Monday, November 21, 2005
SERVICE, CHURCH & TRAVEL
A 2 hour bus ride from Shuongjiang we arrived in a little village where we had lunch. We then boarded a tractor for the 13km ride to Papuh the town of our servce project. Papuh has 34 houses, of whom 97% of the people are Lahu, a minority group. Once in Papuh we began digging a 100m long knee deep trench to lay he last of the pipes (which had been prevously started by the villagers.) We finished around dinner, ate goat (which was slaughtered for us) and then wandered over to the village down the road. We walked into a little room with about 15 people sitting in it, some of whom were smoking opium. We joined them in the room and they offered us tea. After each drinking a cup, the one guy who could speak Chinese (everyone else only spoke Lahu) told us "the tea will do something to you." A leader who will not be named made up that it was opium tea and we all departed. I don't know what the tea really was but I had crazy dreams.
We stayed in the house of one of the wealthiest families because they had 2 extra rooms where we could sleep on the floor. Let me clarify wealthy here: the average village income was about $100 per year or $0.33/day. That's impoverished by Chinese standards but not severely impoverished ($75/year.) By contrast, most international orgazations place the poverty line at $1/day.
The second day I was in the group that attached the water meters and faucets to peoples houses. Each house had to purchase their own water meter and pay for water (a nominal fee) because the NGO beleves that this promotes ownership of the water project. Basically, when a pipe breaks, the villagers will fix it themselves rather than calling the NGO and saying "hey, your water system broke." Attaching the pipes consisted of cutting the pipe, dipping it in hot oil, stretching it with a stick, and attaching it to the water meter. The process was repeted again for the faucet and then repeated for all 34 houses.
That afternoon we walked 2km to the local school (which served 3 villages and had 140 of the 185 kids in the area attending.) The principal told us about the school and what they study (the only class I remember was the Society/Morals class which is code for Communism class.) After the talk, we gave the kids candy and jump-ropes and played with them for a while. Most of the little kids had never seen white people and wre afraid of us at first but quickly warmed up. It was still funny saying hello to someone in Chinese and having them turn and run away. In the evening, there was a party, where everyone in the town showed up (plus a neighboring town) and they sang for us, we sang for them, then we all circle danced.
Day 3 we finished up the last of the pipes, burried them and did the last of the attachments. When I was done, I tried to find the rest of the group to help them finish the well. I walked down the road in the direction they went until I found a villager. "Lao wai zai nar (where are the foreigners?)" I asked. He pointed up the hill, so I stared walking up. After about 10 minutes I was in someone's field and I turned around. Walking back I saw the same guy, asked him again and this time he motioned for me to follow him. I followed for 30 minutes, trekking uphill as he pointed to different plants and told me their Chinese names. We arrived at the top of the hill and he pointed to a plant saying proudly, "lao wai." After tome charades with me trying express digging the well, he ripped up the plant and handed it to me. It was at that point I realized neither he nor his buddies there spoke Chinese. The plant he showed me was not native to China so it was "lao wai," just as we were. They led me back, stopping on the way to grab some sugar cane for me. The Chinese word for sugar cane is ganja. Needless to say, this confused me as the cane plant was sitting in a field of marijuana plants (apparently used for hemp.)
After finally arriving back muddy and tired, sugar cane in hand I took a nap. After dinner we had church service. Church was entirely in Lahu. Converted about 100 years ago by Baptists, the prayer books were in Latin characters wth tones, a missionary attempt at giving the Lahu language written script so they could learn the bible. After the 20 minute service was done I went up with Michelle (the project coordinator) and we sang Amazing Grace in English as the congregation joined in in Lahu. Afterwards everyone went outside and circle danced while singing. I picked up the tune easily enough but couldn't seem to pick up the words. After a minute I realized they were singing solfege: Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do and I quickly picked up the words. All those years of singing have payed off.
We then took a 4 hour bus to Lincang, showered and took an overnight bus back to Kunming. Chinese people are too small, so I couldn't fit into the bed. Despite my having lost 20lbs, I am still 6'3". Trevor has now officially left the group. We said goodbye in Shuongjiang. Megan changed her mind again and is going south tomorrow. Dean will stay in Kunming. Sar, Julia and I, accompanied by our Chinese leader Christina will be headed to Beijing. We take a train tonight to Chengdu in Sichuan. After that we have given ourselves a week to get to Beijing by train with a few day stop in Kaifeng, the town with Chinese Jews.
