This part of the semester is known as our ‘service project’. While groups in past semesters have done things such as teach English at a local Xiamen school, our director spoke with his supervisor in Washington D.C, and received permission to take our group on a trip somewhere he had never been before, stating that we ‘were a bit more adventurous then usual.’ Going into the trip we did not have exact details of what lied ahead of us, except for a for vague elements, including no electricity or running water at the rural location and that we would be building some type of road. So we boarded our plane at Xiamen airport, beginning our adventure. Since we would go straight from our service project to our history tour, we packed enough for a three and a half week trip. For domestics flights in China (at least at smaller airports) you take a bus from the terminal, and board the plane out on the tarmac by stairs. Our flight, for whatever reason, first went north to Chang Sha, which took about an hour. This was only a twenty minute stop, which was enough time to go into the airport and stretch our legs. Then we got back on for our three hour flight to Gui Yang (pronounced Gway Yawng). Once we landed, we walked down the stairs from the plane where I was met by cool, crisp, wet air, which was a sharp contrast to the warm climate of Xiamen that I’ve been in this whole semester. Where as usually going into fall weather the days would gradually get colder, here I went straight from warm weather to a feeling of late fall. Once we recoved our checked baggage we met our contact at the departure gate of the airport, a tall American man who’s name is Tim. We went out with him to a restaurant a short walk from the airport, where we ate lunch. We split up into two groups and sat around two tables; Tim was at our table which let me get to know him a little bit. He told us some of his story and what he is doing in China. He also mentioned things about how the province we were in was one of the poorest in China, as well as the city we were going to was one of the poorest in the province. We then took a two hour bus ride through rural China to a city called Duyun (doo-yun), which is where Tim and his family lived.
Tim and his wife Debbie have both been in China for twenty years (and actually have a really neat story of how they actually got married in China). They have two kids, Mark who is 14 and Rianna who is 16, both of which we got to hang out with the past few days. About fifteen years ago they moved to Duyun to teach. While it would be difficult to explain their whole story here, teachers in China can only teach for so long until they must return home for a couple years, so they ended up started a ranch for beef cattle, called the Thousand Hills Ranch. Before the ranch, while they were still teaching, they also started a program called 3E, which stands for Education and Economic support for Ethnic minorities (their website for basic info is 3edevelopment.com). We found out about the ranch and that it would be where we would be staying for the next few days. The 3E program was set up to help kids with scholarships for school (from elementary up through college). Also, at the ranch aside from raising beef cattle, they also have Christian focused camps during the summer for Chinese families, as well as foreigners (US, Australia, Europe), to come relax and have fun. One of the camps is also for high school seniors who have been receiving the scholarship, in order to prepare them for college through sessions covering time management, financial management, studying, etc. The ranch and the 3E program essentially allows them to connect with the people in the villages around the area, impacting their lives directly.
The bus ride wasn’t too bad, and even watching Con Air dubbed over in Chinese was kind of fun; we arrived in Duyun and were met by Debbie in their pickup truck, and loaded our bags in the back of the truck and took taxis to the hotel we would stay at for the night. Then went out to eat and explore on our own; the town is relatively small and was neat to walk around. There is a river going through it with several walking bridges across it. There is also a street called ‘stone street’ which is a restored version of the ancient design. The street curved down a hill and was lined with intricate deep red wooden store fronts. While walking around Aaron, Matt, and I stopped and watch some men playing Chinese chess at a table on the sidewalk. After watching for a bit they discovered we knew how to play (learning how was one of the requirements for our contemporary society class because it’s so popular). One of the men gave up his seat and ushered Aaron to sit down and play, so he began playing the Chinese man still sitting. It turns out that even though we have played each other quite a bit in the dorm room, the Chinese men are still a thousand times better at it. Later that night I played another man, and every move I would make he would in turn show me why my move wouldn’t be a good choice, and then show me a better move. He still won with no problem.
Playing Chess with Aaron
While we were walking around we found some canvas shoes that were army-olive green with black rubber soles. We each bought a pair for fifteen kuai, allowing me to save my tennis shoes from being ruined at the farm. We went back and met the group for dinner, where we were joined by a couple of young guys from south Carolina, who were teaching English there at the schools (Zach and Matthew). Later that night they took a few of us out walking around the town, where we sampled street foods and explored the night market.
