Zànshàng hâo from Dali!
Today day we assembled at 8am for a lovely local breakfast made by our hostel workers. After we ate, Mr Hou, our bus driver, took us to Zhoucheng village to see some local tie dying. The method which we saw was a traditional way of making these beautiful cloths. The first step was cutting holes in a sheet of plastic as a design for the pattern, then a piece of cloth would be placed under the plastic. The next step was painting the pattern from the plastic sheet onto the cloth. They would then sew the patterns together which, after the dying process, would be cut open to show a new, colourful pattern.
The village of Zhoucheng was a local Bai village and has two types of financial brackets. The richer proportion of people would have a house with four buildings and one courtyard while the less fortunate proportion would only have three buildings and a sheet wall which blocks out strong winds. After viewing and buying some of the hand-made tie dye we had a short walk through Zhoucheng. It was an old and poor village, but the dirt streets were slowly making way for some modern constructions such as new concrete footpaths and an apartment building. Most of the locals were very poor and were working construction labour or carrying heavy items. The local grocery market ranged with many vegetables and meats that had been grown, killed or caught by the local grocers and fishers.
The rest of our wonderful day was spent driving through the rough rocky terrain and thick forests of the surrounding mountains to reach the a school which was in need of help. The rough and small roads made impossible for a bus to drive to the school so in small groups we hoped in cars driven by a group of people who run a volunteer organisation that supports the local schools and people in need. The school which we were headed had only 11 children learning in it across four different grades, all of which were taught in the one classroom.
The struggles of the local kids range from how far the children needed to walk to get to and from the school, to medical needs and money to support food and electricity. There was one child in particular who needs to go out of the village once every two months to get a much needed white blood cell transfusion which is costing his family $4,000 RMB, or around $800 AUD. Also, the living expenses of for the child is $500 RMB a month with the family only making about $5,000 RMB a month. The transfusions this child is getting will only last another 2-3 years unless he has a bone marrow transplant, which will cost $400,000 RMB, or around $80,000 AUD.
The school has lately received many new facilities such as a new toilet, classroom, stationary and a basketball court. As we shared our donations and gifts to the school we saw how much appreciation was given from the smallest things such as new pencils and balls. These things may not last them for long term and isn’t what they really need which is more support, but they still enjoyed our small short term support.
When we arrived at the school, the five year old boy had just returned from Kunming where his parents had tired to get him medical treatment for his blood disorder. They had gone to the hospital, but had been unable to get the required treatment because they didn’t have enough money to afford the procedure. While the boy was learning how to play football, his parents were desperately trying to borrow money from the other townspeople to fund the treatment.
As a group we had already discussed what the best way to support these people would be, since the school was relatively well equipped, so we decide that the best use of our remaining donation money would be to pay for this boy’s next round of treatment. His mother collapsed with relief when she was told the news, and the boy will be returning to Kunming tomorrow to continue his treatment. At the end of the day we felt gratitude, sadness for the children, especially the boy who was sick, and thankfulness for being able to help out with donations and gifts to the small school and, most importantly, the children.
For the last day in Dali the ending was wonderful. We appreciate the efforts put into the tour and have much affection towards Norman, our local tour guide. Reflecting back on the fun we have had in Dali, we have seen many destinations and the food has been the best so far. We are looking forward to the remaining time we have to spend in China. So, from Ben and Nick, farewell and goodnight!
By Nicholas Carus and Ben Merganovski.
