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"The kids here are definitely curious but shy at the same time. As we washed the dishes, they watched us curiously from a distance. Once we have finished washing, they crowded in around the tap to wash their bowls."
Team Profile:
Haitao Guo/郭海涛, Dream Corps 2008 Henan Team alum, 2010 Tenglou Team Leader
Yevgeniy Grechka /柯岩
Shirley Liang/梁思静
Clarie Lin/林楠
Area Profile:
Tenglou Street, Peiying Township, Dengzhou County, Henan Province
河南省邓州市裴营乡滕楼街
Dengzhou is a typical agricultural county whose economy has been predominantly relying on wheat and soybean planting. Located in the southwest of Henan province and adjacent to Hubei province, this place was known as the Deng Kingdom 邓国 during the Xia 夏 Dynasty (21st C. BCE – 16th C. BCE) according to historical records. And the county has one of the largest populations in China, which is over 1.5 million. However all these three factors, the lack of industry, the long history and the large population, are deemed “burdens” for its own development according to many locals.
This summer, Dream Corps has two closely located sites in Dengzhou. The first one is Laochangying, a village of 3052. The second one is Tenglou, the closest town to Laochaoying(15 minutes bike ride) and 40 minutes away from the county seat, Dengzhou, by minibus.
Team Profile:
Haitao Guo/郭海涛, Dream Corps 2008 Henan Team alum, 2010 Tenglou Team Leader
Yevgeniy Grechka /柯岩
Shirley Liang/梁思静
Clarie Lin/林楠
Area Profile:
Tenglou Street, Peiying Township, Dengzhou County, Henan Province
河南省邓州市裴营乡滕楼街
Dengzhou is a typical agricultural county whose economy has been predominantly relying on wheat and soybean planting. Located in the southwest of Henan province and adjacent to Hubei province, this place was known as the Deng Kingdom 邓国 during the Xia 夏 Dynasty (21st C. BCE – 16th C. BCE) according to historical records. And the county has one of the largest populations in China, which is over 1.5 million. However all these three factors, the lack of industry, the long history and the large population, are deemed “burdens” for its own development according to many locals.
This summer, Dream Corps has two closely located sites in Dengzhou. The first one is Laochangying, a village of 3052. The second one is Tenglou, the closest town to Laochaoying(15 minutes bike ride) and 40 minutes away from the county seat, Dengzhou, by minibus.
Following is Tenglou Team's account of May 26th, 2010, the first day of the Summer Volunteer Program.
5/26/10
Henan Tenglou Team left Beijing on May 25th, around 10pm, and arrived on the site the next day at 1pm. We rode the subway to Beijing West Station. It was a long ride…We had to transfer once on the subway then switch to bus since we couldn’t get a taxi after we got off the subway. Normally, I would’ve just taken a taxi, but we had a large group of people so we roughed it. Both Tenglou Team and Laochangying Team got to know each other pretty well over the 15 hour train ride. We played Chinese chess, truth or dare and different types of card games. I was truly impressed by how friendly and easy-going everyone was. I felt blessed that I was with such a great group of people and really looked forward to start working closely with everyone.
(Haitao: DC will be a great experience for the volunteers since they’re all so young. Everyone has really high hopes for the projects and impact the organization will be able to make on the kids. I was very concerned about Yev who had to go back to another hotel to get his stuff. His phone ran out of battery and ran into other troubles as he tried to get to the train station alone. We should’ve done it as a team even though it would’ve been more troublesome. Team work is the key. We will stick together no matter what.)
Right after we arrived in Tenglou， we dropped off our luggage at the elementary school where we are going to be staying at with the children and teachers. Principal Chang and Headmaster Tang took us to a local restaurant (what they call cafeteria) to eat. Though our team leader Haitao stressed many times that we don’t want preferential treatment and we want to eat the same food that the locals typically eat. Both Principal Chang and Headmaster Tang insisted that we accept their kind offer. We ended up having a variety of dishes. The food was really good – to all of our surprise. Though we all knew that this was probably the last decent meal we were going to have. We were determined to keep the ethics of our organization in mind. We are here to help the locals, not here to get preferential treatment.
After lunch, the team spent a little time exploring the school. The teachers who we ran into were very friendly and kindly gave us brief intro of several places at the school. We were also “observed” by the kids, especially Yev, who obviously looks different from the rest of the group. I have to admit that I’m definitely not used to the kids looking at me at first. When the team had a brief meeting in the afternoon in the girl’s temporary bedroom, I insisted that we close the curtains so the kids couldn’t peek. However, Haitao called me out on my discomfort and brought me back to my original intention behind join Dream Corps. I am not here to learn but not here to ask other people to accommodate me. If I treat myself as an alien, I will not be able to become part of the people here and understand their lives to help them. I guess it only takes some more time to get used to my new surroundings? I know I’m making my best effort and I can probably take on more pressure if needed.
