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~ PART ONE
~.
.
Nothing
But Gray Skies
from
Now On...
.
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| Zauchaun.
Ever heard of it? Well, few would vacation where the thick darkened, polluted
sky stings your eyes. Tell any Chinese child that blue is the color of
the sky, and they will draw you a picture with a gray sky -- thinking blue
is gray... |
Our
welcome to China
|
In
February of 1999, I was a delegate for a humanitarian organization named
Life
Link. This group, led by Carl Conley of Tulsa, Oklahoma consisted of
the first foreigners ever officially permitted by the Office of Foreign
Affairs of the Chinese Government to see their places of need.
Our
green train clicked and swayed through the night from Beijing to Shating
Province. After twelve hours of sleeplessness, we stopped in Zauzchaun.
There, a young Communist Party interpreter met us to begin our tour. One
of the first visits was an Old Folks home of Jing He Town. |
Elderly
Chinese woman
|
A
little brick structure directly sat between a beef slaughterhouse and a
chicken farm. Fortunately, for me, the tour was in the intensely cold winter
and the neighboring businesses were not open at that time. In spite of
the positioning, the elderly had very little to eat and lived on a twelve
cent a day (US funds) allotment. Our group brought out a side of meat and
several bags of wheat to help. Gratefully, the small framed elderly rushed
out to greet us. The women's feet hobbled from being bound. Only one tiny
pot belly stove burned coal in a far room not connected to the sleeping
area. |
| We
were shown rocky mountain villages like CD Shui (of 60,000) with no water
source for consumption or irrigation. Several schools like that in Nan
Chang held sixty to eighty elementary kids per class. No playgrounds. Cracked
walls awaiting the next quake. Lots of children standing outside the fence,
because they couldn't afford this luxury of going to school. |
Classroom
|
Principal's
Office
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Outdoor
classes
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On
this below freezing day, we visited another school with six hundred kids
taking examinations outside while sitting on the cold ground, because there
was not enough classroom space. |
| A
Middle School took in boarding students from the surrounding six neighboring
villages near Zuchuang. Eighty kids slept in each room – four kids per
bunk. Outdoor toilets. No water in rooms. No stove for heat. No adult supervision
in living quarters. No cooking facilities. These nine to thirteen year
olds brought food from home to store under the bed for their week's ration.
Every Friday, they would go home for the weekend to get more food and help
out on the farms. But, these young ones were grateful to be there. Just
to go to a middle school was an honor that most children never received.
The future of that nation came out of schools like this. One percent from
this school continues on to high school, and less than one percent of the
high school go to the university. |
Bunks
where the students slept
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Pastor
Kluane Simonds Spake Ph. D.
Jubilee
P.O. Box 941933
Atlanta, GA 31141
Copyright
© DCS and KJS, 1997-2001
Graphics and Design
Presents
of Mind in collaboration with DCS
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