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From lawyer to volunteer for life

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-12 10:13

From lawyer to volunteer for life

Yin Xianjin, 35, Deyang city, Sichuan province

I was a regular customer of a teahouse in my hometown, which is famous for its entrepreneurship and tea-drinking culture, before the quake hit last year.

But since the disaster struck the region, I have seldom talked business and discussed cases as a lawyer there.

Instead, I either go online to exchange quake reconstruction work with those who want to help in any way they can, or discuss with other quake volunteers how to efficiently implement the projects they are interested in or working on.

I have decided to devote my entire life to this 'matchmaking job' and help rebuild my hometown, despite the tremor destroying my own apartment and leaving my family without a home. I also lost dozens of friends in the quake.

I give all that I have got as a volunteer because of the cries I heard from the children as they died in Jiulong Primary School, which is about 20km away from Deyang city.

The school building collapsed on May 12 last year, killing most of its pupils. Sounds of the children crying under the debris could be heard even on the second and third day after the quake struck, but we could not remove the debris and save them.

Special coverage:  Sichuan, One Year On... Related readings:  Sichuan on firmer ground than a year ago  Sichuan is a good place to visit!  China gets 76b yuan in donations for Sichuan quake  New schools in quake zone of Sichuan to be quake-proof Sichuan receives 15.75b yuan in quake donation

My heart still bleeds every time I remember those children crying themselves hoarse in the rubble of the isolated towns within the mountains.

I first got in touch with my friends in Beijing online and sought their help for victims. They sent me money and we formed a wishlist for the victims.

We started buying the items on the list soon after and I packed them into my car. Toys for children, milk powder for babies, medicines and other daily necessities ... we delivered it all to the remote villages that were far from the main roads and extremely difficult to reach.

The HK Pao Education Foundation also donated 500,000 yuan in April to help rebuild a primary school in Deyang.

A Chinese-American, James Jao, brought volunteers from across the world to Deyang's Hongbai Primary School in the mountains, where about 300 kids died in the rubble last year. The volunteers decided to teach the surviving students English as a way to heal the psychological trauma they suffer from the quake.

Similarly, I have helped Lin Qiao, a 7-year-old girl from a penniless family in Deyang's Zhongjiang county. Qiao has leukemia, and has received 50,000 yuan for medical treatment.

Lessons from a beautiful place

Li Tiejun, 37, Xingwenping village, Yinxing town, Wenchuan county, Sichuan province

When I heard about the May 12 quake through media reports last year, I quit my university position in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

My passage here was arranged through a volunteer program in my university and I was subsequently assigned to Wenchuan.

I started making my way to Yinxing last July and spent the first three to four months helping in whichever way I could.

There was no communication with the outside world. Our group of 15 volunteers drove as far as we could on the broken roads into Laohuzui village and walked the rest of the 7-8 km here, along the treacherous mountain slope.

It took us about 4 hours to reach Xingwenping for this stretch.

There was no electricity in the village when we arrived on July 18. There was no running water. The power supply came on only on Dec 31.

Most of the first three months involved physical work. I would haul debris to help the 500-odd villagers here rebuild their lives. I would make my way into the better supplied towns to buy vegetables and other necessities for them.

It was only later that I got down to what I really do now, helping students with the paperwork for them to resume their studies and get on with their lives.

There are more than 600 students, from primary to tertiary level, registered in Yinxing town's five villages that include Xingwenping.

Most of them have been relocated to safer areas in Sichuan, or further regions like Shanxi and Guangdong provinces.

But when about 100 of the students returned here for Spring Festival break this year, I got the chance to actually meet them.

I asked them to pen their experiences during this time. I have received 126 essays. They form part of my most precious belongings.

As an artist, I also teach villagers here calligraphy and painting.

I was born in Wuming county, Guangxi province and had been to Sichuan twice before the quake. I will return to Guangzhou to find work after my yearlong volunteer arrangement concludes.

The despair and destruction from the quake I have seen here has definitely influenced my outlook on life, but these might not necessarily color the way I paint or create my works because we are still on the road to recovery.

And because Sichuan is still a beautiful place.

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