Thanks to all who helped me clothe the needy children

My trips to Qinghai province in Northwest China led me to the Tongren Lancai School 4,000 meters above sea level. All its 270 students come from Tibetan herdsmen families. When I learned that the school did not have any heating for the winter, I couldn't sleep thinking of the children wearing plastic sandals and sleeping at the school when it falls to minus 30 C at night.

I wrote to China Daily and called for help. On Sept 23, before the story had even been published, I had received 18 e-mails from strangers who wanted to help. So far, donations from across China, Canada, France and Australia have reached my Chinese and Canadian bank accounts, while other generous-minded folk have mailed clothes and other things to the school direct.

One person asked me the link to the site of my "organization"; some asked for an official receipt. These are all legitimate requests, but I'm only acting as an individual. Things went so fast and I hadn't even opened a special bank account for my campaign, so I was touched seeing people trusted me just the same.

I was surprised that the first three donors, who were Chinese students, apologized for giving "too little". But I told each one what I bought with their 100 yuan ($14).

My neighbors in our community near the Capital Airport said they were deeply moved because I was a foreigner. In three weeks, 15 ladies in the neighborhood knitted 48 sweaters with the 31 jin (15.5 kg) of wool I bought.

Some neighbors brought their grown-up children's clothes; a shopkeeper gave me leftover shirts from his store; and a university filled my garage with huge bags of clothes abandoned by graduating students. I spent days sorting, washing, repairing and mailing the second-hand clothes to the school.

I also searched for bargains in wholesale markets and bought dozens of warm underwear, socks and gloves.

For two weeks I walked a kilometer to the post office from my home, pulling a bag weighing between 14 and 20 kg with a luggage cart. A taxi driver kindly gave me a lift when he was free. The post office employees were also very kind and helped me fill out the forms in Chinese.

When it came to shoes, I could not buy them randomly. I asked Rinchen Shanggya, the young man I first met in 2003 who has become a teacher at the school, the sizes of the students' shoes.

But it took several days before the shoe factory could finish my order. Rinchen Shanggya sent me an agonizing message: "Sister, have the shoes been mailed? Here it's getting quite cold." This nearly broke my heart. But fortunately, it took only one week for the first batch of 140 pairs of shoes to get to Tongren.

Some people asked whether I am with the United Nations, or a Christian. I'm only a human being who can't close my eyes to human misery. My campaign will not end but will extend to more schools in Qinghai. Whoever would like to help please contact me at lisaceleste@163.com (in English, please).

(China Daily 10/30/2008 page20)