I love my job

Last week, I was in Hong Kong for a Service Coordinator's meeting with CWEF. As some of you know CWEF is based in Hong Kong so occasionally we fly in for meetings, to get our mail, and to get a refresher about what our other offices are doing. We had our service coordinators in from Shanghai, Yunnan, Guangdong and the Philippines. We brainstormed ideas about how to be a better team leader, making emergency decisions and bridge building, but the highlight of the meetings was when we talked about our core values.

CWEF works with local partners to make sustainable long-term changes that improve livelihoods through education, community development and service. We strive to give people tools so they can change their lives. What I like about CWEF is that we are grounded on long-term development and change. It is easy for people to give a quick, short term dollar amount to a charity relief, which is needed, but we are about sustainability, teaching the people to continue on with these healthy practices after we leave.

Here in China, I live for my job. Many people can't say that they live for their job. Their job is just a means to pay the bills and a way to live the life they want to live, but I am here for a specific purpose. Sitting in my meetings last week just clarified that even more, G-d placed me here because He knew it would be a good fit and it is what I should be doing right now. I feel very bl-ssed that He has given me this opportunity and I am anxious to see where He leads me.

CWEF's Service Coordinators on our hike at Dragon's Back on Hong Kong Island

Tiger Leaping Gorge

This past weekend I traveled to Lijiang in the northwest corner of Yunnan, next to Tibet. Lijiang is a very touristy town, with a newly constructed "Old Town" and plenty of souvenirs. While many Chinese tourist go to Lijiang for the Old Town, my friends and I went for the breathtaking scenery and hike of Tiger Leaping Gorge. Lying between the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (Yulong Xueshan) and the Haba Snow Mountain (Haba Xueshan) is Tiger Leaping Gorge (Hutiao) created by the Golden Sands River (Jingsha). It is believed to be the deepest gorge in the world. Near the river's mouth lies a large rock, an ancient legend says that a tiger used this rock as a stepping stone to leap from one side of the gorge to the other, and that is how the gorge got its name.

Lijiang "Old Town"

We hiked for about two hours to the first guest house, where we stayed the night since it was another two hours until the next guest house and it was getting dark fast. The view from my room was better than any view I've ever had at a hotel. We got up the next day, had a hearty breakfast and took off for our 8 hour hike we had ahead of us. The path was at times very steep and very much on the edge of the cliff, but was worth the effort for the view of the mountains. Seeing the snow on the tips of the mountains reminded me of when my family took a vacation out to the Rocky Mountains and I could play in the snow in the middle of July!

My friends up ahead walking on the trail around the bend of the mountain, this was the view for most of the hike

We made it down the mountain around 6 pm and were quite exhausted and sweaty. We found a van to take us back to Lijiang where we could find a hot shower and dinner. About ten minutes into the drive, we were stopped by a minor "roadblock". There were five men about 50 yrds up the mountain jarring large rocks off the mountain and onto the road. I am not sure why they were doing this, I am guessing for safety reasons, to get rid of the loose boulders so they won't come down on any cars or people. So our van waited for an hour, watching these large rocks and boulders bounce off the mountain, onto the road and into the gorge. Then the men ran down the mountain and cleared away the big rocks so the waiting cars could drive through. It was very interesting to see, a bit of a hazard but thats China.

The end of the trip concluded with a ten hour train ride back to Kunming. I tried to avoid the stares of the villager sitting 3 feet across from me but after a while I couldn't resist and starred at him back. Yunnan is a very rural province, so while traveling you might run into villagers who have never seen a foreigner in their lifetime. I am used to being starred at and don't make a big deal of it, but I knew I had ten hours ahead of me on this train and when I caught this mans gaze I couldn't help but laugh.

Overall the trip was great. I am very, very sore this week but now have some great pictures to some day turn into paintings!

Missouri Comes To Yunnan

This months service project came from the great state of Missouri. Seven adults from the Kansas City area traveled all the way to China to serve the people of rural Yunnan and provide one village with a clean drinking water system. The participants of this service project were quite different than last months. We went from 20 Shanghai high school students digging on the side of a mountain to 7 American adults digging just as hard. It was truly amazing to see my fellow midwesterners scaling down the mountainside to dig trenches and lay pipe.

The Missouri team with our government partners

Our view from where we were digging, just beautiful

While we were in the village, we took a break from digging one afternoon to visit an orange plantation and tea factory in the nearby town. The owner of the orange plantation was extremely gracious, he took us out amongst the trees and told us to eat until we were full, which we did. All of us took home quite a few oranges and had sticky hands from all the peeling we did in the field.

After the orange plantation, we headed to the tea factory where we were served pu’erh tea and were given a tour of the factory where they press and ship out tea to all over the world, including America. I was amazed to see tea leaves that were decades old. Tea is similar to wine in the idea that with age it gets better. We were taken through the process of when the tea leaves are picked from the plant, laid out to dry, pressed into bricks or discs, roasted or fermented, packaged and shipped out. China sure does tea differently than America and it was very interesting to see the process in its entirety.

The group gave the owner of the orange plantation a Kansas City baseball hat

Another afternoon in the village we visited a local school. The school had about 30 students, grades 1-3. The school had students from a few different neighboring villages and we spotted a few children we knew from the village we were digging in. We stood in front of the classroom and told them our names and where we were from. I practiced my chinese and asked the students for their names and ages. I was just as timid as they were when spotlighted to use a new and different language. We then sang the song “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” which got a real big laugh out of them.

All of the students and their teachers

Inside the classroom

New coloring books, crayons and a jumprope Happy faces

The group from Missouri had brought lots of great toys to give to the children including coloring books, crayons, jump ropes, bubbles and stickers. All of the children had huge grins on their faces and by the end of the afternoon were not so shy and afraid of the silly foreigners.

The end of our trip concluded with a bon fire/dance party with the villagers. Its a time for them to come together, have a feast (they told us they wanted to kill a cow for the dinner, which we tried to talk them out of), dance, sing and enjoy each others company. We danced under the moonlight around the fire putting a nice end onto a wonderful trip.

The group digging Just give me a hoe and some dirt and I'll give you a trench