We Are Home but the Blog goes on

Hi Friends and Family,

We have arrived home safe and sound. It is good to be home but I do miss my fellow travelers. We had a great time together. A lot of early mornings, late nights and most of all, laughter.

As you have read, we visited many different places during our trip. For this blog I thought I would show you, through pictures, the school children we met and the activities we did with them.

We are surrounded by school children who have never seen Westerners before.

These curious boys were looking in at us as we met with the principal and a few teachers. I took this picture with my big lens, and when the flash went off, they "took off in a flash".

One of the activities we brought for the children was making dream catchers. They were very proud of their accomplishments and we enjoyed interacting with them.

Larry is giving Kazoo instructions with great success.

Frank and a student sharing a good laugh.

It goes to show that laughter in any language is a joyful noise.

Keep viewing our blog. We still have a lot to tell.

time to go but will be back

As we prepare to leave, I post a final blog which brings bittersweet emotions. We know we have to leave in order to return. We have been so much a part of the culture and the friendships so strong. Our work has been valuable and the fruits of our labors have been witnessed already and there is so much more to come. I love this country and its people and its culture. I am so proud of our team and thank our district and our comrades in the great town of Glenville for their unconditional support of us and this project . We fly soon-15 hours home to those who love us. It will be so good to sleep in our own beds and eat a home cooked american cheeseburger. Yet I know my memory will wander most often to what I have learned and felt from this country, a beauty that will be sorely missed. Even though we leave soon, I can't wait to come back.

We'll be Blogging for a While

Our time in China is growing short, and we have had a whirlwind of experiences. We worked all day yesterday (Tuesday) preparing a presentation for the Shanghai Club. Frank did the heavy lifting of preparing the overall format for the PowerPoint, and he led the section on the water project. I started the presentation with an overview of why we want to complete the first project, and introducing the villagers. Frank talked about the specifics of the water project

Our greeting at the Sun Mountain water site, the new source of water for the region. The middle photo shows the reservoir, which is still filling with water diverted from the yellow river. On the right is the filtration plant. The water from here will be piped to a location in the village; our project picks up from there, to distribute water to each household. The farmers will dig all of the trenches by hand to distribute water throughout the village and to their homes.

Helen followed that with a review of the clinics, and Mel wrapped it up with his perspective on the schools, and other partners we can turn to for help in making the lives of the people here better. The club received us warmly, and we hope to make this project the first of many.

We'll all be blogging for a while, long after we get back. We experienced so much in such a short time, and have had so little free time to process it all, that we will all need the outlet of this forum to relive the experience, and create a record to share with others.

I will attempt, through my future postings, to adequately convey my experiences in such a way that you will feel as though you were on this journey with us. My friends Helen, Mel and Frank have been extraordinary travel companions. We have had no conflict, no personal issues to deal with, no disagreement. Each of us has been accomodating to the needs of the others, and we have grown together into a team dedicated to our projects, and to each other. We compliment each other, tease each, console each other, all when approriate. We also complement each other, in that each of us brings a different perspective, back ground and goals; they all just seem to meld together as we work. I hope that as you read our postings, you'll feel connected with us as well.

As I close this message, I'll leave you images of a few of the reasons we are doing this. Click on each one to get a better view. Please note that the first one is a video! Enjoy!

Building Friendships Part One - written by Mel

BUILDING FRIENDSHIPS
Part One - Impressions of Ningxia

Greetings from Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (with Inner Mongolia on it's northern border) in north central China. We first landed in/visited Yinchuan, Ningxia's Capital City. A city of over 1 million, here the streets are active but not as swarming with traffic and crowds of people as in Shanghai.

