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專題推薦：詞解十七大
As a teacher you notice students who sit up the front of class are usually the most willing to learn. Several years' back teaching in Xi'an I had one such student, her name was Dessie, nicknamed QQ and she came from Sichuan. At lunchtime we had several ping pong battles and each time she creamed me.
Towards the end of semester I found out QQ had been volunteering for a global NGO, World Vision for four years, and having done studies myself in community development, begged to come along and watch one of her training sessions with a group from the Shaanxi countryside.
Later after Xi'an, she went to Yuxi inYunnan Province to get 11 months training as a development instructor with an International NGO called HPP---Humana People to People, and it was with much pride that I discovered later that she had been placed in Africa.
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| Dessie in the field in Africa. |
I thought this was great because 99.9% of my students were intent on going abroad, usually to the United States, the UK or Australia, though rarely did I find someone who was interested in visiting a less frequented destination, in this case, Africa.
When I got an email that she was in Zambia the first thing I had to admit was my ignorance about this former British colony. After a quick web search I learnt that this mineral rich nation had for decades struggled to sustain development and more recently was awash with HIV infection. According to theCIA's Zambian profile this country of 11.4 million has 16.5% of its' population infected with HIV attributing to a national average life expectancy of 38 years.
QQ's placement was in the north, and her first few days in a strange country certainly took some time getting used to. In an interview I conducted with her via msn messenger she explained the trauma she experienced at the beginning, having to walk over two hours to get water, to then spending an hour preparing a fire to cook on, to then the actual preparation of food itself that was restricted to a few essential staples such as tomatoes, onions and rape. Adding to the pain was the virtual non-existent supply of electricity and if this wasn't enough, an upcoming Zambian election was taking place that threatened to throw her world upside down.
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| By the water's edge instructing Chinese kung fu |
"I didn't care too much about political issues (before coming to Africa) but when I lived overseas and far from my motherland, this kind of patriotism became stronger and stronger."
There was a Zambian politician who was trying to get attention by blaming the country's problems all on the Chinese businesses that had started to get involved with the local economy. To maximize coverage this personality stood up and declared that if elected he would recognize Taiwan, an island province of China, as a legitimate separate nation.
Outside from politics at the grass-roots level, QQ's work dealt with villagers infected with HIV, in particular women and children. Her placement strove to promote greater awareness about HIV prevention while also educating locals about traditional Chinese practices such as tai chi and how this could support improved health outcomes.
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| QQ after giving a China presentation to a national church youth group |
Elsewhere QQ spent a lot of her time in the local classroom teaching Chinese language and creating bridges between the two cultures. At one time she even spoke at a church group on the question of Taiwan, trying to establish some foundation for villagers to understand the political misunderstanding that was taking place outside China.
From her account we can see that volunteering in the field in a developing country is a real challenge. It takes a lot of sacrifice and hardship to adjust to the new conditions though with perseverance and a willingness to mix in and get involved with the locals – as she discovered - people are people, whether in a hotpot restaurant in downtown Sichuan or a local African village in Zambia.
And today as I write this QQ has since moved on to higher paid work in another Zambian province working as a translator at the forefront of communications between Chinese investors and Zambian officials. A world away from the grinding ping pong battles with her former laowai laoshi in Xi'an but still a struggle nevertheless.
Lass – a youthful woman, a common expression in Irish English
Creamed - to defeat easily, to be beaten
NGO - non government organization
Awash – soaked, flooded, inundated with
Trauma - shock, upset, ordeal
Staples - daily food
Grinding - very difficult
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