Traveling the World

When you think of city life, it’s kind of hard to imagine the idea of poor people being there. It’s the opposite for life in the countryside. On the way to Fenghuang from Huaihua via the private car, we saw many children walking very long distances on the mountain roads by themselves, just to get to school. Later on, we were fortunate enough to see a school bus, except this is no ordinary school bus. This bus picks up kids (I don’t know if they have to pay money or if it’s free) who have to stand for a very long time just to reach school.

This situation is in dire need of being changed, but who can change it? It’s not like foreigners are jumping at the chance to teach in a rural setting, especially because there isn’t any money to pay them for their time. I feel bad saying that all foreigners only care about money, because I quit my high paying job due to not agreeing with their business policies and how they treated their staff. My point is that, people in the countryside are poor and lack proper education, especially English classes. The bigger problem is that there is no money to make it an incentive for someone to move out there and do something about it.

As much as foreigners love China, village settings would just drive us crazy, even if the kids are adorable and hard-working. If the government would pump more money into the tiny economies of the villages in the countryside, we might see them in a better situation sooner rather than later.

They sit and chat with the others who were let go. Some scrounge to find things they can sell for just enough money to afford living for another day. Some people don’t even have more than just the pair of shorts they’re wearing. I’d talk with them and learn about it, but none of them speak even a syllable of English. I’ve wanted to take pictures, but haven’t so far. I’ll try to do so in the next few days.