Visit to Daliang Mountain

In June 2024, Connect & Learning (Abbr. C&L) Non Profit Organization conducted its second annual visit to sponsored individuals in China. When C&L was first established in 2023, we visited a middle school in Guizhou to understand the situation of disadvantaged students there. This time, our visit was focused on the Daliang Mountain area in the heart of Sichuan.

Over the past year, through the concerted efforts of more than eighty volunteers, our charitable funds have now sponsored students and volunteer teachers in several schools in Sichuan and Guizhou. To better understand the situation of the beneficiaries and the development of public welfare in China, C&L, in collaboration with our domestic public welfare partner QianxinQianyi, organized this visit. We also invited four volunteer families to fly from the United States to Sichuan's Daliang Mountain to visit several of the schools we sponsored (village elementary schools where the sponsored volunteer teachers are located).

At noon on June 18, the four volunteer families arrived in Chengdu on time. They met with Ms. Peng, the secretary-general of a Chengdu-based charity organization that partners with our volunteer teaching project and who was also the organizer and leader of this visit.

Daliang Mountain is located in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, at the junction of Sichuan and Yunnan. The elevation ranges from 2,000 to 4,500 meters. Due to the high altitude and cold climate, it is called Liangshan, meaning "Cool Mountain." Daliang Mountain was once one of the fourteen contiguous poverty-stricken areas in the country and was known as "China's poorest corner," with an average annual household income of 3,000-4,000 yuan. It is also the largest Yi ethnic group settlement area in the country. Historically, it lagged significantly behind the developed inland regions, with "cliff villages" hidden in the clouds, isolated from the world.

In the afternoon, our chartered car drove out of Chengdu along a national first-class highway, with lush green mountains and beautiful scenery along the way. Thanks to the country's infrastructure development in recent years, most areas of Daliang Mountain are now accessible by car.

After nearly four hours of travel, we stayed overnight in Mabian County, at the border between Daliang Mountain and the Chengdu Plain. Mabian County is an autonomous county for the Yi ethnic group. The county town is quiet and peaceful, with well-developed infrastructure, Yi script, and ethnic architecture visible everywhere. Ms. Peng thoughtfully arranged for us to stay at a local hotel. After a good night's sleep, we continued our journey from Mabian into the depths of Daliang Mountain the next day.

As we drove into the mountains, a light rain began to fall, making the scenery even more beautiful. The mountains loomed closer, the road became narrower, and only the babbling brooks and the high-voltage power lines running through the mountains accompanied us along the way.

At 9 am., we arrived at the first stop of our visit—Bingtu Village Primary School, which is also a central school in Meigu County. Although China has implemented nine-year compulsory education, due to relatively scarce educational resources, rural areas adopt a method where students from surrounding areas are gathered for classes at central schools. Teachers at central schools are assigned by the state and have official positions. However, in the remote and sparsely populated mountains, central schools are often far from surrounding villages, meaning most primary school students have to board at school. This is detrimental to the psychological well-being and growth of young children who still need a lot of family care. Therefore, many villages, with the support of social organizations, re-establish village primary schools. However, teachers at these village schools do not have official positions and can only rely on volunteers provided by social teaching support organizations. Ms. Peng's organization is one such social organization engaged in long-term public welfare teaching support. Over the past decade, they have built more than a dozen village primary schools in Liangshan free of charge and have continuously organized social volunteer teachers to work in these village schools (the education provided at these village schools is still supervised by the education bureau, and students participate in county-wide standardized exams at the end of each term). The operating funds for these village schools rely entirely on donations from charitable organizations.

The first stop was at the central school because Ms. Peng wanted us, having returned from abroad, to get a comprehensive understanding of rural education. Therefore, we first looked at the development of the central school. With state funding, the central school occupies a relatively large area and has much better facilities compared to the village schools.

After a brief visit to the central primary school, we went to our second stop: YJ Primary School, which is a village school supported by us and QianxinQianyi with volunteer teachers. After more than two hours of winding mountain roads from the central primary school, we finally arrived at YJ Primary School. The school is situated on a small slope and has three classes (grades 1-3), operated by four teachers. All four teachers greeted us wearing vibrant traditional Yi clothing. We attended a public science class, which was very lively and engaging. The teacher introduced various animals, and the children eagerly raised their hands to speak. During the break, the children played hopscotch and games, with many curious about our visit. Some outgoing children even chatted with us. The four teachers also warmly introduced us to the school's situation. One of the most memorable interactions with the children was when a girl, who was complimented on her beautiful handwriting, appeared very shy but couldn't hide her happiness.

