A group of New Zealand High School students visited China during their recent July holidays. They are all studying Chinese language and culture and went to advance their studies and to share something of their own lives as well …… One of the team wrote this Report. A week before the end of Term 2, eight Year 11 and 12 students, two parents and one teacher boarded a twelve-hour flight to Guangzhou. The sweltering heat hit us all like a series of pounding waves upon arrival, but before we knew it, we were aboard a high-speed train en route to Guilin, where our host awaited us. We spent a day getting acquainted with our surroundings and visited the local markets before travelling by van to a local minority village. Using our Chinese language and getting to know the locals was incredibly encouraging – they welcomed us with open arms into their lives, community and culture.
In the second village we visited, we cleaned a classroom for the local school and spent lots of time with the two “outside” families who live there. After hiking to another scenic village and back, we stopped by the local primary school and picked up eight kids who had won a competition to spend a couple of days in Guilin with us. We showed them around the tourist attractions of Guilin, even taking bamboo rafts down the beautiful Li River. By the end of our time in Guilin, we had formed a strong bond with our buddies and were sad to see them go back to their village and to move on from the city we had grown to love.
After a short plane ride, we arrived in a very different part of China – the far north west. Our hosts met us at the airport and took us it seemed back in time to a rural regional city, quite unlike what we had seen in the tourist hub of Guilin. During the first evening in the north of China, we prepared gifts packages for elderly which we gave out in the rest homes we visited the following day. For the next three days, we ran an English Camp in the local orphanage before taking the overnight train to Beijing, where we visited the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Olympic Stadium before flying home to Christchurch to our waiting families, eager to see us again after a life-changing three weeks away.
Some of my team mates wrote: “Going to the old folk homes was spectacular. We gave out gifts, sang songs and danced with them. They all got involved and to see them smiling and having fun was something that warmed my heart.”
“One experience that stands out to me was when we ran a three-day English Camp for orphan kids in Northwest China. The kids were so friendly and welcoming despite the trials they had been through. It was incredible to see God’s love present and active halfway across the globe.” “Throughout this trip I've realised how one word, one touch or even one smile can make such a difference in people's lives. This trip has opened my eyes to the world around me. God is working in so many ways in so many places. So going here helped me to understand God so much more.” “One thing that I will never forget is when we visited an orphanage for disabled children. Though we were only there for a short time it was so heart-breaking to see all the abandoned and unwanted children. It was here where I really felt God's heart for these children and I am so grateful that we were able to share some of His love for them.” Prayer Points
- Praise God for the opportunity for high school students from the West to have experiences like this that will shape their lives and how they see the world.
- Pray that the students will keep these special experiences close to their heart and impact friends and family through their accounts and testimonies.
- Pray for on-going opportunity to offer programmes like this and open doors to allow an exchange of world view and culture between Chinese and Western youth.