Mel with Li Tao, Mr. He and our other hosts

We met a smiling, welcoming ,warm and very hospitable people, a mixture of majority Han Chinese(60%), Hui (Muslim) minority (30%) and a smattering of others. The Han are mostly urban and the Hui are mostly rural. At the airport our team, traveling with Shanghai Rotary's Frank Yih (we've told much you about him previously) and current club President Roger Owens (with wife Daisy) is greeted by officials of the Ningxia Charity Federation including He Yun-Sheng (whose son Lining was the person who introduced us to Ningxia and this project), Li Tao (a member of the Hui and an official with Youxie (the Chinese Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries) and Frank Yih's very unique photographer friend Wang Bo. They accompany us throughout our stay here. As a leader of the USCPFA (US-China Peoples Friendship Association: see http://www.uscpfany.org/ for information about the Capital Region Chapter and http://www.uscpfa.org/ for the national web site) I have been meeting and traveling to China with Youxie since 1977.

We have just returned from our amazing visit to YanChi (City and County) and MaErZhuang, the site of our project area. In the project area a dry, warm air hits us during the mostly cloudy day; it quickly cools down at night. The dry reddish-brown earth quickly lets us know we are in the desert (even though we did "bring" a little welcome rain to the area; Helen said she always brings rain and that it can be blamed on her). Many here have never seen an American or even a Westerner and, at times, the widened eyes and stares are startling.

On arrival we are handed a schedule for our five and a half day stay there (arrival April 9, departure April 14). From the early rising and breakfasts to the evening banquet meetings we have 16 hour days with an amazing vast array (and that does not include our team getting together to evaluate and plan). We begin in YanChi City and then move out into the countryside for most of our stay. The next several postings of this "Building Friendships" series will detail some of our experiences with outstanding individuals, visits with unique families in their home, visits to schools, food and beverages, the Hui Minority People and more.

Mel

Hot Pot

As I write this, it's Saturday morning, about 6:15. I won't be able to post this until we arrive later today in Yinchuan. We have spent the last two nights in a hotel in Yanchi, in the northeast part of the region.

We traveled by plane on Wednesday to Yinchuan from Shanghai, and stayed overnight at the Apollo Hotel. Our traveling party consisted of Helen, Frank P, Mel, Frank Yih, and Roger and Daisy (and me!!). Roger is the President of the Shanghai Rotary; a tall easygoing man with a warm smile and generous nature. He is originally from Northern Ireland, and he has a great British accent twinged with Gaelic; to hear him speak Chinese is a treat! Daisy is his wife, originally from Hong Kong; I have not had much opportunity to get to know her.

We were met at the airport by officials from the Government and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Charity Federation. Also joining us was Wangbo, an extremely talented photographer. Wangbo has spent about 20 years telling the story in his photos of the horrific living conditions children face in the mountains of western China. I'll write a more serious blog later about that.
We went by bus to the hotel, and had a fantastic hot pot dinner. None of us had ever experienced a hot pot dinner before, and although Nick had described it to me, I hadn't grasped yet what it would be like.

Each place setting has their own pot of boiling liquid; they start you with a broth with some vegetables in it and as the evening goes on, they add water to make sure you have enough liquid. The flame under the pot appears to be paraffin, and the servers keep coming back to replenish your flame (and refill your beer!)

You fill your plate with anything and everything you may want. There was lamb, beef, shrimp (with the heads still on) duck esophagus (yes, I had some) sheep intestine...you get the idea. I am a very adventurous eater – it shows, too...On the side, the server offers a variety of sauces that you can have mixed together to satisfy your own tastes. I mixed sesame paste, wasabi, and a little of a lot of other things.

Now comes the fun part. You simply drop in, one or more at a time, the various food you have chosen and cook it to your liking. Some of it is easy to manage with the chopsticks, some very difficult. I tried cockles (very small clam-like critters) and got all but one back out of the pot! I just couldn't the last one!!

I'm now writing on the bus heading back from Yanchi to Yinchuan. There is a lot of detail to fill in between! Look for more postings!

Water and Health are Linked!!

