into sandwiches, dipped into chocolate and covered with a happy face.



It was by far one of the best "real" experiences that I have had thus far while living here. I regret that I have few photographs to share with you- I am a stingy photo taker so it turns out ( I have some more material for photos of the day). I do however offer you a link to one of the volunteers who also has a blog- click here- I am also posting her in the side bar so that you can check on a Shanghai experience other than mine. Other fellow travelers have said that they will make electronic photo albums, and so I also promise to link you to them when they are up and running.