China Schools

On a hot sunny day in October 2005, we stepped out of our bus to a low whistle and then a silence. We were surrounded by amazed, giggling and beautiful Chinese girls, who had never seen Western people in their area. Here were 2 tall, handsome teenage boys in their playground!

It took them a wee while to notice the rest of our group!!!

Teenagers arrived from everywhere and just stared – not rude – just amazed! We all felt very conspicuous!

We were taken to a long conference room where we met

· Nong Bi Rui, 18, Chen Xiao hua, 15 ( sponsored by Portree High School)

· Ning Ai Hong, 18(sponsored by Strathaven Academy) and

· Lui Jin hua, (sponsored by an individual in Skye.)

They were so excited and nervous. They were also so polite and considerate of us – it was touching. They had been practising their English to speak with us, but discovered that they had forgotten everything when they were face to face with us. I really felt for them and was so touched by their sincerity. They wanted to thank us for helping them. We took this opportunity to explain all about our Portree High School and Strathaven Academy pupils who were sponsoring them in Scotland.

It meant a lot to them to know that other young people had cared enough to raise the money to make their education and future possible

They were amazed to hear about them packing bags in the Co-op and about how much money was raised. It also made them feel good to know that young people here were interested in them. They expressed their wish to get to know these pupils better and to share learning with them.

Their Principal, and teacher came to welcome us to their school and fill us in with some details about their school.

School starts at 7.30am.

There is always time set apart for exercise in the large outdoor yard – when we arrived the boys were busy playing

basketball – Ally and Ross found it hard not to dive in and join them!

There is a long break for lunch after which it is back to work until 4.30/5pm.

Each class has between 70-100 pupils who sit at traditional 2 seat desks in rows. All their books are piled high on their desks where they remain for most of the day. They do not move from class to class! Teachers come to them!

Each day every pupil will spend at least 1.5/2hours on extra study. They consider this as normal – some will do more!

Chinese students greatly value their education and the chances it offers them.

Our girls value it more than most as they come from homes where it would be impossible to pay the school fees for a variety of reasons.

For some, the death of a father, usually due to a minor illness which could have been treated if there had been money to pay for a doctor has led to great hardship for the mother and children left behind.

Many times in cases like these the mother will leave her children to remarry as she has no position or voice within her late husband’s family.

This is a very difficult choice for us to understand, but our guide Matthew tried to explain to us the awful suffering of these women. One of the things he hopes for our girls is through their education they will have some dignity and power within Chinese society to make sure that they will not be put in the same intolerable situations as their mothers.

We started this project to help abandoned baby girls in China but have come to realise that much wider help is needed. The young women of tomorrow need to be empowered to make sure that they are not forced to abandon their babies and to give them a voice in the running of their own lives.

So our project has extended to help the young girls of China through their education programmes.

If the mother leaves, these children are left with grandparents who have little or no income. They have therefore little chance of an education or chance to escape the cycle of despair which has affected their family. Often these girls are in a worse situation than those who have been abandoned and placed in orphanages! At least, there they have food and shelter and a chance to got o school!

Most High school students live in during the week or term as travel is so difficult. This however makes it more expensive for them to live and pay for food and the basics of life.

The girls live on rice and vegetables and rarely have meat. They take great care of their money and stick together to help each other out if they run into difficulties. At weekends, if they get home, and during holidays, they do whatever work they can to try to pay for their living expenses.

Below is a letter from Nong Bi rui explaining the difference the sponsorship makes to her and her friends.

After visiting Lui Chen hua’s class, where we spoke in English to as many pupils as possible, the girls took us on a tour of the school. We passed classes where the noise level rose as we passed. I’m sure not much work was going on !

The girls’ living conditions were basic, with narrow hard bunks – about 6 to a small room – very little personal space! Blankets were rolled up to create more space. Outside each dorm were lines where clothes were all hung on hangers to dry. It was all very neat and organised. They were also fortunate enough to have a wet room with toilets and a shower. This is more than most have!

We passed chalk boards outside in the playground, full of Chinese and English work. Do these kids ever play?

Actually , they do and have time for physical exercise every day. Basket ball seemed to be the game of the moment while we were there.

We moved through the playground, followed by an evergrowing crowd, to the Canteen where food was being prepared for all the students. The girls invited us to stay for lunch, which would have been lovely – but we had 2 tired toddlers with us - and we had an orphanage to visit in the afternoon. So we said goodbye, knowing that we would meet with the 17 girls we were sponsoring on Friday after school for our Special Weekend!

School was very different from ours at home!

The students also appreciated it a lot more?

We could learn a lot from them?

Party time with our Friends

On Friday after school, our 17 girls came from their various schools around Nanning, to the hotel that we had provided for them. The younger ones had their teachers with them to help look after them. They all got changed and came along to The Food Street next to our hotel where we met them altogether for the first time.

They were very shy and didn’t quite know what to make of these Western families.

Matthew arranged us all around 3 large round tables and everyone settled down. I introduced myself - with Matthew interpreting - as the representative of Portree High School Pupils who had raised the money to pay for the education of 10 of them, and the Party for all of them. I showed them our famous “A4 Folder” and explained all about our pupils wish to communicate with them. They all rushed to take sheets out of the folder and were delighted to see the people who were helping them from situations they could only dream of.

The sheets were passed around the tables and everyone eagerly grabbed theirs!. The teachers and Matthew were going to help the younger ones to write their postcards and arrange for them all to be sent out. The remaining sheets are with Matthew and he will take them around schools when he visits – so you may receive a postcards at any time!

Next was time for the Gift Bags which you had all helped to fill. Each one was ready with a photo of each girl on the front and a photo of PHS pupils on the back. Each girl was delighted with their gifts, especially knowing who they came from. However instead of rushing to open them as you might expect kids here to do , they sat down quietly with their gifts, leaving them to open when they got back to their hotels. WoW!

Soon, hot, steaming dishes of delicious Chinese food filled all 3 tables and the excited babble lulled as we all enjoyed our food. As soon as one dish was finished, more appeared and kept appearing! We were mastering our chopsticks and coping very well with our noodles and rice. However French Fries and knives and forks magically appeared on our table. So we had the best of both worlds. After we had all enjoyed a fantastic dinner, some of the girls appeared with gifts for me and also ones to bring home and share with