最乐观的悲观主义者surrea... 的个人资料最乐观的悲观主义者照片日志列表更多  |  工具 帮助 |
|
2月27日 the only story written in 2006 that I can rememberNew world opens for village children
Students volunteer as teachers to help carve better future for youngsters Xu Xiaomin Gou Dongdong, a student of Jiangtai Middle School in Xiji County of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, has a wooden case with a lock just like the other boys living in the dormitory. Inside the case there is a bag of buns which look stale, several scallions and two packs of instant noodles - his food for a week. During meal time, he pours himself a cup of hot water and eats one bun served with a scallion. Sometimes he makes some instant noodles as a special dish. He shares the 10 square-metre dormitory and one big bed with three other boys at the school. Each one has a wooden case with a lock containing similar food. When he goes home at weekends, he always has potatoes for dinner. Potatoes are the main crop in the county which is connected to a poverty-stricken city. When Wang Zhixian, the vice county leader of the county, spoke about the place, he used one word: poverty. In the county, where 94 per cent of the residents are farmers, the average income is only 1,740 yuan (US$215), one-third of which comes from growing potatoes. For a long time, local people have been planting and selling potatoes. But now, some young people have new dreams. "My dream is to be a university student, just like my teacher from Fudan University," Gou said as he smiled shyly. The arrival of student teachers from Fudan University was like a stone thrown into the lake. The central government created a volunteer project to support education in poor areas in 1999. as part of this project, a total of 76 graduate students from Fudan University arrived in Xiji where they work as student teachers in local middle schools. "I came here because I believe in what the writer Lu Xun said: In the far distance, there are countless people who have some connection to me," said Qiao Liang, a Fudan volunteer working in Sanhe Middle School who came here last August. She is one of the eight batches of 13 Fudan volunteers in the county. A scarcity of water The volunteers, most of whom come from big cities, face a totally different life. Xiji is a poverty-stricken county due to its lack of water. The yearly rainfall in the county, located at the south part of Ningxia, is only 300 millimetres, which is about one-fifth of the level in Shanghai. "I have only seen three or four rainy days since arriving here," said Zhou Bin, a volunteer from Fudan's medical school. "Here, water is more treasured than oil." The task of cleaning in the morning was also a shock to the Fudan students at first. After getting up, local students just drank a mouthful water, but they wouldn't swallow it. After rinsing their mouth, they spat the water onto their hands to wash their faces with. "Seeing this, I would feel guilty if I used as much water as people do in Shanghai," said Gao Tian, who came here as a student teacher last year. She said she had worn the same pair of denim pants for more than four months without washing them. Volunteers were forced to learn how to recycle water. The water used for washing the face can also be used for cleaning clothes, then cleaning the floor. Using such water-conserving methods, three buckets suffice for two days for each volunteer. Bathing is a weekly luxury for those living in the village without tap water. It takes a one-hour bus ride to reach the county's public bathroom. After returning to the village, the newly- bathed volunteers are already dirty again from the dusty journey. Changed lifestyle But the shortage of water is not the biggest problem. "If you can use the local toilet without any trouble, that means you have really become localized," said Gao. The so-called toilets in the schools are just big holes dug into the cliff. "I once found eight different life forms in the toilet," she said. However, the school toilets are said to be the cleanest in the village. In winter, when the temperature is 20 degrees below zero, the toilet becomes an icy torment. "We girls always went to the toilet at 2 pm when the sunshine was at its strongest," Gao said. Some women team members even ate and drank less in order to minimize the need to use the toilet. Yet such toilet troubles are nothing compared with the other problems affecting the local children's lives. "When I saw some students squeezed in a narrow