When most students were enjoy-ing their happy winter holiday, some of my classmates and I were on a trip to Yiliang county, Yunnan province, to work as volunteer teachers.
Yiliang is located on the boundary of Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces. The county suffered from a severe earthquake in 2012, in which most buildings in the town were ru-ined.
It took us about three days to reach our destination. We were all ex-tremely tired. After a full meal, we went to the place we would live in-a basement that belonged to a teacher who had been teaching in that school for 32 years.
The next morning, we cleaned up the school with students of the school. The children, enthusiastic and clever, were fairly curious about the world. We taught them Maths, Chinese, English, Art, Music, PE, Science and Dancing.
We taught there for six days. When it was time for us to get on the train back home, many students went to the train station to see us off. They told us that they were really happy and expressed their appreciation.
We sobbed and hugged good-bye. They were lovely and kind-hearted. Many of us promised to return and meet them again.
Lying sleeplessly on the train, I re-capped my experience. If we hadn't organized the trip, we might have never met these innocent children or witnessed their. poor living condi-tions. Apart from helping them, we also improved ourselves. We shared with them the beauty of our part of the world. We encouraged them to study hard and make contribution to the poor village when they grow up.
Most importantly, we learned that the life we are living now is so beauti-ful and happy. Through the mean-ingful experience, we cherish our lives more than ever before. We have learned to be more responsible and mature. We will remain virtuous and help those in need.
None of us will forget the special trip to Yiliang as volunteer teachers.