Seeing It with Our Eyes | Sandy LAM

[ ‘SHARE’ May-Jun 2013 – Seeing It with Our Eyes ] FOCUS ~ AN EXPOSURE TRIP

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMan-yin says, ‘Once more the Lord calls me, “Go, retrieve their lost image as God’s children so that they may regain dignity in life.”‘

Writer> Sandy LAM, Education and Promotion Officer

In January this year, thirteen of us (two staff with eleven team members) spent twelve days in Ethiopia. During this trip, fresh-faced and friendly children welcomed us, the women’s situations shocked us, family struggles for survival moved us, farmers’ abundant harvest delighted us, and the churches’ loving ministry filled our hearts with joy… All these were beyond our understanding and expectations.

Jessica’s sharing leads us to ponder: ‘This trip has made me reconsider why we go on exposure trips. Is it for something to boast about, or to gain travelling experience, or just to be there and have an easy holiday? I thank God for making me think from the start so that the trip would not be taken in vain.’

Yes, the 12-day-trip took us out of our comfort zone, but bit by bit changed our outlook.

Beyond our imagination…

Like many people in Hong Kong, we thought of Ethiopia as impoverished and undeveloped. When friends and families heard of our trip, they worried that we might suffer hunger amidst harsh conditions.

But when we arrived we saw a different scene. Wendy tells us: ‘I was wrong to think that Ethiopia was lagging behind; I was surprised to see that the country has a modern airport and new cars driving on wide streets.’

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High-rises being constructed in the capital Addis Ababa

Similarly Ah Wai observes: ‘There might still be starvation in Ethiopia but on the whole it has moved from “relief” to “development”… The locals commented on the capital’s speedy development in recent years and Ethiopia appears to be undergoing a “China-like” development…’

We were impressed by the airport, streets, buildings and motorcars, but how about the everyday life of the people?

Beyond poverty…

Poor people may seem isolated and helpless and need outside help to improve their livelihood, but we who think we are ‘rich’ are also very ‘poor’.

One day, as we walked up a hill to a rural church at the project point for an hour, Ah Ting said self-mockingly: ‘None of my knowledge was useful in the situation. I even needed a child to help me walk down a slope, and I was breathless after a short while. To the locals I must be the “backward” one.’

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Villagers and children help team walk down hills

On our way up, Milly walked with a 10-year old boy. During that half-hour she learnt that although material life was meagre, their internal resources, wealth and strength was superior to ours. ‘In all situations, all lives are equal and that is the same with the relationship between donors and beneficiaries. The poor do not need things which you might see as lacking but then everyone has equal value and status.’

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Fiona says, ‘How wonderful is Father God’s creation; in this harsh environment farmers can still grow a variety of produce!’

The villagers’ self-sufficiency and simple lifestyle impressed us city-dwellers.

Beyond our souls…

We witnessed how a local church acts as God’s channel in the cities and villages, serving with love to help improve lives. ‘I thank God for the work done by Addis Ababa Guenet Church (AAGC, CEDAR’s partner). It does not simply preach the gospel but actually cares for the poor outside the church building, giving them practical assistance and services. I saw a community who walks with the poor in Christ-like love and care,’ says Celia.

The church actively responds to social issues and practises mercy and justice. When we visited a programme on stopping female genital mutilation (FGM) we heard tales of suffering from the church and women that shocked us.

Ah Wai says thoughtfully: ‘FGM is obviously oppressive to women and girls, causing them grave physical and psychological damage. The church organises volunteer teams and small groups for young girls to oppose female circumcision, combining bible teaching to change social values (or the society’s unreasonable system/traditions). The church is not only concerned with religious faith but also [heavenly] values that the gospel represents. The church is bold in objecting to the society’s existing inhumane traditions.’

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Women speak on breaking the bondage of genital mutilation

We will always remember the testimonies, lives and faces of the church, families, villagers, women and children we met.

Beyond awareness…

This exposure trip not only helped us understand more about Ethiopia’s development and needs, but also challenged our faith as we heard impoverished families speak and saw how they continued to rely on God in their difficulties.

Viola reflected deeply on the matter: ‘The family we visited wrestled between daily living and their faith but they were serious and persevering believers. Their child drew a picture entitled “Jesus is Lord” – a very familiar statement and yet so powerful and difficult to grasp. I searched my heart: What would I do if I were in their situation? Would I choose security in life or my faith? Do I really know Whom I believe? How real is my confession in the Lord? Who is rich and who is poor?’

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Poor families within AAGC ‘dance with suffering’ and face life with joy – Rachel

‘None of the people we visited cried; on the contrary they spoke in the power of their faith. Suffering remains but their faith is also very real, as if life could not be lived without God. I may sit in an air-conditioned room contemplating the theology of suffering, but these people dance with God in their daily suffering, supported by hope – and they themselves live out hope.’ Ah Wai shares with us.

Through real life accounts God speaks to us, changes our mentality and renews our lives.

After our return…

We left Ethiopia with precious memories which have brought much reflection into our lives.

Some members have resolved to re-examine their lifestyles to reduce unnecessary consumption; some have joined CEDAR’s Carbon Fast 2013 and are learning to live an environmentally friendly low-carbon life.

As Agnes says, ‘Living a stable life and enjoying religious freedom in Hong Kong makes me think of poverty as a faraway matter. But through this trip God has taught me that He has not forgotten the world and that His blessings are global. He will raise us up to work together and learn to love others as we love ourselves, and through the ministry of caring for society His mighty kingdom will be revealed, that people may practise integral mission.’

Ethiopia may be distant and unfamiliar, but at least we have taken the first step to bridge the chasm.

