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)