We left Yinchuan on Thursday morning to head toward Yanchi. We visited a clinic that serves 5,700 people in their region; the facility was clean, but sparse in terms of equipment. Think of your own doctor's office, then remove the computers, most of the testing equipment, almost all of the administrative staff, almost all of the furniture, add some beds (not at all what we think of when we think of a hospital bed) and add in a pharmacy. At the clinics, they practice both Chinese and Western medicine, so the pharmacy has both herbal and pharmacological concoctions.
The young woman shown here was receiving an IV treatment for what our interpreter described as pain in the joints, such as elbows and knees. At first I thought of arthritis, or bursitis, but I later realized that the ailment was related to high fluoride content in the water. Fluoride in small quantities is beneficial, and in the US we often add it to our drinking waster to promote good dental development. In many areas of the world, fluoride is naturally present in the water in dangerously high levels. In addition to the joint and bone problems, it causes a permanent yellowing of the teeth, and can lead to other dental problems.
The next photo shows a man in Maer Juang village. He talked about his teeth, and I asked him if I could take a picture so I can better tell his story. As you can see, he agreed!!

Connection Problems

We are back in Shanghai, Monday, April 14 at 4:15 pm and we have all had problems connecting to the Blog (and in some cases, to the internet!!). We are each working on more postings, so keep reading!!

Helen's Photos

Greetings From China From Helen.......................

Hi all. I have not been able to get on our blog site so Frank is letting me use his good name to post my comments and pictures.We are having such a great time it is hard to put into words this extraordinary experience. So I decided that pictures would be the best way for me to show you what we have been up to.

Mel, Larry, Frank, Roger (president of Shanghai Rotary Club), and Daisy at the Great Wall

The Great Wall with our tiny bus on the left.

How to grow crops on a mountain terrace....hard work!

This very large reservoir will provide the much needed water to the villages in Yanchi.

Our group along with the public water officials examining the map that explains the details of how the water will be piped to the areas near the villages. We will provide the funding so that pipes can be brought to the houses of farmers in the nearby villages.

We visited two schools and fell in love with all of the children and their bright smiles.

Thank you for visiting our blog site and I hope you continue to follow along as we continue our adventure in China.

Helen

Amazing Experiences

I don't know where to start or how much stuff to include...only a few minutes in a crowded internet cafe on the second floor of a dimly lit building down a back alley in Yanchi city...we have not had internet access in our hotel...I am sitting with Helen and Wangbo; Wangbo is our photographer, and he has a collection of the most amazing photos I have ever seen. Check out a previous blog with a photo of a woman in obvious distress...that's his. He has chronicled the plight of poor people in the remote areas of China; disturbing and amazing. Yet he has a playful spirit that we understand despite the fact that he speaks no English and we speak no Chinese. Too much to tell here...

Helen is learning about blogging, and so I have an audience....as well, a number of the locals are staring at us (I can feel it although I can't see them...) as we are the first foreigners they have seen, much less Americans. The manager of the cafe managed to ask us where we were from, and he tried to kick out some of the local kids to make room for us...we refused. There are about 75 locals here, most playing games or chatting.

This picture is of my butt ascending the earthen portion of the Great Wall. Out here, it was built of earth (dirt, for those of you from Rio Linda) rather than blocks. The block portions here are the guard towers. More about that later, time is limited...(I do have samples..)

Helen will be trying to blog once we get back to Yinchaun.

They have a great word here in China, which we found out is Mel's favorite...Gambay. (Phonetic)

It translates to "bottoms up" which is dangerous...they have this great alcoholic beverage, a rice wine...we had to drink about a hundred shots, as each dignitary in our group (15 of us altogether) took turns with an individual toast. We are pretty plastered (it's 11:20 pm) except for Helen, who had a designated drinker!!! He was one of the leaders of the Charity Federation here. We are being treated very well, like visiting dignitaries.

That's all for now, got to go, more later!!

The Water Problem

We are on this trip to learn about how we can help bring a sustainable supply of pure drinking water to the villages of Hei Tu Keng, Li Ming, and Ye Er Zhuang. These are located in Yanchi County in the northeast part of the NingXia Hui Autonomous Region. This will likely be the first of multiple projects, as there are many villages in the area and water is scarce (we are in the desert)

The groundwater (what there is of it) in the immediate area is heavy with arsenic and fluoride. These are both naturally occurring in the soil and therefore in the water. When people use water heavy with fluoride, their bones become misshapen, especially in the fingers. We learned that because this happens to so many people in a community, the people come to expect that it should happen as part of the aging process.