The principal of YJ Primary School, Jin, graduated from Peking University with a master degree. Previously, he worked at Amazon China but resigned to volunteer at YJ Primary School three and a half years ago. Over these three years, with various donations and training, the school's facilities and the teachers' teaching skills have greatly improved. The charity organization provides training for new teachers and assigns them to different schools. The volunteer teachers at this school are all quite young, in their twenties, but each has already been teaching at YJ Primary School for at least a year.

According to Ms. Peng, the hardware facilities at YJ Primary School received a significant upgrade two months ago: the charity organization installed new artificial turf and equipped each classroom with a television for teaching purposes.

Limited charitable funds have been primarily used for upgrading classroom facilities, so the living conditions for the teachers are still quite basic. The teachers' dormitory was converted from a warehouse, and the four teachers share two rooms. The male teachers' room still has an incomplete roof with many holes letting in the wind. There are no dedicated bathing facilities, so the teachers have to take turns washing in the dormitory. The four teachers are responsible for three grades, and the teachers who are not teaching also have to prepare lunch for everyone. Most critically, there is no running water here; the mountain stream water does not meet drinking water standards. The teachers mentioned that the water used for cooking is yellow. During this visit, C&L provided YJ Primary School with funds for a refrigerator and brought several cases of drinking water for the teachers.

Outside the teachers' dormitory, many bottles of alcohol haphazardly piled up, and we also saw many men chatting and waiting for the children to finish school. According to Ms. Peng, the Yi people traditionally do not place much emphasis on education, and there is severe gender inequality. Women are responsible for childbirth and supporting the family, which is very strenuous, while men often spend their days idly, drinking and fighting. Teachers and government officials have to frequently traverse mountains to visit students' homes to "catch" school-age children and bring them to school. If charitable funds were directly given to children as school fees to take home, they would not be used effectively for the children's education. Therefore, the charitable approach in Daliang Mountain is to use the funds to directly purchase the necessary hardware and software for the schools and to provide living allowances for the teachers. This way, attending village schools remains free for the children.

The principal of YJ Primary School, Jin, graduated from Peking University with a master degree. Previously, he worked at Amazon China but resigned to volunteer at YJ Primary School three and a half years ago. Over these three years, with various donations and training, the school's facilities and the teachers' teaching skills have greatly improved. The charity organization provides training for new teachers and assigns them to different schools. The volunteer teachers at this school are all quite young, in their twenties, but each has already been teaching at YJ Primary School for at least a year.

According to Ms. Peng, the hardware facilities at YJ Primary School received a significant upgrade two months ago: the charity organization installed new artificial turf and equipped each classroom with a television for teaching purposes.

Limited charitable funds have been primarily used for upgrading classroom facilities, so the living conditions for the teachers are still quite basic. The teachers' dormitory was converted from a warehouse, and the four teachers share two rooms. The male teachers' room still has an incomplete roof with many holes letting in the wind. There are no dedicated bathing facilities, so the teachers have to take turns washing in the dormitory. The four teachers are responsible for three grades, and the teachers who are not teaching also have to prepare lunch for everyone. Most critically, there is no running water here; the mountain stream water does not meet drinking water standards. The teachers mentioned that the water used for cooking is yellow. During this visit, C&L provided YJ Primary School with funds for a refrigerator and brought several cases of drinking water for the teachers.

After saying goodbye to YJ Primary School, we continued up the mountain road towards Meigu County. The name "Meigu" means "Beautiful Young Woman," and indeed the scenery is picturesque, with lush trees and clear waters everywhere, though flat land is extremely scarce. Along the way, we saw many houses built by the roadside, with even the smallest patches of flat land cultivated with corn. Some very steep slopes had also been cleared for corn cultivation. We really admire their spirit of resilience in the face of nature's challenges.

In the evening, we arrived at Meigu Middle School, the only middle school in the area, which operates with a full boarding system. Ms. Peng’s charitable organization has been supporting many children from primary school through to high school. The students in the pictures have been supported from the first grade up to high school. Here, less than 10% of the students are able to advance to high school. Before evening study sessions, we discussed their learning and living conditions and provided each student with an English learning device.

