Testimony from a kindergarden teacher from St. Paul School after her visit to Yunnan

Reflections on our visit to the mountains of Yunnan

Giving is happier that recieving. Those of us who live in Macao, this prosperous land, with a civilized life and a comfortable life, often do not know how to give thanks. This time, I had the experience to make a experience in the schools in the mountains of Yunnan, and I hope that this personal experiencewill give me a little more life experience and responsiveness. For conversations I have had with other members of this expedition, this trip not only gave us the opportunity to learn more about the development of education in China, but also it will be an experience that surely we will treasure in the future.

The situation of education in the mountains of China is something we knew only from television. But this time I have a much deeper understanding because I was part of the working group from our schoolto visit our schools in the mountains of Yunnan.

Food hygiene, enough light, a good desk, a comfortable bed, a school not lacking anything, all of this is a normal thing for us, but in mountainous areas that we visited is something very remote.

I still remember that we went to visit the home of some students, and I do not know what words you might use to describe it. The house was made of mud, the floor was also red mud and the walls were full of holes, the bed was covered by a cloth, one could say that there was no furniture. But they never want to beg help from other people.

I think that within the difficult living conditions in which they live, they still maintain the spirit of self-sufficiency, and have not lost the courage to seek a beautiful life.

Despite the scarcity of material goods which we witnessed, but the children were happy, despite the monotony of life in these places, but the children are children are simple, it is as if the difficulties could make the children happy.

Our visit lasted only five days, but the laughter of children we visited has filled our hearts completely, although we come from a place so distant and different. Probably could not have thought about it: our resources were limited, we did not take many things, our knowledge of Mandarin was very limited, however we have changed what children think about themselves, about others and about their town. And we could not imagine that we could bring so much happiness to these children, and bring back so much joy.