Project Guizhou team is back and we have loads of pictures to upload and hence we will need some time to do that. Nevertheless, I would like to share with you all about our experiences during the whole trip and what we can do more over in Guizhou.

On the 27^th Dec, the PG team took a 5+ hour flight from Singapore to Shanghai and as soon as we landed, we went to the hypermarket Metro to shop for our goodies for the goodie bags. We rested early as we have to embark for Guiyang City early next morning.

On the 28^th morning, we arrived at the airport at 6am+ and took a 3+hour flight to Guiyang City. We had more than 80kg of baggages checked in. As soon as we arrived, we checked into the motel and headed to shop for provisions for the road as we had to have our breakfast on the road the next day. When our stationery shipment arrived in the evening, we started packing the goodie bags and it was like a production assembly line. When we were done, it was passed midnight and everyone headed for bed as we had to set off early towards Rongjiang.

Checked out at 7am and we loaded the mini bus with all our stuff. Good thing we took a bigger bus as we barely had enough seats for the 7 of us. Took us 4 hours of highway to reach Rongjiang town, where we met up with a teacher who will be guiding our driver to the school. We headed to Congjiang town to stop for lunch break and took us 2 hours to reach there via super bumpy roads. After a simple lunch, we headed up the mountains for another 1000m above sea level ride. Roads are narrow and wet (thanks to the rain earlier) and the sides are steep slopes.

Finally we reached the school after more than an hour of super bumpy and dangerous roads. But those anxieties were gone when we saw the students lining up outside the school gate, welcoming us warmly with firecrackers! We were served with their traditional rice wine at the gates by their 6^th grader girls in their customary attires. Then we all went in to view the school. The air up in the mountains we thin but the freshness is beyond words. We felt like we were cleaning our lungs! J

While I was inspecting the base of the toilet which was already built for the waste to be collected, I was told the wood is ready soon for construction of the toilet. Most likely can be completed sometime in Feb due to the coming Chinese New Year holidays. While I was inspecting our donation, the kids were already lined up at the basketball court and very obediently waiting for us to interact with them. I gave my usual short speech and gave out the goodie bags immediately after. The children were so happy upon receiving new stationeries and sweets & snacks. It was quite saddening when we realized that these kids have never seen those kinds of candies and chocolates before and we have to tell them that they were edible before they started devouring them all! At the same time, we gave out the greeting cards which we sold to donors who would write their well wishes for the kids, everyone has one! Shortly after, we took out the cartons of new shoes and the kids went wild! They were so excited over their new sports shoes as they have been wearing those Jiefang shoes (army shoes) or farmers’ boots. Every kid has a pair and we told them they can exchange with each other if it doesn’t fit. Some of them put them on immediately! It was really heartwarming to see the glee on their faces!

Then in front of everyone, I presented the rest of the funds for the building of the toilet to their cashier and they were thanking us profusely. We then realized that no one has visited them before and we were the first! Looking back at the journey we took, it was no wonder at all. Then our members started taking on their basketball team for a quick game. In no time at all, all were breathless due to the thin air but it was all good fun. I on the other hand was touring around the school with the principal, visiting the various classrooms and checking out the condition of their tables and chairs. Only the Grade 3 classroom has 20 sets of new tables and chairs, which was donated by someone. The rest were still very filmsy wooden ones which I reckon will last the most another year. Then I asked the principal if there are orphans in the school. He told me there are but they are looked after by their grandparents or relatives, while some are single parents. He then highlighted to me there’s one particular Grade 6 student, 黄老糯 who is facing extreme conditions in the family. His dad has very bad liver problem and his mum is the only breadwinner in the family by helping in other people’s fields. I later found out from some contacts that they don’t earn more than RMB$2000 a year! So I told them principal, we should pay them a visit and we set off on foot immediately after.

After walking up the muddy slopes for about 250 meters, we finally reached the boy’s place. It is a shabby looking little hut on the outside and after entering the small entrance, we realized the space inside is really very small. There’s a fireplace in the middle of the house where they also cook their food besides keeping warm. Then there’s a small room adjoining the living space where 3 of them would sleep inside. Very very small and the floor is the soil ground which we stepped on outside. Then we found out his dad’s medical expenses were too high and they can only afford cheap local medicines. Then we noticed also there are many awards for this boy for his studies and sports. And also found out that he has to help his mum in the fields every day after coming back from school. We were all so sadden by the whole situation. Here is a boy who is trying his best at school and yet has to face the hardships in livelihood. In no time at all, we reckon he might just drop out of school to find work to earn money for the family. Hence we discussed among ourselves and decided to donate RMB$2000 to help them tide through the livelihood part. They cannot even afford oil and salt! As we were leaving, we then passed the money to the mother and told the boy to study hard and don’t let his parents down. He broke down into tears and our members quickly got out of the house as they couldn’t take it as well. After which, his dad starting crying badly and his mum started to tear as well… We quickly bided our farewell and left with teary eyes.

We then solemnly headed back to the school for dinner. I brought our Singapore’s curry chicken paste and coconut milk and taught them how to cook it. It turned out very nice. The whole dinner experience with the teachers and principal was so warm (other than the drinking part) and we felt their great hospitality and sincerity. It was a shame we couldn’t stay overnight because of the tight timeline for flight back, hence we had to rush off after dinner. The mountainous roads are not good for early morning travelling. So we bided our farewells and headed back to Guiyang town, where we rested for a night and debriefed in the next morning before our flight back to Shanghai.

Unlike all our other trips, this trip was the toughest. Road journeys were very long, our members have to fork out more money themselves to travel to and fro, we faced really poor kids and really poor school that require a lot of help and at the same time, we raised the most money for the year 2011. Raising more money could be due to more people are getting to know what we do and also we have more support from our family, colleagues and friends. Nevertheless, we have to thank all these people who made it possible for us to successfully complete our projects! The list of these beautiful people are as follows:

PINEAPPLE TARTS:

GREETING CARDS:

CASH DONATION:

OTHERS:

Before I forget, I would like to thank all CGG members who have helped in any way to make this project a success! Especially the team who committed themselves to go for this trip. Such projects cannot be done without all your help! Last but not least, I’d like to thank God for keeping us safe and sane as well as guiding us in our actions throughout the entire trip!

Keep a lookout for Project Guizhou 2012! 😉

Care always,

Big Roy