When arsenic is present (assuming it is not in a fatal dose), it tends to promote skin cancer. In the desert, this is obviously a big problem.

We will travel today (7:00 am here in Yinchaun) to several of the villages, to a school, and a clinic. We will also look at the water source that has been developed, and that we are looking to bring into the villages.

The desert from the plane.

Our Hosts

Here in Shanghai, we are witness to an extraordinary example of Service Above Self. If you are not a Rotarian, you may not know that this is our motto.

We are staying in the home of Frank and Nancy Yih. Frank was the driving force behind the rebirth of the Shanhai Rotary Club, which received its charter in February 2006. For over 50 years, the Chinese government did not allow Rotary to exist here, and still now approaches it with skepticism. By choice, driven by government reticence, the club is not open to Chinese citizens but rather only to citizens of other countries. There are many foreigners living here, some for only two or three years, as needed by their employers. More about our experience with the club later.








From left to right: Helen, Larry, Frank P., KF, Frank Yih, Tom, Mel




To understand Frank, conjure up all the positive notions you have about the word philanthropist. A quick google comes up with the following definition: Someone who promotes human welfare and goodwill through the donation of time, assistance, and gifts. My new definition, my new frame of reference is Frank Yih.


Frank is at an age when most people have retired and take it easy. Not Frank. Helping others is Frank's job, his passion, his mission. He is a true life force, who works very hard at identifying poor people who have needs most of us never comprehend, or consider. Once he identifies the need, he acts. He uses his own resources, and works with all other charitable resources he can find, to bring about real change. When Lon approached the Shanghai club about this water project, Frank enthusiastically embraced the idea. He has travelled to the area, studied water issues, and become well versed with the people and problems associated with this project.



Frank has provided scholarships for many students, set up services for children orphaned by AIDS, facilitated many life-saving sugeries...there's an exhaustive list! One of his efforts that stuck with me was that he sponsored a teacher who went to a small village for four years. The teacher worked with the students through their high school years - most don't go to high school - and took them all the way to graduation. No one from the village had ever gone to college...all eight of the students this teacher worked with have gone on to college.



Frank is literally changing the world, one life, one family, one village at a time.



His wife Nancy is exteremely gracious. Their home is in the penthouse of the building Frank owns, and right next to it is where we are staying. Frank designed this suite specifically for those he would help, and those like us who help him help others. Nancy welcomed us into her home, and her hospitality and kindness is remarkable. Just before we arrived, they had hosted a GSE (Group Study Exchange) team from New Zealand. She hosts a variety of people and opens her home and her heart to all. She is a treasure!!

Nancy is in the photo below, showing the breakfast table.

Have You Seen Our Luggage??

Greetings from Shanghai!

Fourtunately, we arrived on schedule, mid-afternoon Monday;
Unfortunately, our luggage did not.

Fortunately, some of us...well, one of us....brought several changes of underwear, socks and shirts.
Unfortunately, three of us did not.

Fortunately, we shared what we could...don't ask too many questions...
Unfortunately, Mel did not have all that he needed...there was an incident...ask him yourself!!

Fortunately, Delta Airlines promised we'd have it promptly after the next flight.
Unfortunately, it was not scheduled until the same time Tuesday. (Yes, one flight per day!)

Fortunately, that flight arrived on time and they reported our luggage was here!
Unfortunately, they reported that, well, not all of it could be found; Helen's was missing.

Fortunately, they reported back that Helen's bags were indeed found, and that they would all be delivered by 10 pm.
Unfortunately, that would be too late for us to dress nicely for the Shanghai Rotary meeting.

Fortunately, our hosts were very gracious and made us feel most welcome!
Unfortunately, our luggage did not arrive by 10:00 pm.

Fortunately, Frank figured out how to call directly to the luggage people here (our new friends here had been calling regularly for us).
Unfortunately, after midnight, after about 45 minutes of calling by Frank, they told us that they could confirm that the luggage had been delivered to the correct address at 9:30 pm. They were wrong.

