Thursday, January 18, 2007

The past 7 days have been very fruiful for me. I went for my school's Overseas Education Programme (OEP) in Kunming & Guizhou, China. I won't describe in detail everything that happened, but I'll recount a bit of what occured in the CIP there.

Ok, so first we took a 3h bus ride to a remote part of Kunming (sore and tired by then, haha). Then we walked 5km to reach the village where we were to do our CIP. The children there gave us a warm welcome, and about 30min later, we found ourselves grouped with them, heading off into the hills to plant walnut trees. It was a long and ardous journey to the top, but the children made it seem easy (hey, they had been climbing that hill since I don't know when): they were running up and down the steep and trecherous path like goats. I planted about 7 trees with the aid of another classmate and a few of the children.

After we got back down, we gave the gathered children some food that somehow magically appeared. I could see the joy in their faces as they received the bread and buns we gave them, albeit quite shy. It was very heartwarming to note too that some of them stored their share away, maybe to take it to their family members or relatives.

Then it was time for games--catching, basketball, soccer (if about 30 people chasing after the ball can still be called that), and Duck and Goose. They children were running around screaming and shouting at the top of their lungs, obviously enjoying themselves. There were also a few who stood together in groups and watched everything.

All too soon it was time to go. We took pictures with them and showed them the photos. They laughed with delight when they saw themselves inside. We said our goodbyes (they were waving to us) and walked the 5km back to the bus.

It was one of the best, if not the best, section of the OEP.