China: Volunteering is a give and take

Paola Trevisan, 24 today she works with the Italian Committee for UNICEF as Civil Servant Volunteer in educational and cultural events. Her past as a volunteer, in Spain and China, taught her to be humble, to stretch her limits and that volunteering is a two way process. ?Sometimes I felt that that I wasn?t giving but receiving? she says when she remembers her volunteering days, where she also learned that she was one of the lucky ones. One of the those who has dreams and is able to follow them. Her advice to young volunteers? To what you feel you can do, don?t force yourself and remember that everyone has something to teach you. This is why she has decided to share with us her experience as a volunteer in China ?

My story is the story of young Italian girl with a Degree in Linguistic and cultural mediation whith a passion for China. Since then I have travelled to China as a student and an intern. I would never have dreamed that I would some day return as a volunteer.

Intelligent souls
I spent a month volunteering with an NGO called Huiling, which in Chinese means ?intelligent soul?. Huiling was founded in 1990 in Canton, in the South of China, and its mission is to help young disabled people. Actually I should say ?differently-abled?. What sets this NGO apart from many others is the revolutionary idea that lies at the core of its mission, that is to promote the health of a person as a whole, their spirit and their mind. Today Huiling, that began with just a handful of collaborators, now counts with about 100 workers who help about 280 youths.

My learning experience began on the outings organised by the NGO to take the youngsters out into society. Out for lunch, or even just to McDonald?s for a birthday party. What struck me most was the looks that we got from the ?outsiders? who seemed disapproving of the songs that we sang, too loudly and too out of tune. People who perhaps thought that bizarre movements of the autistic children were somehow part of a crazy game, resulting from who knows what adventure they were living in their world. But I think that the most recurring question that I read in people?s eyes was: ?What is that pretty Western girl doing among those mad people??.

Beyond taboos
Yes. I learned that disability is a taboo in China, unless it happens to you or your family. But then there are always those exceptions that tell you that what you are doing is right. That Huiling?s methods work, that the disabled should and can live a ?normal? life. A Chinese lady who happened to be at the McDonald?s and had never heard of us decided to offer us our lunch. All 30 of us!

I also learned about family homes, and how these can make a real difference to a disabled person who cannot, for whatever reason, live at home with their real families. At Huiling I learned that it is not enough to offer daytime activities, like special needs schools or special apprenticeship programmes. These special youngsters need to have a home, somewhere where they can learn what it means to have brothers, sisters and household duties.

Finally, I learned that in China there is an army of social workers who are determined to make social work their career. Certainly it is a new field for them, one that needs to be shaped carefully and correctly, but to use a phrase that has taken hold in Chinese literature, I think that ?the Chinese will beat us again?.

Interesting web sites?
www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/