We finally reached the service component of the trip today. Leaving the hotel at 7:30 in the morning, we made our way over to the village, situated atop a mountain (fortunately, we didn’t have to hike there, or else I’m sure there would’ve been a lot more complaints). We were welcomed by the villagers through some firecrackers and traditional Miao singing. At Bai Bi Primary School we played games and sports with the local children , such as basketball, badminton, and What Time Is It, Mr. Wolf? Our time with the kids was interrupted when some freshly cooked rice was brought out and we were invited to try our hand at making it into sticky rice. A few students took up the challenge with…honestly, not much success (it turns out hitting rice with a massive, heavy mallet is actually much harder than it looks) but the results still became everyone’s pre-lunch snack. After lunch, we began working on making bookshelves for the school. The students love books, but unfortunately do not have anywhere to safely store them. After splitting into three groups, we made a line up the stairs to the second floor of the school, where the wood for the bookshelves was being stored. Each piece of wood was passed down one at a time, with no less than two or three people holding onto it at a time, a surprising display of teamwork and unity. The three massive, rectangular pieces for the back of the bookshelves had to be trimmed down, while the long planks for the actual shelves had to be measured and split properly. This was tedious work; each team equipped with only one thin saw to get the job done. Fortunately, the long planks were short enough horizontally to be cut with an electric saw.
After all the pieces were prepared, they were laid out and then organised into a frame based on the markings made by the carpenter, so that each shelf was straight and properly spaced. A nail gun was used to assemble the bookshelf, and after that it was stood upright and sanded down. Tomorrow we will paint them.
By the time that all the bookshelves had been assembled, daytime was already starting to fade, and the faint drizzling forced us to move the bookshelves under cover, lest they get soaked by the rain.
We ate dinner at the village chief’s house and then returned to the school courtyard for a bonfire. There was a small troupe of Miao musicians who sang and danced and then invited us to do so as well. It was sort of like a singing battle, if singing battles featured garbled lyrics and mumbled melodies. Some of the kids were still around, playing sports and whizzing around on roller skates. Some of the kids seemed to have an infinite amount of energy; staying active until the end of the day without losing any enthusiasm, despite the fact that some of them had to walk for over an hour each day just to get to school at all. After the bonfire we returned to the hotel to rest. Tomorrow is our last day of activities, and we need to be in the lobby by 9:20, which is one hour later than usual.

by Afreen Gouse