The Oblate China Education Service, under the organizational umbrella of Hong Kong Caritas,supports students in remote areas with educational allowances and sometimes with funding for basic projects, if the local people provide the labor.  (The name was modified recently at the request of Caritas.)  I , three members of the group and a staff person from Caritas just got back from a trip visiting 21 schools in 9 days in Xishuang Banna (西湘版納) prefecture in the Yunnan (雲南) province, near the “golden triangle” of Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.

                                                                     Fr. David Ullrich O.M.I. with local children

We worked mainly out of Jinghong (景洪市) in the extreme southwest part of China.  We traveled over often muddy and usually mountainous bumpy roads–generally for four to five hours a day– to get to places with strange sounding names. We visited school principals, students, teachers, and homes to check out school applications for assistance and evaluate old ones.

                                                                                    Meeting  students

Most of the schools are so remote that the students have to live there all week. Some schools have four hundred boarders or even a thousand, packed dozens to a room.  The conditions are quite poor.  But school principals pointed out that things are better than what the students have at home.  Several asked OCES’s help with materials to bring water to the schools.

 

                                                                                    Lunch time

Some schools nearest water is hundred of meters away –one was even three kilometers away.  The requests cost minimal amounts of money by western standards and yet have a major impact on the life of the students and teachers.

                                                                          

                                         Meeting school principals and teachers

The lay people on our team are professional and compassionate at the same time.  They are also aware of the need for proper procedures. The visits help the principals and teachers see that we follow up on things and will check into how the funding is used.The lay people on our team are professional and compassionate at the same time.  They are also aware of the need for proper procedures. The visits help the principals and teachers see that we follow up on things and will check into how the funding is used.

                                                               Rice planting 

 The lay people on our team are professional and compassionate at the same time.  They are also aware of the need for proper procedures. The visits help the principals and teachers see that we follow up on things and will check into how the funding is used.

They also seem quite pleased to have people come and listen to their situation.  The most rewarding part of the trip was meeting the students who receive the educational allowances.  One girl broke in to tears.  When asked why, she said, she was so happy to have people come all the way from Hong Kong to help her.  Fr. David Ullrich O.M.I.