Our ten-day volunteer programme was a visiting trip rather than a long-term service programme. The purpose of this volunteer program was to provide us with a general view of the situation of the earthquake-affected areas. Before the programme started, we attended plenty of training workshops and sharing sessions organized by both universities. Then we visited victims’ temporary houses, did a survey on their general living conditions, met the children there and taught them English. The programme could be summed up in two words: “discovering” and “learning”. What we did to help the people there was actually so little, compared to what they taught us.

1) Meeting the Children

During our visit, there were several children that impressed me deeply:

1.   After a happy morning in Hongyan Town, a boy asked whether we could stay for another couple of days. But we all knew that once we had finished distributing gifts to them and departed, we might never see these kids for the rest of our life. So I said: “There are still many young kids on the other side of the mountain waiting for us to see them.” To my surprise, he agreed immediately: “Oh, so please go and see them. They may also like your games and gifts.” I was astonished by his maturity. He would be a good and responsible man in the future.

2.   In Hanwang Town, after distributing gifts to children, there was one pretty sticker left. When we asked: “Who wants one more sticker?”, every child was excited and shouted: “Me! Me!” For the sake of fairness, I suggested giving it to the youngest girl in the group, who was only 4 years old. And when we asked those shouting boys for their opinions, they all agreed immediately and no one shouted any more.

They were all ordinary children. What was special was that the earthquake had destroyed their homes. On the way towards rebuilding, what they needed was not only material support from kind-hearted people, but also love and care among themselves.

Elaine, one of the coordinators of this programme (as well as the Hall Master of Hall 1), told us at the very beginning that we didn’t have long-term service plans at the moment, so we must not provide our private contact details to children, because if we could not spare time to reply to their long, sincere letters in the future, it would hurt them badly. We felt sad about this, but this is life: Everyone makes his own journey. Even if you want to help someone very much, no matter whether he is an unfamiliar kid or your own relative or child, still you cannot walk the path for him. No matter whether it is an easy one or a hard one, he must experience life himself. And only in this way can he discover the true meaning of life.

2) Talking with Victims

I was born in Hunan Province, where the dialect is quite similar to the one people speak in Sichuan. Thus luckily I could communicate easily with the people living in temporary houses. 1. Most people were optimistic about the current situation. When we were wandering around, people liked to invite us to join their conversation. They said their life was on an upward trend before the earthquake. But the disaster threw their situation back ten years. When talking about this they were calm and relaxed, rather than desperate or depressed. Maybe 3 months was long enough to let go of the pain of losing their home, or maybe they gained courage from the painful experience of moving on to a new life. One old man spoke some meaningful words: “People in Sichuan will never be beaten down.”

3) Victims’ Living Conditions

When our bus went across Pengzhou, Mianyang, we found that most temporary houses were marked with “Donated by XX Province”, “Donated by XX Municipality”, “Our Destinies are Connected Together”, etc, which was a clear sign of the selfless help from people all over the country. The local government put a lot of efforts into sanitation and epidemic prevention. All public areas were sterilized every day. Up to now we haven’t heard of any serious epidemic news.

When it came to corruption, which I believe many overseas media are very interested in, the problems seemed fewer than ever. Most residents were satisfied with the local government’s work in fighting the earthquake. But still we heard some of them complaining about the mismanagement of resources and materials as well as the low efficiency of logistics. Our Research and Survey Team conducted a detailed survey covering all aspects of residents’ daily life. The results will come out soon and be handed in to the local government.

If I were a local official, at least I wouldn’t embezzle the funds for rebuilding. Firstly because of my conscience; secondly because everyone knows that with the high level of concern of the Chairperson and the Premier, the price of corruption is too high.

4) Local Volunteers

It was our honour to be invited to visit the Hangwang Volunteer Station. Instead of recruiting volunteers from outside, they trained villagers to be volunteers to help others, which turned out to be highly effective. This “NGO Hangwang Mode” was now well known across China and drew attention from many officials, scholars and social workers. But when we got there, we just couldn’t believe that what we saw was the legendary volunteer station: A tent of around 10 square meters; an old, wooden desk, one leg of which was a bit short and wedged; a laptop and some daily necessities. The working conditions here were extremely rough and crude. But this was the station that trained hundreds of volunteers and managed the whole area efficiently. I believe that sooner or later a book about the story of Hangwang Station will be written, which should be a good example of “Created in China”.

On the first day of our programme, Professor Chen Guang, Chair Professor of the Department of Public Relations of Southwest Jiaotong University, gave us a presentation about NGOs in the Sichuan Earthquake. After 5.12, about 4,000,000 volunteers came and registered in less than one month. But many of them ended up disappointed or withdrew. One reason for this was the volunteers’ own lack of skills, which led to their dealing with trivial issues. Another was because of the NGO’s inappropriate management and naive planning. Prof. Chen said the earthquake was a milestone in the development of Chinese NGOs. It showed their high responsibility and passion in serving society while at the same time their shortcomings were unfolded.

5) Epilogue

Now I am back at my university, seeing the familiar scenery, listening to my beloved songs. Life goes on. The scenery of Sichuan flashes across me like lightning. The damaged houses, desolate towns, and numb but honest eyes of villagers, silently told me about that horrible moment on 12 May. But on the good land of the ancient Shu Kingdom, the Transaction Mountain still towers, the Golden Sand River still runs, just as they did thousands of years ago, like a spirit singing an immortal song of life.

Lin Yutang said Chinese people are patient. Because even if a disaster or war kills 10 millions of people, the nation still recovers in a short time and continues to go forward.

Three months have passed, our nation seems to have recovered from the disaster, and continues its modernization. But to those who lost their home, life is such an unfamiliar thing to face. What’s in front of them is endless suffering. Let us wish them the courage to stand out and find their own way to a new life. During the 10-day trip in Sichuan, what we did to help them was so little compared to the enormous difficulties they faced. And what we can do is to share our experience with people around us and let them know more about that far-away place, where our brothers and sisters are suffering.

Premier Wen said: “Disasters raise a great nation.” Warren Bennis wrote in <On Becoming a Leader>: “Leaders go through their own crucial events and then become leaders.” The 9.11 was a crucial date for future leaders of America. And now people in Sichuan are also fighting an unprecedented catastrophe. They are experiencing a painful but meaningful baptism, no matter whether they are volunteers, soldiers, officials, or victims. The earthquake brings them sadness and tears, but also tells them to love, to be strong. What’s more, it teaches them the meaning of life. Maybe in the future, a leader of our nation will rise from among them. Using the wisdom gained from darkness, he may lead China to a bright future.