Fortunately, Mel shared with us his philosophical insights as we got tied up in knots about whether we could travel to NingXia Hui without our clothes, toiletries, and gifts for our new friends. Peace set in.
Unfortunately, that was at 12:45 am; we still had no sign of our luggage, we were all exhausted and went to bed (except Frank, who had more work to do for the classes he teaches.

Fortunately, our luggage arrived shortly after that, at about 1 am. It all seems to be here, and we slept.

This post ends on a high note!!


Finally we have clean clothes! Mel's shirt ran off his back!!!

Our Adventure Begins: The First Day

It has been a rather eventful day. Our plane took off a little late (about 6:30 AM rather than 6:05) and fog delayed our approach to Atlanta so we disembarked about 9:40 rather than 8:51. The four of us scooted down he hall at terminal A, grabbed the underground and were soon at terminal E. A short walk (with our team "runner" Frank forging ahead) we made it onto our plane to China (scheduled to leave at 10:05 AM it really did not leave until about 10:40). I slept a good deal of both flights! The 777 was almost full with about 260 on board. The seats were comfortable and the food plentiful with 2 hot meals with a sandwich "snack" in between. Not exactly home cookin' but not bad either. Each seat had a TV monitor on the back of the seat in front of it with our choice of "on demand" movies, tv shows, kids shows, documentaries, games etc (all free). Between dozing on and off and eating I managed to watch Enchanted and the Bee Movie as well as play the Trivia Game.

We arrived about 2:15 PM China time (the flight was about 15 hours long) only to find that our luggage had not made it onto the flight! After waiting and filling out the forms we met our host Frank Yih, hopped into his van with fellow Shanghai Rotarian Tom and went from the airport into downtown booming Shanghai. The development here is awesome! We confirmed that China's national bird is "the crane"! Besides sightseeing on the ride we got to know more about each other and discussed some of the objectives of our project.

We arrived at Frank's office building. On the top floor, with great views of the city, he has built an exquisitely furnished penthouse for himself (and wife Nancy) (they have a wonderful scroll painting of an old shoemaker surrounded by the shoes he has repaired/made) and four guest penthouses. they have two sons; both live on the US west coast. One is a computer programmer the other a classical flautist. Our penthouse has four separate roomy bedrooms, each with it's own bath room, surrounding a kitchen and dining room/living room.

Before going out to dinner we relaxed in their penthouse - munchies and more conversation. We learned more about each other, discussed more about our water project, learned about the Shanghai Rotary Club and their many service projects (Frank had just returned from and AIDS "area" in a Chinese province west and south of here) and took photos. We then set up our computers in our penthouse, made some quick "we've arrived" calls home (thanks to Larry's Skype-yea Larry!) showered quickly and were off at about 7 PM.

We had a private dining room in a very nice restaurant. As we walked in four attractive young lades dressed neatly in their brown outfits with matching hats greeted us. We were joined by KFC, a dentist and Shanghai Rotarian. Great food-quite a variety, mostly Shanghai cuisine -with a couple of others too. We had duck, drowned chicken (in wine), spicy chicken, salad, vegetables, two kinds of fish, noodles, steamed dumplings, pork with tofu, tea, rice wine, chicken dumpling soup and more. More conversation and photos. Shanghai Rotary has about 70 members; twelve are female. The are very active in service projects in many areas of China. For example they have, besides the AIDS Project, a Gift of Life Program, a Yunnan water project, a program identifying needy senior citizens in Shanghai and providing them with a medical credit card which covers most of their expenses for the year, as well as participate in the GSE exchanges, sponsor Rotaract, have Ambassadorial Scholars and have sent someone to Rotary's Peace College.

Around 9 PM we walked to a nearby store and then returned to our Shanghai "home".