bed and reading books while eating dry buns, I realized it was impossible to complain anymore," said Deng Jingkui, a volunteer. Fudan students also live a totally different lifestyle, with a monthly income of 600 yuan (US$75) from Fudan University. Every day, they get up at 7 am, start teaching at 8 am, cook at noon and teach again during the afternoon. During evenings, they hold after-school classes. Teaching is not an easy task for these volunteers although they are enrolled in one of the best universities in the country. Window to the outside world Li teaches English classes in Jiangtai Middle School. But at first she found most students didn't like English at all. Some of the second grade students were unable to write the 26 letters of the alphabet. Only a few students could afford a dictionary. To stimulate their interests in English, Li told them there were two famous "Bills" in the world. One is Bill Gates and the other is Bill Clinton. "When they heard this, they opened their eyes wide," she said. Most local children hunger for information about the outside world. Due to their poverty, most students in the village haven't even seen the county town, which is only 40 kilometres away. Some students have never touched a basketball. Reading books has become a way to open their minds to the outside world. "When we brought donated books, many children came to our room. They squeezed against the door and window asking to borrow the books," said Liang Zhu, who teaches in Wangmin Middle School. "Some students lit candles and read the books until midnight. The next morning, they get up early at 4 am and study again," Li said. Supported by Amway China, which donated more than 700,000 yuan (US$86,300) to the Fudan-Amway Fund, several schools were able to purchase new books, computers, educational and entertainment equipment. Now all 13 team members are celebrities in the villages. "Once when I was walking, I heard someone call out 'graduate student' from the hill. It was a four-year-old shepherd boy," volunteer Zhou Bin said proudly. The coming of the Fudan students has sparked dreams of going to university for most local children. Anything with the Fudan logo has become a popular item. "My dream is to go to university," said Ma Hongmei, a grade three student of Wangmin Middle School. "Then I hope to work in Beijing." The third child of the family of five children said she likes English most, though up to now she hasn't seen a Western person. "Many students want to escape this mountainous area, but to tell you the truth, the college enrollment rate from local schools is very low," said Zhang Ping, who teaches in Sanhe Middle School. Last year, only two students from the school were enrolled by Ningxia University. Poverty poses a huge obstacle, preventing local children from pursuing their education further. Even a ruler, which only costs 20 US cents, is a luxury few local children can afford. Despite the villagers' poverty, this year, the potato crop fetched a good price - 1 yuan per kilogram. This means the annual income will be 10,000 yuan (US$1,233)for a typical farming family. But this "big" sum of money will be meagre when distributed to a family with more than five children. For local families, having 10 children is common. Some girls marry early after graduating from junior middle school. In Wangmin Junior Middle School, there are three grade one classes, two grade two classes and one grade three class. "Actually, many students clearly understand that they have no chance of attending college. They know their destination is to plant potatoes after graduation," said volunteer Zhang Ping. "We can't send all the children to university - that's impossible, but we can help them understand the importance of knowledge, then they will have an impact on their own children. Things will get better with time." 2月15日 理想生活就是"农夫,山泉,有点甜"自从云南回来后，只要是有阳光的日子，我都会抬头使劲看天，看看天是不是蓝的，如果是蓝的，有没有香格里拉的蓝，结果往往是失望的。上海的天即便是蓝的，也是不纯粹的灰蓝，加上一层雾蒙蒙的；上海的阳光看上去是金黄的一层，但那一层洒在身上却似有若无，完全没有热度，只是烘烘地包裹了一头一脸，热的腻歪。昨天和今天上海的天气出奇地好，早上走在桥上，一个劲地抬头看天，几乎撞在民工身上。
今天的天让我想起香格里拉，一想起那里，就想起那照得我几乎睁不开眼的阳光，“如果阳光不热辣，那和空调有什么区别？”按照城市的比较，那里没有一个角落是摩登的，商店里的唱片是花里胡哨的，电信门口还有人搭台作秀卖手机，真的很象小武里的场景，但是不知道为什么我却逛得那么起劲。可能是因为那里的色彩浓烈得恰到好处，而人的气味也淡得恰到好处。
其实，象我这样一个不爱热闹的人，住在上海这样的大城市里实在是浪费城市资源，我不需要酒吧，不需要夜生活，不需要PARTY，不需要看明星，不需要新到货品，更不想费力赚大钱，活活把上海的优势给忽视了，也把上海可以给的机会给放弃了。
很难说和农民或者小地方的人比起来，谁比谁更幸运，我有了烘衣机，却没有了晒好太阳的机会，有了抽水马桶，却没有了看河看山的机会，有了汽车代步，却闻到了充满汽油味的空气，新鲜空气是怎么样的？就是在早上打开大门的一刹那，忍不住深深地吸口气！那种没有杂质的清冷味道实在令人想念。 |
|
|