Further Action

Between City and Village | Alice KWAN

[ ‘SHARE’ Mar-Apr 2013 – Between City and Village ] FOCUS: SPECIAL TOPIC

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Does city life meet migrant workers’ expectations?

Author> Alice KWAN Education and Promotion Officer

‘Running to’ the cities

Each Lunar New Year we hear news and see images of migrant workers in China cramming into public transport to get home to their families. This has been going on for nearly thirty years and this annual travelling back and forth is continuing. For the first time in 2011, China’s 690 million city dwellers outnumbered the rural ones, accounting for 51.27% of the country’s total population. [1]

Why do rural people flock to work in the cities?

40-year-old Mr. Liu, a deliveryman in Yunnan, says, ‘I came to the city for a better life; conditions here are better than the village’s.’

23-year-old Jin works in a convenience store in Kunming, ‘Home is a small place and prospect was not good… I live here each day as it comes… I want to see more and experience things while I am still young…’

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Like other migrant workers, 40-year-old Mr. Liu, a deliveryman in Yunnan, seeks work in the city for many reasons, such as having a poor family, hardship in farming, backward rural economy and a desire to see the world.

Travelling in cities and villages

After graduating in late 1990s, I researched on labour studies in China. I waited outside factories in the Guangdong Province catching migrant workers coming out for lunch breaks to talk about their work and life there. They told me how they were forced to work long hours but wages were held up or often deducted by trickery, or how labourers injured at work were neglected and ignored. Questions came to my mind ‘Why did you come here? Wasn’t it a better life in the village? At least you would not be taken advantage of!’

After joining CEDAR in 2000, I went to Hubei, China, and visited different project sites; then I lived for a few years in a Gansu village working on a development project. As I got to know the people, I gained a better understanding of the tension they faced between village and city lives.

Once a villager pointed out to some newly repaired brick houses and told me that they were financed by migrant family members who earned money in the cities. As my informant lives in a ramshackle wooden shack; he looked both jealous and envious.

Village life has become even less secure in recent years because of uncertainties of climate change. When farmers sow seeds in springtime they cannot be sure if there would be much harvest in the autumn. Young people have all left the village and the remaining adolescents wish they will soon look old enough so that they, too, can leave and travel far.

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Travel between cities and villages helped me see the tension villagers face.

‘Staying behind’ in the villages

So is there nothing in the villages to keep the people there? There is such a great urge in them to leave!

Not necessarily. I chatted with a young mother who came home for Lunar New Year. Soon she was in tears because her two-year-old did not recognise her and clung to the grandparents only. She could not believe that while she had left home to improve the family’s situation, she would in the end lose her family. There are those villagers who have tried by all means over a long time but still failed to recover hard-earned wages owed to them.

As a development worker, I always hope that whether the villagers have decided to stay or leave, CEDAR’s rural community development projects will give them timely help and more room for choice. I believe that urbanisation is not the only way for development and parents need not leave their children behind to go and work elsewhere. Even in villages people can explore possible development plans through projects such as husbandry breeding, organic farming, making fair trade handicrafts and setting up farmers’ cooperatives.

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In winter women earn money making fair trade handicrafts.

It has been over 30 years since China’s reforms and opening up, and the first generation of migrant workers are now middle-aged; many of them have chosen to return home because of their age, family, and the government’s new rural policy.

49-year-old Gansu villager Zhang Zi-sheng says, ‘I worked in the city for over twenty years and I am now back home to devote myself to developing breeding and farming.’

48-year-old Hu Yun-jie from Hubei says, ‘I had been to many places and in the end I feel that home is the best place for my future; I can both look after my family and develop my village, here I can fulfil my parental responsibility of raising my children. Now that the Chinese government has quite a good rural policy and there is prospect for rural development; I am very hopeful for the future.’

35-year-old Tan Feng says, ‘I had gone away to work before, but I have decided to come back because my parents are getting old but my child is still young and needs looking after.’

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Zhang Zi-sheng, a returnee, wants to restart farming.

‘Watching over’ migrant workers

As there is still a difference in the wages and development prospects between cities and villages, despite the hardships involved many are still migrating to cities.

30-year-old Ms. Li, now a waitress, followed her husband from Hubei to the city. ‘I left home for the sake of my children and family… I made the decision but I do not like it… I am not happy, there is no freedom working here, I don’t have my dreams and I have to listen to people’s orders.’

35-year-old Mr. Liu works in a supermarket in Kunming, Yunnan, ‘I had little choice but to work here. If something happens I will be left with nothing and no protection.’

As a socialist country, China’s labour regulations are very comprehensive but enforcement is slack. Apart from exploitation and unfair treatment, China’s household registration system also makes migrant workers second-class citizens, which means that regardless of how much they have contributed to the cities they are not eligible for medical treatment or children’s education benefits. Many migrant workers cannot adjust to the urban lifestyle, often homesick, and missing family. It is difficult for them to enjoy living in the city in cramped conditions.

Alone and away from home, it is very important that fellow villagers can support and watch out for each other when challenges, difficulties and disappointments arise. Currently CEDAR is actively promoting migrant workers projects, providing pre-departure training, teaching them labour rights based on past cases to raise their civic awareness. CEDAR also plans to set up networks so that migrant workers from the same or a neighbouring village support and help each other.

Today I do not get to walk around industrial sites or visit villages often, but I still bless those who travel between city and village. There are numerous possibilities between the two and I hope that they actually have the freedom to choose, and have a fair share of the fruits of development. I hope their lives will be happy and enriched, whether they be in the city or village.

For Further Action

If you care about migrant workers in China, you can:

Special thanks to CEDAR’s staff stationed in Hubei, Yunnan and Gansu for their help with the interviews.


[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9020486/Chinas-urban-population-exceeds-rural-for-first-time-ever.html