Sichuan (April 1-5, 2010)

It's been a couple of weeks since my trip to Sichuan, and I've been meaning to post photos, but there's been so much happening, I am just able to steal an hour now to write this, hopefully I can share with you all that I saw.

Throughout the trip, one thought kept popping up in my mind, "Live Simply that others may Simply Live." - Ghandi.

When most people start out on a mission trip, they think, oh we want to go and do this and that, we want to make things better, we want to change things... but after countless mission trips, and each time we are reminded once again, that what we can do is very little, but what we see and experience is so powerful that it reminds us to be thankful and are encouraged by the people that we meet.

Day 1: Chengdu (Capital of Sichuan Province)

I've never been to Sichuan or Chengdu, so I really had no idea what to expect, but I thought oh, it's probably like other Chinese cities, old and dirty, but to my surprise, what I saw from my window seat on the plane was a city that has grown rapidly due to its location and wealth. There were plenty of wide green land as well as 4 lane highways.

Our ride from the airport to the hotel took us through the suburbs and the city centre, and we saw many new residential complexes being built. I have to admit that the designs are really beautiful. This is in comparison to Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Shanghai, as I think these cities developed too fast and the urban planning wasn't done particularly well. Chengdu's buildings are given lots of space, so that they are not compacted together and it allows each building to be a gem on its own. The funny thing is that it seems like they want to use "foreign"ness to attract buyers, so the style of the houses are usually what you will see in North America and Europe, as well as the names of the residential complex, we passed by one called "Toronto Castle"... lol....

The exact point of the city centre is marked by a Mao statue, hahaha, I like this photo, it was raining in Chengdu when we got there (thank goodness as they have been experiencing drought conditions, although not as bad as other parts of China), I love the misty-ness of this photo as well as the fact that I was on a moving van while I took this photo, so many things could have not turned out right. If I was holding the camera higher, you wouldn't be able to see Mao's head due to the fog, and the photo could have turned out blurry.

After checking into the hotel, we had dinner, and my mom and I had brought a stash of instant and canned food as we were afraid that we might not be used to the spicy food that Sichuan is so famous for. However, our guide had already asked the restaurant to make the food less spicy for us and to make some dishes not spicy at all (this is actually not available in Sichuan food... lol, Sichuanians cannot eat dishes that are not spicy, they would rather not eat, or eat very little... hahahaha... our drivers and guide were not able to enjoy the food as much as we did)

The middle dish was stir-fry mushrooms, it was my FAVOURITE! All the food was really good... just a little too oily, but so yummy!

However, the meals following this were never anywhere nearly as nice as these ones, but we still enjoyed the food. =)


Day 2: Chengdu --> Outskirt village

The next day we woke up early and after breakfast, we drove three hours to a remote village to begin our work.

left to right: price list for noodles (this is what Sichuanians eat for breakfast usually) - it's really convenient to order because you can order 1, 2 or 3 servings of noodles to suit your appetite; enjoying breakfast on the street; designated wide bike lanes - and you can see that the roads are really clean, I was impressed!

After a SUPER bumpy ride over mountains and gravel roads, we finally arrived at a village school on the outskirts of Chengdu. The surrounding scenery was superb, you couldn't ask for a better location to take photos....

We started off with hanging out with some of the students from the local village school, they were all so happy to have visitors and just kept smiling, posing, making faces for the camera! It was nice to see them so happy over something so simple...

The organization that we went on this trip with, has been looking after 3 students from this school, and so we specifically went to visit their families.

Huang Qingqing (Grade 6)

far left & far right photos coutesy of Kim Yung

left to right: Qingqing and her father chat with us; their front door inscribed with "Huang Qingqing's home"; Qingqing in her room

Qingqing's room is very dark, with no windows and no light (as they don't have electricity). When she showed us her room, we couldn't even see her, it was only with flash that we took this last photo on the right.

Our guide, told us that when he visited her last month, she was wearing the exact same clothes, and we suspect that she hasn't changed since last month. But she has maintained her clothes and hygiene very well.

left to right: laundry, canola fields, we gave out toothpaste and bags to villagers we passed by

Wang Rong (Grade 6)

photo courtesy of Kim Yung

Wang Rong lives with her aunt. Her parents left her when she was little, but she is lucky to be able to live with her aunt. Unfortunately, money is tight, and Wang Rong cannot afford to eat lunch at school (which costs a couple of Yuan a day).

photos courtesy of Kim Yung

Hong Quan (Grade 6, 15 yrs old)

Hong Quan is a 15 year old boy, however, he looks more like he's eight due to his height and small body. He lives with his mom is an abandon school, as they cannot afford a house and the government gave them permission (more like assigned them) to live there.

His mom is suspected to be blind or her eyesight is very weak, however as there are no doctors/hospitals/medical centres in the village, she has not been diagnosed. That day we visited, her elder son (who lives in the city) accompanied her to the doctor to be diagnosed. Also Medicare (the org. we went with) had taught Qingqing and Wang Rong to help Hong Quan's mother bathe, so they have been diligently coming to Hong Quan's home to bathe her once a week. In return they get a small allowance which allows them to use for school or save up or help out their families.

The first time that they bathed Hong Quan's mom, they had to boil the water in the kitchen downstair and carry buckets of water upstairs. Not only that, but the first bucket of water quickly became black, it took them almost two hours to wash all the years of grime off her.


Day 3: Longchuan (Dragon Springs)

This was a very inspiring day for us all as we got a chance to met a 106 female Reverend. She was still energetic and happy, praying and singing for us, her bright smile really brought us joy!

