volunteering enrichs my life
lily0015 volunteered in
Project:
Work:
I joined the volunteer team from August of last year to Jan of this year.A whole semester.
On Aug 5th,2009,I had a train ride from Hangzhou to Guizhou,a west province of China.The termination was a remote and was-told-poor village where there were the minority people live,Miao,Yi,Hui and so on.
Other 9 volunteers and I were welcome by the local and then sent to four primary schools.Where I was was named Shuigou Primary School.Shuigou means ditch,however,there was only a small well for the nearby villagers to drink,cook.That frustrated me much at first.Water is the resource of life!.Limited water means much difficulties.
No matter what,I settled down with another male volunteer in two rooms which were old classrooms originally!I was the Chinese teacher of grade 1 and 2,and in charge of grade 1.I had 56 students:grade 1,21;grade 2,34;24 classes per week,almost worked all day long.
The new semester started.
Who I welcome the first day were a crowd of kids,dirty all over mostly.Faces,hands,clothes,shoes...almost all over!!And most couldn't speak Madarine(Putong Hua,offical language of China.) They were all curious about us,and of course,friendly.
From that day on,I worked there as a teacher of mountain area without saraly.We needed to pay for the train tickets,foods.(Some time later,we got some financial support on food:250yuan per month everyone.)
Our daily life was:got up at 7:30am,had some milk and biscuits as the breakfast;four classes in the morning;cooked lunch by me,ate,washed by that male volunteer;took a time to rest through the noon till 1:30pm;two classes in the afternoon till 3:30pm.
Food was not much.We were supposed to walked over the rolling mountain road to a local market which open every 6 days.So we almost rushed there in the noon of work day and back to the afternoon classes with a full and heavy bag on the back.We had to calculate carefully what we needed for surviving through the next 6 days.~_*
To frustrate us most was the kids.They didn't get educationed well as the city kids do.So I found soon that it difficult to require them at the level of city schools.I spent much time in a semester teaching Pinyin;many kids simply looked at you with their nice eyes.
However,kids were lovely.And when we left,their score got higher.That comforted me so much!!
Some volunteers still stayed there for the kids;new comer took place of us who left after the semester,I was told.
I miss them,although I didn't go there again.
About the Author
female,39,China(Hangzhou,Zhejiang)
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