Good, for nothing

Yin Xiao Feng was working as a department manager in the engineering industry in Shanghai when he decided to become a volunteer. In a situation that many city dwellers can relate to at some point in their careers, the long hours of overtime in a position that didn’t interest him meant he needed to make a break.

“I got to a point where I didn’t find any joy in my everyday life,” Yin says. “So I decided to quit my job to do something meaningful. Through a friend I heard about the volunteer school in Yunnan, and after doing some research I decided that I wanted to try it out.”

The school in question was the Yunnan Institute of Development (YID), a non-profit, non-formal adult education institute, located in the town of Yuxi. Yin began his volunteer training by doing a Development Instructor (DI) program, an 11-month course in community development education, where students create, develop, and implement a project in the poor, isolated mountain villages of Yunnan’s Eshan and Xinping counties.

Elisabeth Axelsen is a project coordinator and teacher at YID. “Our students are mainly Chinese, with a small group of foreigners in each team,” she says. “The mix of people is good, as each have different strengths.” Axelsen explains that most people coming to YID have a similar background as Yin. “Some years back we saw many students coming straight from university, but today most of our students have worked for one to two years before coming to us.” Most students are between 22 and 40 years old, but the school has had volunteers aged both 18 and 57. “We welcome anyone, regardless of age, sex, previous education, or nationality,” she says.

The education is divided into three parts. During the first five months students spend most of their time in Yuxi. Here they study languages (English or Chinese) and learn about development issues such as health, hygiene, HIV prevention, and how to fund raise. During this time they also visit the rural areas to get to know the local people. The next five months are focused on implementing a project, and for this students live in the villages where they participate in community development. The last month is spent evaluating the project.

For Yin, the first month was the hardest. “My English was extremely poor and I could neither understand what anyone said, nor talk to my teacher,” he says. “It took about one month to overcome the difficulties.” Once Yin got over the communication problems he found the education different but intriguing. “The way we studied at YID was completely new to me, especially compared to studying at a Chinese school,” he says. “No one told us exactly what to do; rather, we would get an introduction
and guidelines, and then it was up to ourselves to do the rest. This sort of training certainly teaches you to be independent and creative.”

The villages where YID’s main work takes place are in great need of development. In Daxi village, of Eshan county, 90 percent of the population cannot read or speak Mandarin, there are no proper roads, sometimes no running water, and only one common phone. The inhabitants are primarily from the Shansu minority group, a sub-group of the Yi ethnic minority, who have their own spoken language. People earn their living from growing tobacco, with an individual yearly income of around ¥500.

“Daxi’s level of isolation is the prime reason why development in this area is so difficult,” explains Axelsen. “During the four month rainy season the already poor roads are almost unusable. People then have to walk to get anywhere and the closest village is three hours away.”

YID has already built a pre-school in Daxi, and DIs have held several health, hygiene, HIV, and farming seminars for the inhabitants. But results are slow. “The projects have no end date,” says Axelsen. “Once a group of DIs finishes its training, the project gets handed over to the next group. In that way, we can continue making improvements. The Shansu people are never going to get rich, but if we can make living conditions better and make sure the children get access to education then at least we are doing something.”

For most of the DIs, volunteering doesn’t end after the 11 months at YID. Rather, it’s just the beginning. “YID cooperates with Humana People to People, an international volunteer organization which mainly works with development in Africa,” says Axelsen. “A lot of our DIs go to Africa once they have finished their education at YID.” Yin also made this journey, spending three months working in Namibia. “Africa was an amazing experience,” he recalls. “Namibia is extremely poor, with many diseases, and there is a huge need for development and aid.”

Yin, who turns 27 this summer, has since continued his new career in development, working as a TCE (Total Control of the Epidemic) Project Officer in Lincang, Yunnan, an area with a high percentage of HIV. Although he says he misses his family in Shanghai, he doesn’t feel ready to return to the city. “When I was working before I always felt under pressure, and not only from my company, but from society and my family,” he says. “Now, when I’m a volunteer, the only pressure I’m under is my own, because I so desperately want to do something for those who are in real need of help.”

And helping others has helped him. “Volunteering has changed me in so many ways,” he says. “I now have greater impetus to work, I am more conscientious, and I feel more at peace with myself.”

By Jonna Wibelius
As featured in the April 2007 issue of SH Magazine