So let’s backtrack a bit and talk about our living conditions. Originally, the school was going to have all of the five volunteers stay in one room (3 girls and 2 guys). However, after we had more communication with the principal, we learned that they have extra free rooms and ended up splitting the guys and girls into two rooms. Claire, Shirley (who hasn’t arrived yet due to a personal situation) and I get the bigger room. Haitao and Yev get a smaller room right across the hall from us. Both rooms are right next door to classrooms so we can hear the students and teachers in class. Great atmosphere! The living condition is definitely better than we imagined. The school not only set us up with a spacious room, beds, bed nets, but we also get a computer and internet in our room. I’m using the computer to type up this blog as we speak!!! This is so impressive. We’ll be able to install the library software into the computer and link it to the library we’re going to set up. Awesome!
Later, we had dinner at the school cafeteria. There are no tables or chairs in the cafeteria, so apparently students just kind of stand and gather around the room while eating. We had two dishes and some buns for dinner. Again, to our surprise, those were great. We don’t know who set us up with the impression that most people here only eat plain rice and noodles but we are glad it turned out to be more than we expected. Ms Pei who cooks at the cafeteria is the wife of one of the teachers here. She is very nice and friendly. She blushed and was so happy when we complimented her food. We’ve decided that we’re going to eat at the cafeteria all the time (it’s part of the rules we’re supposed to follow as a volunteer and now we don’t have to break it!). We’re also going to split up task washing the dishes so Ms Pei does not need to take care of everything for us.
After dinner, the team met with almost all the teachers from the entire school. The meeting went well over all. Haitao talked about the purpose and goal of Dream Corp and I introduced our 4-week plan to everyone. We will get more reactions from the teachers later on the specific plans as we only had limited time today. The teachers were all relatively reserved. What Principal Chang said made us realize that he was really deeply touched and would like to actively cooperate with us.
Last but not least…we were going to take a shower today but didn’t end up taking one because the meeting ended around 9 and the place (someone’s house) where we were supposed to take a shower at had already closed. The place is apparently across the street from the school and it’s only about a 5 minute walk.
One funny note: The bathroom here is…definitely what I expected but still kind of unbearable. I won’t get into details here. However it’s very dangerous for us to go outside at night and pee there because there is no light and there’s mud out there everywhere (especially given that it’s been raining all day). So Haitao, Clarie, Yev and I ended up going to the bathroom together. Clarie and I decided that it’s more dangerous to go into the bathroom than just peeing outside. So we hid behind two umbrellas and peed outside the bathroom while the other person guarded. We also ended up just getting some water in a bowl from a tap water source outside (only public water source in the entire school) and brushed and washed our face and feet. So that was great. I brushed on the second floor so just dumped the water right down… people here spit inside rooms all the time so no one cares that much about etiquette here at all…Haha, we’re blending in perfectly!
Alright that’s it for tonight. I’m about to run through the blog with the rest of the team and do an overall reflection. More to come tomorrow!
P.S. After we got back into our room, Clarie and I found a little note taped to the door. It said: You have worked hard, big brother, big sister(辛苦了，大哥哥，大姐姐。). We were so moved!
The kids here are definitely curious but shy at the same time. As we washed the dishes, they watched us curiously from a distance. Once we have finished washing, they crowded in around the tap to wash their bowls.
Henan Tenglou Team left Beijing on May 25th, around 10pm, and arrived on the site the next day at 1pm. We rode the subway to Beijing West Station. It was a long ride…We had to transfer once on the subway then switch to bus since we couldn’t get a taxi after we got off the subway. Normally, I would’ve just taken a taxi, but we had a large group of people so we roughed it. Both Tenglou Team and Laochangying Team got to know each other pretty well over the 15 hour train ride. We played Chinese chess, truth or dare and different types of card games. I was truly impressed by how friendly and easy-going everyone was. I felt blessed that I was with such a great group of people and really looked forward to start working closely with everyone.
(Haitao: DC will be a great experience for the volunteers since they’re all so young. Everyone has really high hopes for the projects and impact the organization will be able to make on the kids. I was very concerned about Yev who had to go back to another hotel to get his stuff. His phone ran out of battery and ran into other troubles as he tried to get to the train station alone. We should’ve done it as a team even though it would’ve been more troublesome. Team work is the key. We will stick together no matter what.)
