Mountain ranges are no longer mammoth cultural barriers blocking ethnic groups from learning about what exists outside their rural villages.

The Miao and Tujia ethnic groups are traditionally isolated and cut off from the outside world in their mountain dwellings, where they have lived for generations.

But 10 college graduates from Hong Kong, aided by Amway Corp, are changing that history by volunteering to live in the mountains and teach the children of the Miao and Tujia people.

There are three middle schools scattered throughout the remote mountainous area of Jishou Minority Autonomous region in Central China's Hunan Province. The schools, called Hexi, Majing'ao and Aizhai, are surrounded by mountains on all sides.

From last September till this month, volunteers from University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University and Chinese University of Hong Kong taught Chinese, English, geography, physics, art and music classes in the three schools. They introduced new teaching methods and fresh ideas, modernised classrooms, and helped alleviate the dropout problem.

The volunteers endured the bitter winters, the unfamiliar spicy food and the local dialects they couldn't understand.

What they left behind was a renewed school structure.

When the volunteers finished their one-year term and said farewell to students on their last class on July 12, students burst into tears.

"I have spent one year here fulfilling the most meaningful work in my life," says Lin Xiouli, the volunteer group leader who graduated from Chinese University of Hong Kong and teaches Chinese at Majing'ao Middle School.

"Being a teacher in the remote, underdeveloped area is a very important role, since teachers are usually the only access for children here to gain knowledge, and they need us the most," says He Jiaqi, a University of Hong Kong graduate and teacher at Hexi Middle School .

The programme was initiated by US-based Amway Corp last year. The direct-selling company, which is known mostly for its cosmetics and cleaning products, provided US$192,000 to sponsor the teachers' expenses, airplane tickets and campus activity fees. The donation was also used to support poor students' schooling, and build facilities and provide equipments.

Ten new college graduates from Hong Kong will come next semester to continue the programme and also spend one year teaching.

Financial aid

The Amway China Education Aid Programme 2005-2006 provided each of the three schools with 140,000 yuan and entrusted the volunteers to manage the funds.

Volunteer Li Shurong, a geography teacher at Majing'ao, explains that many people in the area believe it is "useless" to go to school or it is too expensive.

"I think changing their mind is much more difficult than alleviating poverty," says Li.

Because of the poor education quality, only a very small percentage of students from the rural areas can enter university. Most parents prefer to send children to earn money immediately rather than wait a few years.

After middle school, few students go to senior high schools, and even fewer continue pursuing post-secondary education. A large number of students drop out from middle school every semester. This problem is becoming more and more serious, according to Li.

To keep students from dropping school out because of financial problems, the volunteers established a scholarship with funds provided by Amway, sponsoring 117 poor students' schoolings at Aizhai and 70 students in Majing'ao.

Also with the Amway financial aid, volunteers at Hexi bought a boiler to provide hygienic water to drink, and hot water to wash in.

Volunteers at Majing'ao bought a new advanced printer for school, and others also spent the fund constructing multimedia classrooms equipped with computers, recorders and transcription machines in the three schools.

"I admire the volunteers' courage, it is easy to spend several days here, but it is very tough for young people growing up in the international metropolis of Hong Kong to stay here for one year," says Zhang Yingchun, a local chemistry teacher at Aizhai middle school.

In People's Daily 2005 online election of Honour for Moving Deed, the 10 teachers were nominated as "Top 10 Teachers Who Moved China" last year.

Outside the classroom

The involvement of the volunteer teachers didn't stop when class was over. They established after-school activities to keep students engaged and made efforts to go beyond their basic job description.

Volunteers established various extracurricular societies including a computer association, a glee club, a fine art association, a basketball team and an elocutionist group.

When students considered which extracurricular group to join, their primary concern was actually money, according to Chen Yaying, a digital media graduate from Hong Kong Baptist University who teaches fine art and established the computer and fine arts associations at Aizhai.

"The students' interest for extracurricular activity are cultivated by money here, it is not because they have less interest in extracurricular activities than the students in the city, but because their families are too poor to afford developing their talents through extracurricular trainings, which are deemed too extravagant for them," Chen says. "They have to give up their hobbies and dreams to not increase financial pressure of their family."

Like most things foreign from their way of life, the students in the remote area find English a strange language.

In order to improve the students' English, the three English teachers He Jiaqi, Tan Huixin and Zhu Xiaomei built the first English Corner at Hexi. They bought English books, tapes, cards, and posters for the corner, and practise oral English with students at the corner after school.

Sanitary conditions in the rural area are worse than in the cities. To help students develop good habits at an early age, He, Tan and Zhu proposed and initiated an environment protection campaign that encourages students to pick up rubbish around them.

"What the three Hong Kong teachers impress me with the most is that they always have fresh ideas," says Zhang Aiguo, president of Hexi Middle School.

To attract greater participation in the campaign, He made it like a contest, promising a reward for winners who came up with the best slogan. As a result, 370 students in the school have contributed ideas to win the campaign.

Gao Yanhua, a student in Grade 1, Class 3 wrote, "Stoop down to pick up the rubbish, squat down to regain your respect."

To make sure students were staying in school, Zhu tramped through the mountains to visit the students' homes. There were 46 students in her class, and students say Zhu has visited about 40 students' homes.

The volunteers tried to make both the students and their families comfortable, by reaching out and blending in.

Xian Junqiang, a teacher of Majing'ao, always dresses himself in peasant-style clothes and shoes when he visits students' homes.

"When I go to students' homes, their families often present me the best food and things they have, which is often unbearable and disliked by me, but if I refuse their best offer, I don't think I am a man with grateful heart," Xian says.

Huang Shaorong, principal of Majing'ao Middle School, says the Hong Kong teachers made a major impact at the school.

"Firstly, they brought a new teaching method here. Secondly, they created a new model of relationship between teachers and students equality and friendship," says Huang.

The Hong Kong teachers urged students to think and find out answers for themselves.

Rather than directly tell students the answers like most local teachers do, they helped students understand why, according to Huang.

Zhang Aiguo, president of Hexi Middle School, agrees.

"They often try to stimulate students' interest and initiative, and let them not only act as participants or players, but also as the decision-makers and organizers," Zhang says.

"Hong Kong volunteers also identify themselves as their friends. They talk and play with the students as their friends, and students enjoy being together with them very much."

(China Daily 07/24/2006 page4)