Cambodia and Vietnam

A week ago, I took a mini vacation and traveled down to Phnom Penh, Cambodia to visit an old friend, Aurora Sandell who is now the Service Coordinator for CWEF in our Cambodia office. It was a great chance to catch up, get out of China and see what our other offices are doing. She took me around the city, specifically stopping at the Killing Fields and S-21. This is where thousands of Cambodians were killed by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970's. A tragic ruling of the Communist Party at the time, shocking to have stood on the grounds of so many murders.

Then we picked up the mood and traveled to Siem Reap, Cambodia where the famous Angkor Wat is. We got up at 4:30 am and were touring the temples that make up the grounds of Angkor Wat by 5:15 am. It was so cool to see something so historic, so massive and wonder how they built such large temples without modern day construction equipment. We walked around Bayon, the temple with hundreds of faces carved into its rocks. Then Ta Prohm, the place where Tomb Raider was filmed with its gigantic trees and roots weaving in and out of the rock. Then the famous Angkor Wat, the largest of the temples and also shown on the Cambodian flag. It truly was an amazing experience to walk around one of the wonders of the world and take in how large and historic this piece of earth is.

After Siem Reap, we flew to Saigon or Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam. Here we toured the War Remnants Museum and were once again reminded of the horrors of war and how awful people can treat other human beings. Saigon was as crazy as you might have heard. Motorbikes zooming past in every direction, people selling fake accessories on the street and of course, delicious Vietnamese food at every corner. I thought I could handle crazy traffic coming from China, but Saigon's traffic even threw me for a loop.

After Saigon, we flew to Phu Quoc Island, off the coast of Vietnam. This is a small island not yet bombarded with tourism. The island is actually only 15 km away from Cambodia, but is currently owned by Vietnam. In a few years, this place will be filled with resorts and fine restaurants but for the time being, it was a nice and affordable getaway for Aurora and I.

We hopped on a ferry that took us back to Vietnam where we crossed the border back into Cambodia and traveled back to Phnom Penh where we started the whole adventure. It was a great trip, exhausting but adventurous nonetheless!

China: Beyond Borders

NPR is doing a great series this month entitled China: Beyond Borders. The articles are well written and I agree with the points they make about the country I am living in. The latest article, China's Businesses Boom, But Its Brands Don't is especially interesting because three new Starbucks just opened in Kunming this month. More and more American brands are popping up around Kunming, which at times is a nice chance to get away from the dense Chinese culture I feel sometimes, but it also raises the question of where are all the Chinese brands?

Check it out at China: Beyond Borders

CWEF Interns - Scholarship Students

As I stated in my last post, a few weeks ago, six high school students came to Kunming to intern for CWEF. They go to school at Concordia International School Shanghai (CISS) and are truly a fascinating bunch of kids. Last post I talked about the conclusions we came up with after interviewing several villages about drinking water projects. Here, I want to highlight the interviews we conducted with our scholarship students. Each year, CWEF gives out a handful of scholarships for middle and high school students. Without these scholarships, many students would be forced to stay at home and help with farm work.

Here are a few excerpts from the report written by Taylor Jurgens:

• When parents or guardians were asked about personal education levels, the most common level of education was elementary school. 6 of the 18 female guardians went to elementary school but didn't necessarily graduate; 1 went to middle school and only 1 graduated high school. 6 had no education at all and were completely illiterate. Of the male guardians 7 went to elementary school, 2 went to middle school and 1 graduated high school. 4 had no formal schooling.

• The average annual income for all families was roughly 4500 RMB which translates into about $680.

• On average the families eat two meals a day consisting of corn, rice, potatoes and other vegetables. About once a week, they will eat meat such as pork or chicken. Students are given money to eat a meal at school, though many of the students skip their midday meal in order to make their allowance last as long as possible.

• All of the scholarship students interviewed spent the school days living in the on-campus dormitories and went back to their village only on weekends and holidays.

• All of the families said that had they not received the scholarship they would have paid or tried to pay for their child to go to school anyways. Some parents went as far as to say that they would sell the house and all they have because they know the importance of their children's education.

• Students were also asked what their goals were for the future as well as what they wanted to be when they grow up. Many students expressed an interest in being doctors. The overwhelming amount said it was because they had a family member that was sick or in pain. Many also said they wanted to be teachers because they were inspired by influential teachers or the scholarship they had received. Other popular responses were lawyer, manager, government official and police officer. All students expressed a desire to use their education to first help their families and then help others who were in similar conditions.

• Many students were brutally aware of just how poor they really were. Throughout the interviews, most cried and had a hard time admitting their financial situation. Many family members were thankful for the scholarship because it gave their children an opportunity to go to school. Even though basically all the parents said they would pay for their children's education even without the scholarship, looking at their situation, this didn't seem likely. The scholarships have obviously had an enormous impact on their lives. They have given the students an opportunity to make the world a better place in the future. Many students looked up to the workers at CWEF and wanted to help others in dire situations like themselves. More importantly, the scholarships seem to have given many students the hope and self-confidence to reach for their dreams, no matter how mighty or seemingly impossible.