An eventful first day. We're here. We've begun to reach out to the Rotarians and the needy in China. We've met four wonderful leaders in the New China who really believe in the Rotary motto "Servce Above Self". Each day our "simple" water project takes on new meaning as we broaden our horizons and see other, associated needs and opportunities. Almost more importantly we have alredy reached an understanding that Rotarians in the US and China have the same feelings and goals. If only relations amongst nations could work like this. But we are "doers" and if mountains can be built by combining ant hills I'd like to think that individuals woring together can make changes too. As The Academy for Character Education says we're "changing our nation's character one child at a time" or as Margaret Mead has said "don't ever think that one person can't change the world, for indeed, that's all that ever has" (with apologies because I don't have the exact words).

Breakfast is is their penthouse at 9 AM tomorrow (Tuesday). I think I'll get some sleep now.

Mel

Ping Pong

Saturday night Clare and I went to a dinner sponsored by AFS for 15 exchange teachers in the Northeast. All of the teachers were from either China or Thailand. They had gathered for a few days to review what they have learned so far about America, our schools and our culture. Each teacher made a dish representative of their cuisine, and about 35 sponsors, hosts, liaisons and volunteers attended. The teachers then shared some representation of their culture; the Thai teachers demonstrated several traditional dances. One of the Chinese teachers was called Big John (thankfully, they all choose Americanized versions of their own name, or an English-sounding name!) He is tall, a little over 6', and is from a province near Shanghai.

John talked about the importance of ping pong in US-China relations; he then demonstrated hitting the ball up in the air, then asked for a volunteer to come up to the front of the room. I got up and he handed me a paddle, and (without a table) we volleyed back and forth. We kept the ball in the air longer than the crowd anticipated, based on their cheering, and when we finally dropped it, he thanked me and told me that I would need to teach someone else how to do the same. One of the Thai teachers stepped forward, and we volleyed as well for a bit. John then gave me the ball to keep as a gift.

At the end of the evening, Big John approached me and asked me about my trip. I had earlier told him I was going to China, and he must have asked someone about my trip, because he knew where we would be going and why. He asked me if I was going to NingXia, and would be helping the poor people in that region; I answered yes, and he did the unexpected – he hugged me and thanked me. It was a very moving moment, and I decided to bring the ball with me to remember that our countries can work out our differences, one volley at a time.

Promise and Hope

As we sat on the runway early Sunday morning in Albany, waiting for clearance to take off, I felt a great sense of promise and hope for the success of our trip.

There is great promise ahead in meeting new friends, some of whom we've exchanged emails with, but don't know their faces; experiencing a culture very different from the one we are used to, and connecting with the history of humanity; and of expanding our understanding of what the world is, and what it can be.

The hope is that we can understand what we see well enough to accurately assess how we can be of help, and of how we can adequately explain what we experience and convey to those who are of a mind to help as well. Then, the hope is that we can deliver on that help. For anyone reading this, the last part involves you. We will return with ideas, information, and enthusiasm, and we will look to you to share the vision and help to realize what we dream together with our hosts.

A few days ago, as I continued to review the materials I already have received about the area we are visiting, I looked through photos taken by a farmer who is also a photographer. The pictures represent a hard life, with a good spirit in the eyes of the people. One photo stuck with me, and I kept going back to it...why is this woman so upset?

I asked Nick to explain what the photos were about, (more about Nick below) as the text describing the scene was in Chinese Simplified. He explained that , in the one photo (not shown here), the woman and her son were showing school papers, and she is very proud of what her son has accomplished in school. However, the second photo (above) shows her face as she explains that she cannot afford to send her son for any more schooling; it would cost her $1,000 US dollars for his education to continue. She is very upset at this, because she realizes that for her son to have a better life he needs a good education. She is, in fact, a teacher herself, and she cannot afford the cost of her own son's school.

This is what our trip is all about. Can we make a difference? Can you?? Keep reading.

(Nick is an exchange teacher from Hong Kong (and my friend!) who is staying with us for the school year. He teaches at Schenectady Christian School, under the auspices of AFS – American Field Services. Find out about AFS at http://www.afs.org/afs_or/home)

(Written on the plane, posted from Shanghai at 10:21 pm here, 10:21 am back home, April 7)