a Huton Rickshaw ride to a local family ' s home, where they enjoyed an authentic family Chinese dinner.
Students were also given the opportunity to engage in a cultural experience and practice their language skills during their visit to an open market. Three of the PT boys have varying degrees of mastery of the Chinese language: Zheng is a native speaker and both Strennen and Mitchell have been learning Chinese for several years. The students were divided into three groups and given 100 Yuan( approximated $ 15) and a few Chinese vocabulary words, and were given the task of purchasing certain food items with the money.“ It was kind of like going to Pittsburgh’ s Strip District, only it was inside,” says Alexander. That evening, the group attended a formal tea ceremony where they learned the art of making, serving and drinking tea.
The group left Beijing for the Hebei Province and the city of Zhoulou where they stayed for the latter six days of the trip. There, they began the service-learning portion of the trip through the Free the Children Community located in Gufubao.
The village of Gufubao is more than 1,000 years old and has a population of approximately 600. School-aged children who performed dance routines that the PT students soon joined in on greeted the group.
The group spent time participating in a multitude of traditional Chinese activities and games in addition to developing lesson plans for working with the children.“ Our students put thoughtful time and energy into their plans, and watching them implement and adjust as they went along was priceless!” says Alexander.“ They also painted a beautiful friendship mural of China and America to leave behind as a memory of our love for the children and their country.”
The PT students taught the children English and played games with them, in addition to working every day on the village farms. As the community did not have much in terms of modern machinery, the farming, weeding, planting and more was all done by hand. While in the village, students
took a one-mile water walk to the community well, which is used for drinking water for the families and their animals. The PT students carried heavy wooden sticks across their shoulders to evenly support two buckets— one on each end— as they brought water back to the village. While some places had running water, most did not.
“ Life in the village is difficult, and because it is, families all work together on farms and building projects,” says Alexander. The group learned that many of the younger people in the village often leave to work in larger cities to earn money to send home. Often these young people are forced to leave their children at home for their parents to raise.
“ While experiencing life in the village of Gufubao, I learned to truly appreciate what we have in the United States,” says Mitchell.“ They work very hard every day and make very little money. They have so little, but they give so much.”
Zheng agrees.“ I was reminded of how fortunate I am to live in luxury compared to the farmers. They have to retrieve their water, while my water is easy to access. My house and school are larger and sturdier than theirs and some even have to sleep on top of a fire under their bed for warmth, while I canjust reach over and turn on my heater.”
All who traveled to China on this service trip are eager to visit again.“ China, and particularly Gufubao, left an indelible marker on all of our hearts,” says Alexander, who along with the trip’ s participants hope to find ways to raise awareness and money to send to the village of Gufubao.
Though the group is uncertain as to where they will travel next, they want to include another service project wherever they go.“ We have been talking about possible travel to the Amazon and Galapagos Islands or India,” says Alexander.“ You can bet wherever they choose, we will all grow from it.”
For more information about this year’ s trip to China, or information on upcoming service trips, contact Judy Alexander at jnalex @ me. com. ■
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