Relief For Children

My name is Xiyun Duan, a graduate student of Ball state University, majoring in Educational Administration and Supervision that is a program to train school administrators in the U.S. I came to America with a purpose and I believe study here can help me reach my goal that is to establish an elementary school in rural part of China. It’s been a long journey that I’m confirmed by the vision and I really appreciate once only a dream but now is turning into a destination I’m driving to.

Three years ago I moved from Tianjin to Youyang to become a volunteer teacher. Youyang locates in southwest China, belonging to ChongQing province. Tujia and Miao ethnic groups consist of 80% of the population of 800,000 people. It’s a remote and isolated place but with fantastic beauty of mountain scenery. My father was born there and that’s one of the reasons I chose it to go as a volunteer. I have always had a big concern about education in China rural places and that’s the biggest motivation I went. It was a hard decision. My family and friends didn’t understand my sudden and seemingly unreasonable decision, for there seemed no future that lay ahead of me if I moved to a place like that. But today I can say with confidence that the decision has turned out to be a milestone of my life and my life was changed ever since.

The first half year which was from Dec. 2006 to 2007 June, I taught at a local public middle school, teaching 7th grade English. The school building was old without any modern teaching devices. Normally 70 students crowded into one shabby classroom. During the time when I was in that school, a student was killed after a fight with a group of his peers just in front of the school gate in day time. 6 years ago, 7students were trampled to death during a rush after night class in the dark school corridors. I would not say it is the same educational situation all over the country, but nor is it rare, especially in county and rural levels. To make it worse, there are not many choices for students to make.

The well-known miserable earthquake suddenly fell on 5.12.2008 and located in Sichuan Province where Youyang is not very far from. Soon after the earthquake a Hong Kong organization and I recruited a small relief team to the disaster area. To our surprise, we met a friend from Youyang who moved to Beichuan (the center of the earthquake) about 4 months before the earthquake.

When we met her in Chengdu, she was waiting for any news about her husband and daughter. When the earthquake happened, her daughter was in her pre-school and her husband was in his school on duty, for he was a secondary teacher. The result turned out to be that she didn’t see them survive from the earthquake and even the bodies were not found. Actually the later data show that during the Wenchuan Earthquake of 2008, 81.68% of 5,781 students and teachers who died from the earthquake died due to sleazy school buildings. However, we were touched and moved by the sangfroid and courage the lady demonstrated in the misery. She calmly showed us pictures of the family right before the earthquake and talked about back to work. She even didn’t plan to leave that place but stay to help the reconstruction. I believe there are thousands of victims like her who are brave and dedicative, who love to help even when they themselves are in immense sorrow and pain. They didn’t deserve tragedy like this, but both parents and children deserve schools with the sturdiest buildings and the best education provided within it. People I have met, students I have taught and things I have seen confirm my faith in my vision—start a school where students can really enjoy learning and where parents and students don’t need to worry one day building collapse down caused by man-made poor building quality.

And this desire firstly gave birth to a current project—Activity Center for Children and Adolescents that locates in Longtan, a town of Youyang. A local church shares partnership and I am the coordinator. The Center includes a library which is the only free library in the town, a training hall, and a counseling room. Children and students come to read books, teachers and parents come for counseling, students having difficulties and troubles find us. We also regularly invite experts to give training in topics like parenthood, communication in family, marriage, health education and so on to local people. The Center also financially supports poor students that they can continue their study. I’m now in America but I still facilitate the operation of the Center. The next goal is to open an elementary school there. We’re in process of making contact with the local government and they expressed that they would open the door if we would invest in education as much as we proposed.

Resource Link International Educational Foundation is a newly registered organization that aims to provide resources in education to places where it is needed. I’m honored to be the Vice President and the coordinator of China Initiative. I’m confidence that with the mutual effort with my colleagues who share the same vision, we as a team will contribute to the awareness of need of education in a global spectrum and help those in need reach to resources by which they can make a change of their children’s future.

Sincerely,

Xiyun Duan