Day 2: 四川省青少年发展基金会 －油榨东莞台商爱心小学－筇崃安家落户

1100hr. Our first primary task was to have a meeting with our China counterparts, 四川省青少年发展基金会 to have a common understanding on how our volunteering partnership between Singapore & Sichuan can work out.

Chairman: 藏璐主任 (who looks a bit like Jet Li!)
Assistant: 周小华助理

For more info. on their organization, you can refer to their website >> http://www.scgqt.org.cn/home/

Ms Isabelle Yeo, the Vice-Consul (Commercial) of the Consulate Of the Republic of Singapore, also joined us on the discussion to work out how we can make this potential C2C project as fruitful as possible.

The rules of the discussion were very simple. We aimed to make our C2C project meaningful by contributing to the victims of the 512 earthquake not only with monetary contributions, but also with our own sweat and blood in a physical manner. The itinerary for this recee trip would be to visit a number of sites to allow us to identify what are the potential areas that we want, and capable of doing so.

1500hr. Time was late, but the Chengdu people do not seemed to have any complaints at all even when we suggested visiting one of the sites in the afternoon. Along the way, I can feel the passion of 周大哥 as he shared his experience and views on volunteerism, especially on this 512 earthquake. I cannot remember exactly what he quoted, but his view was, no matter on colour you are, no matter what language you speak, as long as you have a passionate heart to help people, the heart of selfless volunteerism will bring you far in life.

We reached 油榨东莞台商爱心小学 after a 2hr mountainous car ride. From the look of the school outside, the building looked clean and impressive. The construction was contributed by the Taiwanese businessmen. After talking with the teachers and person-in-charge, we then realized that there were many problems that they faced in the challenge of rebuilding the whole school system.
i) Shortage of water supply due to their location of being lower in the mountainous region. The pressure level of the existing piping system was not good enough to give them a continuous flow of water. This resulting in the children to not having enough water to drink (especially in hot summer season), not enough water to wash clothes or even to maintain a proper flushing system in the toilet

ii) Shortage of teaching materials, books, stationeries, uniforms, etc. Poor conditions of tables and chairs.

iii) Shortage of teachers to handle the numerous children who were relocated from their previous villages destroyed by the earthquake

iv) Overcrowding in the dormitory

v) Lack of Health & Moral Education on cleanliness and personal hygience
Etc…

1800hr. We left the school at evening time, and advanced to an even higher part of the mountain. The road was narrow and bumpy as we drove high into the clouds and drizzling rain. At the end of the mountainous road was 筇崃安家落户, one of the relocated villages that was moved into the mountain region. Many had lost their loved ones in this disaster, but we had little time to interact with them and understand more. We had a glimpse into their living conditions and untold miseries.

What touched me was that despite their plight, they were so generous in wanting us to stay with them for dinner.

2000hr. We headed back to 成都市 in 平平's Nissan Tera, and with her safe driving skills, we reached the bottom of the mountain safely in almost 1.5hrs time. All of us had a quick dinner at 筇崃市 beef-noodle stall before we reached our hotel 2300hr. We were tired, but I guess our driver and guide were even more shacked out.