The story of one Chinese student volunteer-
When I first met Jocelyn (her English name) at CTBU, I encountered a somewhat shy, studious Chinese- national whose performance as a student in my class was with excellence and promise. I sat down with her today, a few weeks after she’d returned from her first trip outside her own country, to learn about what she’d seen and done so far away for her first-ever trip to volunteer on the continent of Africa this summer.
We’d been able to correspond a bit while she stayed over in Kenya with a host family as part of a volunteer teaching organization called AIESEC (https://www.aiesec.org/). Jocelyn had written me about her first impressions and shared some of the typical concerns which face those who are immersed in a new culture. She was helping young boys and girls with their mathematical skills; and while doing so learned about family and community life in a small, but controversial country. (At this writing, the Westgate Mall tragedy had not yet occurred, but history had mixed reports on the stability of the government and the safety of life in general for the people in Kenya).
I asked her how she prepared for the journey and she said that with all the excitement of going, she was only able to fill out the applications, get her recommendations, get a copy of Lonely Planet, learn a bit of Swahili and go! Chinese students, she said, have so many responsibilities that sometimes studies go well into the weekends. And the opportunity to go abroad was such a dream that she didn’t even worry about the long flight from Chongqing to get there and the ticket problems at the airport, although she did face a bit of anxiety when she first felt that wicked thing called turbulence in the skies over the wide blue ocean. She told me that when she deplaned, all she could think about was how much she had to look forward to in a new place, with new people and surroundings. A summer to remember was about to unfold.
After the initial settling in, Jocelyn was placed in a family home with two older girls in their twenties. I recall her first email when she related to me how she’d never slept in a bed with someone she didn’t know and that there were foods that she was unfamiliar with, tastes which were very strange and questions of privacy. She liked the ugali-the maize concoction which is common to Kenyan meals- the rice, the root vegetables and the variety of fruits, some of which were very familiar in her home. She did say that she missed the hot spices of home-cooking in Chongqing and that in general, in her view, the dishes were bland. She preferred the variety of foods in Mombasa to Nairobi and learned how to make the pancakes which Kenyans serve at home which were sweet and tasty.
Africa is a place of tradition and culture very removed from China. The sounds are different, the rhythm of life is different. She liked the music and the dancing, at meetings and gatherings. On the bus, she listened to it and even now she hears the drums as she thinks about her time there. But Kenyans are a vibrant people, much more open and physically expressive in their mannerisms than Asians. When a Kenyan comes to meet you, you will be shouted at and hugged, unlike the reserved quietness which commonly prevails at a Chinese meeting. Jocelyn expressed her discomfort at this, but told me that in time she came to accept their way and enjoy how the children couldn’t wait to be with her at school.
She was teaching math to young people, answering their questions, teaching and learning more language and nuances each day. The children would ask her “why are your eyes so small?” or “why does China have so many people?” or “how many movie stars like Jackie Chan live there?” - curious things that children usually are. They brought a lot of joy to her, just by their questions and energy and seeing how new words, concepts, games and ideas were like candy to them, she felt a special pride in what she’d come to do.
Jocelyn had much time to explore the countryside, where the air was clean and fresh, and the plains dotted with all kinds of wildlife. She told me that although the Kenyans she met were very poor, they were rich in generosity and positive in their spirit. She felt that they also had so much of a wonderful place to see each day. She herself saw lions, elephants, rhinos, giraffes--- all the safari animals. She even road a camel: feeling very confident and on top of the world. One day, she and her fellow volunteers took a four-hour hike to a lake where the locals said there were no longer so many flamingos left to see, but lo and behold, they saw hundreds of them, all basquing in the sun, splashing in the cool water and communing for her camera. She had time to see many places that will remain in her memory long after this trip. She was never frightened about living so far from the city, except if a monkey or two came to steal food in their cabin. Then, she would hide outdoors until they left, hopefully satisfied with the loot that they were able to take.
As she explained to me how she felt about her trip-the wonder at places before unseen, the satisfaction of accomplishing something worthwhile, the contrasts of one culture with another so different, the daily management of feelings both on the surface and deep within, the constant adaptations-well, I could not help but feel a kinship with her. So far as my own first volunteer experience abroad was concerned long ago, that which ultimately started me on a path to pursue a different kind of life more foreign to that within my own realm, Jocelyn was just beginning to get those same feelings. I cannot help but be assured that this will not be her first trip away as a volunteer.
She told me that she hoped that more of her fellow students in China would go out and spend time learning about others far away, volunteer abroad, and have the experience of travel, new relationships, and different but meaningful work. She felt that she had done so little compared to what the Kenyan experience had done for her (again-a volunteer’s mindset we share) and she will never forget that despite the fact that they had very little, in clothing, money, amenities, etc., she said that the Kenyans would tell her, “sawa sawa”- “it’s okay/no problem” and Jocelyn would nod in agreement after seeing how much her being there meant to each of them. Jocelyn hopes that her new friends will someday get to see China so that they can experience things from a different point of view as she has and she hopes that her students remember her smile as she will never forget theirs.
I am grateful to Jocelyn for sharing her Kenyan summertime with me and glad that she is back home safely to tell the story. I am very proud of her, as I imagine her parents and other teachers are, and wish that there are going to be more Chinese ladies and gentlemen in college who will have the desire to volunteer and have their own intercultural experiences to tell about.
These are some of the photos which Jocelyn sent to me on her trip to Kenya, 2013: 5000 miles away.