Chai Jing, Martin Li

    martin.mouse@163.com

    LIKE others at her age, Zhou Xiaoyan, 26, enjoys watching movies, writing and hiking.

    In her professional capacity, however, Zhou carries a lot of responsibility. Zhou is the new leader of Shenzhen Ciwei Philanthropy Institute. She was a member of a rescue team in the earthquake-hit Wenchuan in 2008 and Ya’an earlier this year.

    Called to action

    Zhou graduated from Guangdong University of Technology, majoring in social services. During her college years, she was keen on volunteering in social activities. Through these activities, Zhou gained practical experience on how to help others, and had the chance to apply the skills she had been taught in the classroom to real life.

    In May 2008, a magnitude-8.0 earthquake hit Wenchuan, Sichuan Province. On hearing about the disaster, the extracurricular experience Zhou had accumulated gave her the confidence to make an important decision: go and help!

    “I didn’t have much hesitation. What came to my mind first was that I could use my professional knowledge to help people in the quake areas. Still, I did not tell my family until I’d reached Wenchuan,” Zhou said.

    Zhou encountered numerous challenges when she was in Wenchuan.

    Being Cantonese and not used to spicy food, it took time for Zhou to adjust herself to local dialects and local food. Worse, landslides and aftershocks broke out frequently, leaving mountains of debris blocking roads to the worst-hit areas.

    Zhou narrowly escaped death several times. The tough conditions hampered the rescue efforts, making her work slow and dangerous. Worried family and friends kept asking her to return home, but Zhou chose to stay put in Wenchuan.

    “We set up a headquarters and five stations in total to provide services for 13 villages and townships in Wenchuan. Our job was mainly to give support to vulnerable groups such as orphans, women, the old and the disabled. We did our best to help local residents and soldiers working in the worst-hit areas,” Zhou recalled.

    “We trained volunteers and held philanthropic activities. As a team leader, I was always busy at work. Because of the urgent rescue work, we could not sleep well, sometimes we had to be awake all day, or even for two days at a time. The rescue work never stopped. Usually we could only grab short naps before we were needed again,” said Zhou.

    Witnessing death

    Many people died in the Wenchuan earthquake. Even after the earthquake, numerous people lost their lives because of aftershocks.

    “It felt like death was right beside me,” said Zhou.

    “What impacted me the most was the death of a 97-year-old woman. I got to know her when I was there. We took a picture together, and our smiling faces in that picture were reported as the most beautiful faces in Wenchuan. However, while I was organizing a charity bazaar in another place, staff from the nursing home told me that the old grandma had died of illness. When I went back there, I saw her lying on the bed peacefully,” she recounted.

    “There are lots of worse things that I don’t want to recall, but I can say that the Wenchuan quake made me stronger,” Zhou said.

    Becoming stronger

    For Zhou, friendship helped her through hardships left by the Wenchuan earthquake.

    “I made a lot of friends in Wenchuan who shared the same purposes and experiences as me. Even now they still support me and my work. The days I spent with them in Wenchuan were precious and unforgettable because we enjoyed success and bore failure together,” Zhou continued. “I spent five years working in Wenchuan after most teams had left.”

    The experiences of working in Wenchuan made her realize the difference between a social worker and a volunteer, and the importance of both. “Everyone can be a volunteer, seeking self-fulfillment through helping others. As social workers, however, we bear social responsibilities. We are supposed to help those who need our help the most rather than whomever we want to, and to have a sense of mission. It means we are in charge of assisting very vulnerable groups and promoting social harmony,” said a sincere Zhou.

    Move to Ciwei

    Zhou came back to Shenzhen to become chairman of Shenzhen Ciwei Philanthropic Institute. It’s committed to providing opportunities for migrant children and giving them an equal chance to achieve success in education.

    An important part of Ciwei, the children’s chorus, was founded in 2007.

    To show the importance of the chorus in changing children’s lives, Zhou shared the story of one of its members, a boy surnamed Wu.

    Wu’s parents do not have regular jobs, and they make a living from collecting recyclable scrap.

    Out working long hours, they could not give Wu much attention. Therefore, Wu began to ignore school and miss classes. Wu started going out to play all the time, becoming a nuisance to the neighborhood and getting into trouble.

    “In Ciwei children’s chorus, he’s found a platform to show himself to the world, he’s built confidence and found good aspects of himself,” said Zhou.

    Since joining Ciwei, Wu has made big improvements in his school work.

    “Honestly speaking, when I first took charge of Ciwei this year, the management of the children’s chorus was already running smoothly. But the chorus still lacks teaching resources and funds. We have a professional music teacher from Shenzhen University, but mostly rely on a group of volunteers including university students and music teachers,” said Zhou.

    “Our capacity is limited. I would like to appeal to everyone, including expats, to join us by becoming a volunteer. Expats don’t have to be musical, because they can help teach the children English, and show them different cultures. So I really hope some expats could come and become members of our team,” Zhou said.

    Hope for the future

    The development of Ciwei has had a close relationship with the development of Shenzhen, said Zhou.

    “Shenzhen has constantly been innovating in social services,” she said.

    Looking to the future, Zhou thought that the need for more technically skilled foreign labor would bring more expats to the city, and make it a more diverse place to live. Zhou’s goal in the future is to inspire as many of the in-coming expats as possible to get involved in volunteering and become active members of the city.

    “I can say that the Wenchuan quake made me stronger.”

    — Zhou Xiaoyan, member of a rescue team in the earthquake-hit Wenchuan in 2008 and Ya’an earlier this year