One student, whose parents have both passed away, lives with her older sister's family and manages her own studies independently. During our conversation, the children seemed a bit nervous but also quite poised. They are all very talented and disciplined. The high school’s full boarding system is very demanding. Although the school is not very far from home, most high school students do not return home on weekends to save time and transportation costs. The school’s cook does not work on weekends, so students can only eat leftover food from the week, which often becomes spoiled by Sunday due to the lack of refrigeration. Despite this, the children have no other options.

In the evening, we arrived at a small town and enjoyed a hearty lamb soup. After a day of visits, everyone had become quite familiar with each other, and we engaged in lively discussions about our experiences.

The next day, after breakfast at the hotel, we began our return journey. At 10:30 am., we arrived at another village school supported by us and QianxinQianyi, which was also the final school we visited: YWG Primary School. Similarly, YWG Primary School is located by the roadside. The school's terrain is quite unique, with a high slope that abruptly descends into a small flat area. The school, with three classrooms, is operated by four teachers. The overall hardware facilities at YWG Primary School are still quite basic. The three classrooms are built on a relatively low flat area, and children must climb a dozen steps to play outside after leaving the classroom. The teachers' two dormitories are on the other side of the slope. Nearby, there is a simple public toilet typical of the 1980s.

In the teachers' dormitory, there were many empty milk cartons. This is part of the national free breakfast program recently launched, which provides every growing Yi child with breakfast including eggs and milk.

At this school, there is a teacher named Liu who came from Wuhan and has been teaching here for six and a half years. Her dedication to the children is truly admirable. The other three teachers are all in their twenties and have been teaching for 1-2 years. They are skilled in teaching, preparing lunch for the teachers, and introducing us to the school.

Reflecting on this visit, it is evident that although these volunteer teachers live a life that might seem very harsh and impoverished to us, staying in simple dormitories and having no entertainment activities on weekends, they remain calm and content, feeling that their work is meaningful. Their main concern is the future learning and development prospects of the children.

At noon, the lunch prepared by Bingtu Township Central Primary School from our previous visit was delivered. The children ran outside, lining up neatly to get their food and take it back to their classrooms. The entire school only received two large buckets of food—one with white rice and one with vegetables. The amount of vegetables (as shown in the photo) was not much; it seemed to be cabbage with a few bits of meat, though the meat was barely visible, it is called “meat dish”. There was also a thin plastic bag on top containing another type of vegetable with no meat.

Two senior students were in charge of serving the food, and most children only got the so-called "meat dish." Because the total amount of food was not very plentiful, the children had to carefully manage their portions. The two senior students who served the food were the last to eat and nearly ran out of food for themselves. There were no tables or chairs on the playground, so after receiving their food, the children quickly ran into their classrooms to eat quietly. Due to nutritional reasons, the children are relatively short and have darker skin. We made sure not to disturb them, and after giving out the gifts, we quietly left.

On the way back to Chengdu, a light rain began to fall. In just two days, the volunteers and their family members witnessed a world they had never seen before and experienced the lives of their peers on the other side of the globe. Without any verbal education, the children realized that what they take for granted in their daily lives is a significant luxury for some other children. At the same time, they saw that the routine teaching done over the past year by the computer is truly helping children far away. They also understood that charitable poverty alleviation is not just about giving money; it requires many people to work persistently over the years. True charitable poverty alleviation involves thoroughly understanding the root causes of poverty, helping people make fundamental changes in their mindset, and providing appropriate and timely support. To achieve this goal, the most crucial step is to start with children and education. Only in this way can these people eventually leave the mountains and even return to help build the mountains. Although we are on the other side of the earth and we are still young, everyone can contribute their part to changing the lives of children far away. As the saying on the teacher's clothing goes: "Do small kindnesses, build great love."

Thanks to Mr. Lv, one of the founders of QianxinQianyi, for coordinating and organizing this event for 21 years of poverty alleviation. Thanks to Ms. Peng for leading and introducing us throughout the journey! And thanks to all the volunteers for their selfless dedication and for contributing to the future of the children in the mountains!

Let’s make contribution on this together ~~

PS: All travel, accommodation, and car rental expenses related to the visit were personally funded by the visiting families. Only the gifts for the students and schools came from C&L's charitable funds.