Children in Hardship

Click here: CHINESE VERSION 华文版本

Delayed this for a day. 

Today, we gathered all our forces and went to CuoDuo Village Primary School in the town of LongBao. Because the amount of supplies is limited, we could only bring some sweaters and children’s hats. However, this brought the school principal headache. With what we brought, he said it was difficult for a fair distribution. Choose the poorer ones to give, you say? Fact is, their situations are not much different. If their children don’t get the supplies, the parents will be dissatisfied. Seeing the principal’s troubled look, we felt bad. Those who haven’t been to a place like this school would not be able to fully understand how bad the situation is. To describe it, the word “suffering” is not inappropriate.

As if being helpless is not enough, there is another thing that is most absurd. In the school’s storage room, sits a bag of summer clothing for the children which the principal said was donated by an organization two months ago. However, they didn’t let the school distribute them to the children, saying that they have to wait until the organization comes together with television film crews and banners. The school waited and it’s now more than two months since. They enquired about the matter a few days ago and the organization replied that they have to wait some more.

In the kitchen, seeing the “food rations” the children brought themselves, the pain that Mr. Wang felt is written all over his face. When we came back at night, he said: “If we didn’t go there, never would’ve thought that things are as bad as that.”

The principal and the teachers told us that they received four donated tents three days ago. The material looks thick, but when it rains, rain leaks through it; when strong wind blows, wind seeps through it.

This tent has just been erected, yet a lot of holes can already be seen. And it wasn’t even properly sewn together in the first place. The principal and teachers didn’t complain, but we felt ashamed of this kind of donors. How could such things happen?

Rain leaks through the tents from cracks of this kind. These cracks could be seen the moment the tents were erected.

Every student stepping on two blocks of red bricks.

To avoid the accumulating water on the floor due to leaking rainwater, to avoid the cold floor, and to prevent students from freezing, the school principal and teachers came up with this “solution” – stacking red bricks under students’ feet.

Because the connecting parts of the tent doesn’t fit, they were forced to leave it be, forming holes, which is useless against preventing the cold and wind. Furthermore, the connecting parts of the supporting brackets have no screws provided, and they were forced to temporarily uphold the tent by wounding it with metal wire. The principal’s feeling of helplessness is far beyond that of the students. When we were discussing about the school’s situation with the principal, coincidentally a parent came to give food to her child, and off we went to look at the children’s meals.

According to the principal, some villages thought of the idea to gather two or three families together to slaughter a yak, therefore some children could finally eat some meat. However, most of them couldn’t. They were worried that the children’s stomach couldn’t take it by having an instant noodle every day. But this is only what the school can do at the moment. For the students who sometimes have no food, the school would make mantou (steamed bread) for them.

All these instant noodles with names are the children’s staple food, therefore the principal is very concerned about the children’s health and nutrition. When we went to look at the school’s “accommodation”, Mr. Wang and YongZhen kept sighing. For a tent that’s supposed to house 12 people for sleeping, it’s now cramped with 24 students and a principal.

This is the principal’s bed, truly a space for one. Because it’s unorganized, the principal said that he lost the phone number that we gave him last time. Other than school matters, he also has to teach three classes because of teacher shortage. Even though he’s sick these few days, he still had to teach. I only found out today that they don’t have normal off days and no weekends. Other than two and a half days of work leave, they have to conduct classes everyday.

This is the bed arrangement, with two children sleeping on every bed.

On the way back from the school, Papa BaMao kept saying: “This principal is good! Good!...” The students are really having a hard time, but they are fortunate to have a good principal who’s willing to endure the hardship together with them.

※This entry is permitted as use for reference for disaster relief purposes only. Reasons other than disaster relief purposes are strictly prohibited for use. Contents of this entry are not to be distributed without permission.

Excerpt from:
Teacher Meng’s blog entry dated 12 September 2010 

Special thanks to our translator: Lai Thin