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Want
to give kids a lesson they will never forget?

Allow
them to ditch school and help on a service project.

On
Friday, our squirrelly hyper active junior highers were divvied up to do some much needed work
around Kunming, China. Paint walls, pull weeds, clear fields and shovel pooh.

My
group of students got the privilege of painting a community center for a
minority group of Miao children just outside
of Kunming. These children speak the local dialect of Miao (pronounced like
meow) While Miao kids are fluent in “kitty-ese”, they
but speak about as much Mandarin as I do.  Without the knowledge of Mandarin, the doors are not open for these children to go to school.

The community center, run by a Canadian, helps these youngsters learn Mandarin.  I’m sure
somewhere outside of Edmonton, there is a Chinese guy teaching Canadians how to
properly say “Eh” and order donuts at Tim Hortons.

While
this Miao center may not look as impressive as Chicago’s New Trier school, it opens
doors that privileged kids don’t even know exist.  

Take a
cyber tour around campus.

Uppity
Neighborhood Location

The
West Wing

New
Library

Sparkling
Restrooms

Toilet Paper Dispenser

Classroom
Chairs

White
Board Technology

School
Uniforms

Rec
Room

Sports
Equipment

Track
and Field

Modern
Plumbing

Adequate
Lighting

School
Mascot   (Pig Pens, they look the same everywhere, don’t they?)

 Sturdy
Step Ladder

Fifty shades of yellow

Students,
Why don’t you work this hard in my class?

It was
a great lesson for all of us.

 

Here is some of my favorite toilets around Kunming.

Western
style

 

Who Stole the Seat Style

Village
People style

College
Freshmen Style

Baby
Style

Going with the flow (Yes, a “river” runs through it)

Don’t
drop a number two in a number one zone

A
condom machine on the entrance gate of Yunnan University. Kunming, China

Impulse Item Display: Gum or Kissing Condoms?  .

IUD information outside the toilets by the old Walmart.

And the Paperwork

You have to BYOW, or Bring Your Own Wad. This
is one area where you don’t want to skimp. Some of the cheaper brands have not
been heat processed, so you can end up with a nasty infection where the sun
never shines. I love this display for Pocket packs of Kleenex brand tissue. Like do you really have to demonstrate how to use it?

Using a public toilet will set you back about five mao, or seven cents. You can buy a few sheets at the door but you might have to wait in line.

                 

Yes, there are churches in China.

Actually, according to BBC, More people go to church on Sunday in China than in the whole of Europe. But that doesn’t take in account all of the tourists who spend their vacations taking pictures of fancy cathedrals.

Granted, the Chinese government might do some creative editing of the holy book, but for the most part, church is the same.  The pews are uncomfortable, the  bathrooms have a weird smell and the pastors usually scold you for being human.

Today’s message was on the missing eleventh commandment.

Thou shall be on time.

After giving a report on how much money last month’s offering fell short, the minister reported how many people were late for service last week, with a breakdown of how many were late per service. 

It wasn’t just a few stragglers. It was in the hundreds.

The pastor wasn’t too happy.

Jeff and I just looked at each other,  knowing that God was speaking to us that day.

What are we supposed to do–bring a tardy note? If so, who signs it and just who do we give it to at the door?

And, if we are tardy more than three times, do we have to stay after church and clean erasers?

I hope not.

But it was one sermon I will never forget.

I just wonder what they’ll speak about next week. Thou shall not wear bunny slippers and striped mini- skirts on a public bus?

I hope not. If so, all of China is lost.

What other things should be “thou shall nots” in China?