by Dennis Su

Greetings from Ling Yun. The official school visiting program began this morning and we covered four schools right after breakfast at the guest house.  Two in the morning and two in the afternoon. This trip was more enjoyable because of the fair weather of 24 C and only early morning was cloudy.

The most impressive school visited should be the one at Da Ping (big level), located miles up the mountain and nestled in a valley. Condition is very much like the one at Yan Lou, the one Rich Hoeg funded. See photo of part of the road getting there and the school and kids. Many of the students have to walk about 2 to 4 km to school daily. 28 students in grades 1 to 4 with one teacher who live in a room next to the classroom. At least there is no boarding students in this run down and leaking building.

The other two have decent classroom buildings (giao sher lau) but due to growth in student population, many of the boarding ones are living in terrible conditions, like four to a bed or no bed but just sleeping on wood planks along the wall packed together. Kitchen and dining room are very bad compare to the one we build at Bu Tou with Interglow.

The forth school is one we funded earlier. Construction is well under way with first level steel reinforcing and concrete frame in place.

Tomorrow will visit three more before they drive me back to Nan Ning to catch the evening plane to Shenzhen and HK.

Ling Yun has been assisted by outsiders on many of the schools because the county budget is always in the red. Major income is from exporting tea but because of most of the county are steep hills and mountains, transportation and level land for major agriculture are limited. Even the salary of officials are under 3,000 yuan. The assistant Admin of Education Bureau who greeted me this and lasat time Mr. Lin only makes 2800 rmb. The driver makes 1800 rmb.

Sister Cailan has been very helpful in coordinating with various departments to get things done. As in many part of China I visited, the best looking building in many villages is the school. VIllagers know the value of an education and even sending the kids to boarding. Just like those in Sichuan, the un-educated minority young men who work in towns and cities were often cheated by the employers. One was case was about a young man who was promised 50 rmb a day for labor job but >only received a 5 rmb bill because he can't tell the different.

Yes, there is a potential of combining smaller schools into a central one, but so far none has affected the CTEF ones. If that happen, the worst case that we are aware of will happen: younger kids in remote villages will not able to afford the boarding fees and live away from home at such young age.

by Dennis Su

Immersing in Chinese life for a few days from experiencing life in the streets, like reading local newspapers, to all the CCTV channels in the hotel rooms, gave me certain insight about operating CTEF. Some ideas have been reinforced by chatting with the Interglow staff hired locally and with Hoi Wah.  My next task is to try to summarize some of these thoughts to be discussed with you guys at our Board meeting.

In a few hours, I will be joining the Provincial and Zhou Foreign Office representatives to ride up from Xi Chang to Putou, the town. Then tomorrow, the 11th, will start the climb up the mountain in the rented SUV to the community center for the official opening event.

Toured the Yi minority museum yesterday and learnt the first time that 1) this region was not "liberated" by the Chinese government until 1953, NOT 1949. 2) This part of Sichuan is used to belong to an old province "Kong something", 3) there was a very primitive slavery system among the Yi, and 4) the Red Army's 20,000 long march passed through here and team up with this region.

That brings up the community center: there are 98 students from the two nearby Yi villages and all must went through wash and hair cut (except girls) and changed into new clean underwear and uniform before accepted into the dormitory, because all the clothes from home have lice and other bugs. They learnt to wash their hands and clean before meals. Many thing we take for granted must be taught.

The medical team I am with is performing the very first medical check up for these kids and some of their parents, and start a recording system for them.

The ultimate goal of this facility is to lift the region out of poverty and be self sufficient in a few years. Interglow already working on a plan to have a Chinese herbal company to invest with the villagers to plant Chinese herbs to increase the income and living standards. But this takes time and Interglow is working on a master plan to phase out the operation budget in a few years. s

However, this goal sounds quite academic. The challenge to reach it is more depanding on human factors and cultural background. 1) One of the two teachers already express lack of interest to stay in such a "outpost", he is Han. 2) the clinic is staffed by the county health staff, but again, she has no motivation to help and to carry out basic health and medical procedure, not to mention the basic care that we, the civilized, expected to get from health providers. 3) How the village "corporation" leaders is working out and its relation with other villages is yet to be seen.

Regardless, CTEF's contribution in providing the center plays a large part in the lives of these people.