Me on Stone Street enjoying Life
The next morning we met up downstairs of the hotel, and were met by Tim and Debbie, as well as Julian who is a New Zealand guy who has moved permanently to Duyun with his wife. The family owns a small truck and a SUV, which along with the van they rented, carried our group out to the ranch. The trip was about a hour and a half. We winded up paved roads for a about forty minutes, until we came to a village where we turned onto roads consisting of stone and mud. Since the seat in the back of the van was broken, four of the guys got out and road in the bed of the pickup since the roads are so bumpy. We left most of our luggage locked in their office in town, only bringing a backpack each. We wound up the mountain roads through three villages, until we reached the ranch at the top of the mountains. The ranch is about 1000 acres and has an interesting story of how it was acquired. They have three structures on the property, along with barns for the live stock. The main building is a house they have made with a large dinning room and kitchen and living area. The second building is where our group for the week; while the power lines to it have been down for a couple of years, the building was pretty nice. It is two stories built into the side of the mountain with two big balconies and a large living room with couches. There is a bedroom down stairs, and two up stairs, which contain a bunch of bunk beds. They have a lot of sheets and pillow cases which they keep washed so we had clean bedding for our stay. The ‘lodge’ has a concrete to collect rainwater, which provided water to flush the toilets (we had water coolers for drinking). The roof was tin, so when it rained at night you could hear every drop that fell from the sky.
The Crew Working on the Road
The last building is one big empty room for activities (especially on rainy days). It has a arched metal roof and was probably about 100 ft long. This is where our service project was for the week. The path from the road to the entrances of the activity building was dirt and would get quite muddy when it rained. So our job was to dig out the dirt down to the bed rock (about a foot and a half or so) so it would be a clean path. We spent three days digging out dirt and moving large rocks as well. Once we had the dirt removed, we poured concrete, with the supervision of the Chinese ‘ranch hands’, who are men from the nearby village who work on the farm. We mixed the concrete on the ground and complete two porches, and a ramp from the road to the bedrock.
The Group working hard
The terrain of the ranch, along with the overcast weather, made me feel as if I was traveling in Ireland. There was hardly a flat piece of land, as all of it was rolling hills/mountains. They had stone walls, which were built with the help of the village men, to act as fences (they also had a lot of barb wire fences up). There is a main road constructed from stone that winds up over the steep hills to the different buildings. It was about a five minute walk along this road from our lodge to the main house. Debbie cooked meals for us for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; which proved to be some of the best meals I’ve eaten in a long time. For lunch the first day we had a Chinese ‘hot pot’, then for dinner we had hamburgers with French fires. The rest of the meals went as following (this just what I had but there where more choices):
Breakfast - peanut butter sandwich or cereal or noodles, Lunch – spaghetti, Dinner – pumpkin or potato soup, Breakfast – same, Lunch – hot pot, Dinner on the last night – a combo of leftovers from the other meals, along with delicious homemade doughnuts for desert. One of my favorite treats was to make a hot cup of ‘Russian Tea’ on a cold morning or evening. The mixture consisted of half orange tang powder and Lipton instant tea, along with some cinnamon and clove spices.
Playing Chinese version of Spoons
The second night we were there we had a camp fire a short ways from the house. The air was cold making the warm fire really enjoyable. We sat around talking for probably two or three hours, and after a little while they brought out left over supplies for us to all make a smore each. I spent at least ten minutes roasting my mallow to perfection. Eventually the clouds began to clear and you could see every star that had been placed in the sky.
On the last day Rianna guided us on a hike out to a water fall on the property. The hike winded along trails through the mountains for about two or three miles, many times proving steep and windy. I had an image in my head of a little stream falling maybe five feet over some rocks, but when we arrived and looked over a rock ledge into the hole beneath, where a flow of water was falling at least a hundred feet. The bottom looked like an oasis from a movie with thick green grass surrounding a deep pool of clear water. We spent about an hour at the top playing in the water and taking pictures. We took a different way back through the mountains, which was slightly shorter but a challenge none the less.
Off the Edge of the Waterfall
While we where there to help by clearing the road for them, Tim really stressed the importance of relaxing and refreshing our spirits. In the mornings we sang worship songs, and at different time when hanging out after meals I got to hear a lot from Tim and Debbie of some of the things they have learned along with their stories. I have hardly even explained the past few days, but know that even I typed twice as much I wouldn’t be able to convey the experience of going there. Two of the mornings when I woke up there was a solid cloud of fog surrounding everything at the ranch. Walking up the stone road, past the cows and stone walls, and up the rock path to the house was amazing. I could only see a few feet in front of me, and the air was crisp and cool. It is somewhere I could definitely return in the future, but who knows…!
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