Right after we arrived in Tenglou， we dropped off our luggage at the elementary school where we are going to be staying at with the children and teachers. Principal Chang and Headmaster Tang took us to a local restaurant (what they call cafeteria) to eat. Though our team leader Haitao stressed many times that we don’t want preferential treatment and we want to eat the same food that the locals typically eat. Both Principal Chang and Headmaster Tang insisted that we accept their kind offer. We ended up having a variety of dishes. The food was really good – to all of our surprise. Though we all knew that this was probably the last decent meal we were going to have. We were determined to keep the ethics of our organization in mind. We are here to help the locals, not here to get preferential treatment.
After lunch, the team spent a little time exploring the school. The teachers who we ran into were very friendly and kindly gave us brief intro of several places at the school. We were also “observed” by the kids, especially Yev, who obviously looks different from the rest of the group. I have to admit that I’m definitely not used to the kids looking at me at first. When the team had a brief meeting in the afternoon in the girl’s temporary bedroom, I insisted that we close the curtains so the kids couldn’t peek. However, Haitao called me out on my discomfort and brought me back to my original intention behind join Dream Corps. I am not here to learn but not here to ask other people to accommodate me. If I treat myself as an alien, I will not be able to become part of the people here and understand their lives to help them. I guess it only takes some more time to get used to my new surroundings? I know I’m making my best effort and I can probably take on more pressure if needed.
So let’s backtrack a bit and talk about our living conditions. Originally, the school was going to have all of the five volunteers stay in one room (3 girls and 2 guys). However, after we had more communication with the principal, we learned that they have extra free rooms and ended up splitting the guys and girls into two rooms. Claire, Shirley (who hasn’t arrived yet due to a personal situation) and I get the bigger room. Haitao and Yev get a smaller room right across the hall from us. Both rooms are right next door to classrooms so we can hear the students and teachers in class. Great atmosphere! The living condition is definitely better than we imagined. The school not only set us up with a spacious room, beds, bed nets, but we also get a computer and internet in our room. I’m using the computer to type up this blog as we speak!!! This is so impressive. We’ll be able to install the library software into the computer and link it to the library we’re going to set up. Awesome!
Later, we had dinner at the school cafeteria. There are no tables or chairs in the cafeteria, so apparently students just kind of stand and gather around the room while eating. We had two dishes and some buns for dinner. Again, to our surprise, those were great. We don’t know who set us up with the impression that most people here only eat plain rice and noodles but we are glad it turned out to be more than we expected. Ms Pei who cooks at the cafeteria is the wife of one of the teachers here. She is very nice and friendly. She blushed and was so happy when we complimented her food. We’ve decided that we’re going to eat at the cafeteria all the time (it’s part of the rules we’re supposed to follow as a volunteer and now we don’t have to break it!). We’re also going to split up task washing the dishes so Ms Pei does not need to take care of everything for us.
After dinner, the team met with almost all the teachers from the entire school. The meeting went well over all. Haitao talked about the purpose and goal of Dream Corp and I introduced our 4-week plan to everyone. We will get more reactions from the teachers later on the specific plans as we only had limited time today. The teachers were all relatively reserved. What Principal Chang said made us realize that he was really deeply touched and would like to actively cooperate with us.
Last but not least…we were going to take a shower today but didn’t end up taking one because the meeting ended around 9 and the place (someone’s house) where we were supposed to take a shower at had already closed. The place is apparently across the street from the school and it’s only about a 5 minute walk.
One funny note: The bathroom here is…definitely what I expected but still kind of unbearable. I won’t get into details here. However it’s very dangerous for us to go outside at night and pee there because there is no light and there’s mud out there everywhere (especially given that it’s been raining all day). So Haitao, Clarie, Yev and I ended up going to the bathroom together. Clarie and I decided that it’s more dangerous to go into the bathroom than just peeing outside. So we hid behind two umbrellas and peed outside the bathroom while the other person guarded. We also ended up just getting some water in a bowl from a tap water source outside (only public water source in the entire school) and brushed and washed our face and feet. So that was great. I brushed on the second floor so just dumped the water right down… people here spit inside rooms all the time so no one cares that much about etiquette here at all…Haha, we’re blending in perfectly!
Alright that’s it for tonight. I’m about to run through the blog with the rest of the team and do an overall reflection. More to come tomorrow!
P.S. After we got back into our room, Clarie and I found a little note taped to the door. It said: You have worked hard, big brother, big sister(辛苦了，大哥哥，大姐姐。). We were so moved!
The kids here are definitely curious but shy at the same time. As we washed the dishes, they watched us curiously from a distance. Once we have finished washing, they crowded in around the tap to wash their bowls.
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