When she saw us, she immediately sat up, and asked us our names. We had name badges, and she can read all of our names with a loud, clear voice. She doesn't look 106 does she? So live with a joyful heart and a smile on your face!

That night we joined the local church for a Worship service that they specially organized for us. The "room" where they worship is not enough to fit all of them, some of the attendees had to sit in the yard below.... We sat on small stools, and it was PACKED!

The next day, we joined them for Worship and then we went to visit some families that they are aware of who need help and care.

left to right: we delivered a bag of rice and a jug of oil to each family we visited, we walked over hills (well hill paths) to deliver and visit remote families, some of the fields we passed by

above, left to right: this little boy was shy whenever I tried to take a photo of him, he kept hiding behind his grandma, so cute!; a front yard, everyone had bamboos growing in front of their house, the environment was really beautiful; speaking to a villager, finding out about what they need help with (medically and spiritually)


middle photo: an entrance (looking out from inside), the door step is a traditional Chinese structure, you really have to lift your leg to step across, it's about a feet or more high...

Another group of us went in the other direction and they had an even more impressing experience. They visited a home where the father was so old and had a huge hump back, so he was unable to do housework and go out to sell oranges. They kept a huge pile of oranges in a room and had spoiled as they had been there a while. Our fellow group mates seeing that the old man was probably never going to be able to move the huge pile of spoiled oranges decided on the spot to do it for him.

photos courtesy of Kim Yung & Fion

In the end, they decided to burn the plastic sheet that the spoiled oranges had been sitting, even though they understood that the old man was probably very reluctant to burn it as it is expensive for him to purchase a new one, but they felt that it was more hygienic to do so.

Planting corns for villagers

Day 4: Longchuan --> Wenchuen

Early in the morning we attended a service at a church where the building had been destroyed but as they did not have enough money, the congregation is now forced to worship in a tent.

Later on in the afternoon, we made our way to Wenchuan (one of the worst areas affected by the earthquake two years ago). On the way, we stopped in Yingshou (the epicentre of the earthquake), and we saw the remnants of buildings that fell during the earthquake.

The roads into Yingshou have been rebuilt, but we can still see the old roads that ran along the cliffs of the high mountains of the area. None of the roads before the earthquake can been used as many parts are submerged under fallen rocks. It is disquieting to see the piles of rocks still there, and you wonder if there is anyone trapped under those rubbles....

As we drove to the site, of much t.v. coverage in the days following the earthquake, we saw that the local government has already started rebuilding the area. It is said that they have decided to make this a tourist destination, I think it's a bit hilarious because such a horrible event happened here, but they are keeping all the rubbles in its place and making it into a memorial/tourist attraction. Makes me wonder what they are really thinking....

far right photo: behind the white tents, construction has begun on hotels and other buildings to turn this area into a tourist attraction.

far left: This girl was trapped in the rubbles of the school (which we are standing in front of, far right), she now lives in temporary homes setup on a mountain facing this fallen school. She earns her living, selling flowers to "visitors" at the site.

There are huge boulders in the river as well, and the road that we were on was very narrow, only one lane going each way, and typical of Chinese drivers, they kept trying to over take the cars or trucks in front of them, causing much traffic, we were over 4 hours delayed getting into Wenchuen.

We also witnessed some truly frightening driving experiences on our journey. While we were in a tunnel, with one lane each way, our driver decided to try to over take the cars in front of us, but all the cars in front of us were already driving bumper to bumper, and there was a truck driving towards us. We were trapped in a tunnel and at the last moment, our driver was able to slip back into our lane, avoiding a seriously huge accident!

After that, we immediately told the driver that we were not in hurry, and that he should not try to over take any cars, we would rather drive in our one lane slowly rather than get into an accident. This furned out to be a smart move as later on in the night, a car zoomed past us and over took the car in front of us, but after rounding a dark bend in the road, we saw that the car had rammed into the back of a long truck. The car was literally wedged into the back of the truck. We immediately stopped our van and the men got out and went to see if they could help. They tried to pry/push the car out, and after much effort, they pushed the car out, but the driver was already unconscious and had lost a lot of blood. The front passenger was still conscious but probably in very serious condition.

We continued on our journey to Wenchuen that night with heavy hearts...


Day 5: WenChuenIn the morning we visited a school for children with special needs, the school was newly built and had beautiful school grounds and classrooms. But because it was too big, they ended up having to share it with the local primary school.

Another thing that they are lacking are teachers who really understand the needs of special needs children. There is still much stigma in China, and teachers are not properly trained to teach these children.

The children have a variety of needs, some are deaf, some have down syndrome, some are orphans, some are traumatized from the earthquake. In particular we were introduced to two children.

Left: this little girl is deaf, but she has such a beautiful smile; Right: this little boy was found in the rubbles of the fallen school in Yingshou, he was so traumatized that he couldn't go to school as he was afraid of the school falling in on him again.

Wenchuen has been rebuilt after the earthquake, all the building are nice and new. The school campus is HUGE!



We played games and showed magic tricks.



The hallways of the school are painted with pictures and inspirational & motivational quotes are displayed on the walls. This one is one that I personally love:
A smiling you, is beautiful
A joyful learner you are, is good
A healthy you, is great


The kids were so excited to see a drum, they just ran up to it and started playing around with it! I love this photo as the little girl in the back looks like she is happily anticipating the chance to get to play with the drum.