Hope in the Most Simple of Places: China Summer Memories

16-year-old volunteer Diego Molina recently returned from four weeks of volunteering in rural China with United Planet’s China Summer Teaching Program. Diego and his fellow volunteers spent their time teaching a variety of subjects to Chinese students near the city of Huaihua, exploring Beijing, and making friends with the students and the team of volunteers. Below is an excerpt from the blog Diego kept while volunteering in China. To read more about Diego’s experience in China, read his blog here!

It’s over.

That year of preparation, those funds acquired, those weeks of teaching. All of it has come to a conclusion at around 10:30 today. That was when my teaching group, after handing out diplomas to each of our students, finished class for the final time. It was a bittersweet moment for me: part of me was happy over what I have done for these kids, and glad that soon I will be with my family and friends once again. But a good part of me is sad that this will be most likely the final time I will see my students, and that my time with my fellow volunteers is quickly coming to an end.

The past few days where mostly focused on preparing for graduation day. Several tasks needed to be completed: the diplomas needed to be finished, and a place to conduct the graduation ceremony needed to be found and prepped. Let’s start by talking about the diplomas. Unlike regular school diplomas, which are probably printed electronically, we did not have the necessary resources to mass-produce pretty diplomas. Consequently, each teaching group had to create all of the diplomas for their students by hand, which was especially hard for our group, as we had one of the largest groups out of all of them: over 30 children, and we had to make one for each of them. Needless to say, it was a very tedious and tiring task…

….Now, I’m not sure if I ever told any of you this, but for the graduation each class was encouraged to prepare a short presentation to show the rest of the people there. Our class had prepared a song “The cup song,” also called “When I’m Gone.” We chose that song because us volunteers had seen Pitch Perfect early on in the program, where the song is presented, and it was the first thing that came to mind. I had expected it to come out terribly, but the kids were actually able to pull it off finely, if a little out of rhythm. Other popular acts were renditions of “Gangnam Style” and “Harlem Shake,” and everyone had a great time.

To tell you the truth, today wasn’t the most important day for me. It was actually yesterday, the final day of actual teaching. On the final period, we had a small goodbye party, and suddenly there was an opportunity for me to say a few parting words to the kids. This actually caught be by surprise, as I had not expected to have to say any final words to the kids, and had not prepared anything. What could I say to them, me who has only been in their lives for a handful of weeks? But I regained my bearings, and, after much thought, I simply told them the truth.

I told them of how honored I felt of having the chance to pass on even just a tiny bit of knowledge to a future generation. I told them of my belief that every human being on the planet, regardless of who they are or where they are born, had the power to do unbelievably great things. I told them that they would carry on the legacy of the species, and that as the future generation, they would have the ability to either turn the Earth into a planet based on coexistence and co-prosperity, or plunge it into a land filled with distrust, apathy, and war, as every generation of humans do. Finally, to end my little speech, I taught them one final word: “Hope.” I told them that hope was the single most powerful force that drives the species, and is a defining factor in all of our actions. I told them that they represented the hope not just for their village, their province, or even China, but for the entire world, as they would carry on the birthright of humanity.

I don’t know how much of that filtered through the translation the Chinese volunteer gave them. I don’t know if they even were able of assimilating anything at all. Perhaps I was over-dramatic, maybe it was too complex. The only thing I hope is that, through our lessons, all the kids here have a new, much more powerful curiosity about the world, and a greater world image. I hope that through our actions, they realize that their lives are not isolated to their small village, and that if they work hard enough, they can achieve anything, even study abroad. And finally, I especially hope that they never give up hope: after coming face to face with all the poverty here, it is no surprise that hope is hard to come by here at times. But it is there, hidden in the most simple of places. In the eyes of the children as they learn a foreign language, in the smile of the parent as they watch their children grow, it can be found everywhere. All you have to do is look.

For more information, visit the China Summer Teaching Program. Also, check out the blog (https://unitedplanetsummerinchina.tumblr.com) kept by our 2012 China Summer volunteers for more incredible stories!