A few photos of our scholarship students:

CWEF Interns-Water Projects

These past two weeks CWEF hosted six high school interns from Concordia International School Shanghai (CISS) to help with various projects. I accompanied these six interns to two villages in Yunnan, one village that does not currently have a water system in place and another village that had a water project installed last fall by CISS. We interviewed families from both villages accessing the needs of the village without a water system and accessing how the new water project has helped the other village. Thanks to the interns hard work, we were able to gather all the information into a concise report laying out the villages needs and how a water project can help.

Two CWEF interns with a village woman

A few facts about village life:

• The majority of families work as farmers raising cows, pigs, sheep, chickens and horses.
• Most families eat two meals a day, morning and evening, that consist of corn, potatoes, rice and vegetables. Meat is eaten on the rare occasion.
• The average annual income per family is 1,300 RMB or 200 USD.
• This particular village's closest water source is 3 km away. Depending on if the family owns a horse cart dictates how often they get water. If they have a horse cart they can retrieve water once every 3 days and bring back 400 kg. If they do not have a horse cart, they need to go 1-2 times a day bringing back 40 kg each trip in buckets. This water is used for cooking and giving to livestock, rarely is it used for bathing.
• Each villager washes their hands twice a day, in the morning and at night. They give themselves a sponge bath every 10-15 days.
• The highest education level paid for by the government is elementary school so most villagers only have an elementary education. On the rare occasion someone will have finished middle school.

A village woman and her son during an interview

A few facts about a village with a completed water project:

• Before the water project:

-There was one water source in the village but it would often run dry and was not clean.

-Families bathed every 10-15 days to once a month.

-Villagers wash their hands only twice a day, morning and night.

-Less crops were grown and less water was given to livestock.

• After the water project:

-Families are able to raise more livestock and grow more crops increasing their annual income.

-Villagers bathe every 2-3 days washing their hands 3-4 times a day or if dirty.

• The annual income for a family ranges from 0 RMB (villagers survive off of their crops but make no extra money) to 5,000-6,000 RMB (750-800 USD) all the way up to 20,000 RMB (3,300 USD)

Water from the new water system installed by CWEF and CISS

"Generally, the villagers recognize that a simple necessity like water is a gateway to a better life. With a new water system the villagers are able to find ways to provide for themselves rather than depend on donations. Water leads to more money, more money leads to more education, and more education leads to success."

-Written by Heather Taylor, CISS Intern

Jiu Zhai Gou..."The most beautiful place in China..."

During my recent eyeglass trip to Sichuan, the group stopped at a famous tourist stop, Jiu Zhai Gou (pronounced Geo J-eye Go). It has been referred to as the most beautiful place in China. It is located in northern Sichuan province and its name is due to the existence of nine blockaded Tibetan villages. It is regarded as a holy mountain and watercourse by the Tibetan people. It was truly gorgeous and I could not help but think how great G-d is.

Tibetan flags

Co-worker, Sean and I

This lake was called "Lake with Many Colors" and it truly had quite the spectrum

Two of our team members who dressed up in traditional Tibetan dress for a photo-opp

A nice Chinese man let me use his sweet hat for a photo

This bride and groom were taking their wedding photos with this gorgeous scenery

Receive Your Sight

This past month I had the pleasure of accompanying a team from MOST M-nistries to Sichuan Province for an eyeglass service trip. Sichuan Province is north of Yunnan and its capital, Chengdu, holds the United States Consulate.

The team arrived and we headed straight out to Nanba, a town that was devastated in 2008 by an earthquake. The entire town needed to be rebuilt and when we arrived, three years later, we could tell they were finally getting back on their feet. During our seven days of service, we visited 8 schools, saw 1,725 patients and gave out 1,650 glasses. This team was so bl-ssed to have such experienced members who had been on several eyeglass teams before, our clinic days went as smoothly as could be. Many of the students who couldn’t communicate with us verbally just gave us hugs instead.

Students filed into the registration area, talked to the nurse and headed to the testing station. Here our volunteers would test their near and far-sidedness just like at the eye doctor. They would prescribe them an accurate prescription and send them to the dispensing station. Here we would test several pairs of eyeglasses on them and ask which was the clearest. I was located at this station to help with translation and and do my best to give them the best pair of glasses. Next, we sent them to the fitting station where our volunteers would try their best to adjust the size and nose pieces of the glasses to fit the students face. This was at times hard, as most of our glasses fit an average American’s face and nose, but with a smaller Chinese face and flatter nose, our technicians had their hands full. Finally the students proudly took their new glasses to the cleaning station and picked out a case.

Overall, the trip was a great success. Many students who could not see the blackboard can now do so without squinting. Many hugs were given and small relationships were built. With the language barrier, sometimes it can be hard to build relationships in such a short amount of time, but these volunteers showed their love in a big way. They showed their love in simple actions just as He did. We don’t know who was reached or whose lives were changed, it is in His hands now, and that we can put our faith in!

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Next week, six interns from Concordia International School Shanghai come to Kunming to help CWEF with a few projects. We will head out to a project site where CWEF completed a water project and evaluate how the project has affected the village. Then we will go to a new village and evaluate if it is a place where we can do a water project in the future. Please send us your pr-yers for safety and good health.

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CWEF is still looking for a new Service Coordinator to fill my role this fall. If you are interested or know someone who might be, email me at edurfey@gmail.com

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Thank you to all my supporters from around the globe. I wouldn’t be able to be here without your gifts and I truly appreciate the generosity. I am truly bl-ssed.