volunteer trip to Beijing & Urumqi

to say the least, we had a very profitable time.  profitable for our souls, minds, and hearts.  There was great need in the village outside Beijing called Qing Yun Dian.  but the government had just recently sprung the funds for new roads leading up to the Olympics.  every day I would teach English to classrooms of about 12 students, aged 16 to adult.  it was a summer programme, and in the meantime Sonia helped out in the children's home right there on the same campus.  We now hope to go back sometime over the next year with our home (PLUS) group from our church and hopefully financially sponsor one or more children from the home there.  most of them are saved from not getting the surgeries they so badly need from the state-run system.  New Day arranges adoptions or foster families from the community step up to give their help too.
then I had the most amazing side trip -- to the fascinating Turkish (by ethnicity) city of Urumqi.  it's still located within China's western border, but it sure seems like a Muslim place somewhere in the Middle East.  I was warmly welcomed by the director of the largest English language school in that region, Atlan.  The people were so so warm, and they were very interested to sit and hear we four Americans teach and interact with them for seven days.  the student numbers in our classes approached 100 at times.  they were very studious and hard-working, and they were not afraid to converse as well as they could manage.  they took us out 2 or 3 times a day, and students even welcomed us into their own homes.  the people are very expressive, they absolutely adore dancing, acting, and singing, and they love parties.  I sure hope God allows us to visit these people again soon and possibly set up something longer term there.  see two pictures from each city below, and see more pictures in my new Beijing & Urumqi photo album.

Comments

[Jaslyn Ho]

Hello!
My name is Jaslyn and I am the editor of a travel portal in Asia call TakeMeToVolunteerTravel.com.

I came across your blog recently and came to know that you had volunteered in Beijing. On behalf of my company, I would like to request for an email interview with you in order to provide our readers more information before taking up a volunteering vacation with us.

I could understand if you are too busy to do so but if you are agreeable to our request, we would be very grateful. We look forward to your favorable reply.

Best Rgds
Jaslyn Ho
jaslyn@TakeMeToAsia.com
www.TakeMeToVolunteerTravel.com