A 2 hour bus ride from Shuongjiang we arrived in a little village where we had lunch. We then boarded a tractor for the 13km ride to Papuh the town of our servce project. Papuh has 34 houses, of whom 97% of the people are Lahu, a minority group. Once in Papuh we began digging a 100m long knee deep trench to lay he last of the pipes (which had been prevously started by the villagers.) We finished around dinner, ate goat (which was slaughtered for us) and then wandered over to the village down the road. We walked into a little room with about 15 people sitting in it, some of whom were smoking opium. We joined them in the room and they offered us tea. After each drinking a cup, the one guy who could speak Chinese (everyone else only spoke Lahu) told us "the tea will do something to you." A leader who will not be named made up that it was opium tea and we all departed. I don't know what the tea really was but I had crazy dreams.
We stayed in the house of one of the wealthiest families because they had 2 extra rooms where we could sleep on the floor. Let me clarify wealthy here: the average village income was about $100 per year or $0.33/day. That's impoverished by Chinese standards but not severely impoverished ($75/year.) By contrast, most international orgazations place the poverty line at $1/day.
The second day I was in the group that attached the water meters and faucets to peoples houses. Each house had to purchase their own water meter and pay for water (a nominal fee) because the NGO beleves that this promotes ownership of the water project. Basically, when a pipe breaks, the villagers will fix it themselves rather than calling the NGO and saying "hey, your water system broke." Attaching the pipes consisted of cutting the pipe, dipping it in hot oil, stretching it with a stick, and attaching it to the water meter. The process was repeted again for the faucet and then repeated for all 34 houses.
That afternoon we walked 2km to the local school (which served 3 villages and had 140 of the 185 kids in the area attending.) The principal told us about the school and what they study (the only class I remember was the Society/Morals class which is code for Communism class.) After the talk, we gave the kids candy and jump-ropes and played with them for a while. Most of the little kids had never seen white people and wre afraid of us at first but quickly warmed up. It was still funny saying hello to someone in Chinese and having them turn and run away. In the evening, there was a party, where everyone in the town showed up (plus a neighboring town) and they sang for us, we sang for them, then we all circle danced.
Day 3 we finished up the last of the pipes, burried them and did the last of the attachments. When I was done, I tried to find the rest of the group to help them finish the well. I walked down the road in the direction they went until I found a villager. "Lao wai zai nar (where are the foreigners?)" I asked. He pointed up the hill, so I stared walking up. After about 10 minutes I was in someone's field and I turned around. Walking back I saw the same guy, asked him again and this time he motioned for me to follow him. I followed for 30 minutes, trekking uphill as he pointed to different plants and told me their Chinese names. We arrived at the top of the hill and he pointed to a plant saying proudly, "lao wai." After tome charades with me trying express digging the well, he ripped up the plant and handed it to me. It was at that point I realized neither he nor his buddies there spoke Chinese. The plant he showed me was not native to China so it was "lao wai," just as we were. They led me back, stopping on the way to grab some sugar cane for me. The Chinese word for sugar cane is ganja. Needless to say, this confused me as the cane plant was sitting in a field of marijuana plants (apparently used for hemp.)
After finally arriving back muddy and tired, sugar cane in hand I took a nap. After dinner we had church service. Church was entirely in Lahu. Converted about 100 years ago by Baptists, the prayer books were in Latin characters wth tones, a missionary attempt at giving the Lahu language written script so they could learn the bible. After the 20 minute service was done I went up with Michelle (the project coordinator) and we sang Amazing Grace in English as the congregation joined in in Lahu. Afterwards everyone went outside and circle danced while singing. I picked up the tune easily enough but couldn't seem to pick up the words. After a minute I realized they were singing solfege: Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do and I quickly picked up the words. All those years of singing have payed off.
We then took a 4 hour bus to Lincang, showered and took an overnight bus back to Kunming. Chinese people are too small, so I couldn't fit into the bed. Despite my having lost 20lbs, I am still 6'3". Trevor has now officially left the group. We said goodbye in Shuongjiang. Megan changed her mind again and is going south tomorrow. Dean will stay in Kunming. Sar, Julia and I, accompanied by our Chinese leader Christina will be headed to Beijing. We take a train tonight to Chengdu in Sichuan. After that we have given ourselves a week to get to Beijing by train with a few day stop in Kaifeng, the town with Chinese Jews.
