Ni men hao! Wo men xiang nian ni men!

(Greetings to all our old and new friends. We all miss you here!)

"It's a world of laughter, a world of tears. It's a world of hopes and a world of fears. There's so much that we share that it's time we're aware. It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all... '"

With this song lingering in my ears, my brain flew back to the seven teams who have helped in China Program in the first half of 2007. If you have been here with us, you must still remember singing this Disneyland song with your team members, your students, your Chinese teaching assistant, or your local friends and you must know how we feel when we realize how much we share. By devoting yourself to helping people of a country on the other side of the globe, you are one of those who make the world smaller. Fei Chang Xie Xie Ni! (Thank you very much!)

XI'AN: The schools want me to send warmest greetings along. Team 145 set a good start for Xi'an this year. Besides the routine teaching work the team did, they joined the local people in sweeping the floor and cleaning the billboards on the streets on the national memorial day-Lei Feng Day, March 5th.

Altogether three teams came this spring to serve in different schools from elementary school to college. The volunteers helped the students a great deal with their conversational English. The students now are more comfortable talking in English and have a more loving attitude toward other people. They learned not only the knowledge that cannot come from books, but also an aphorism for life. "To give back" is often quoted by the volunteers as the reason why they come and it leaves a seed in the minds of young Chinese that will sprout and blossom for years to come.

KUNMING: People pass on to you their regards as warm and everlasting as eternal spring. Kunming welcomed one team in the winter and two teams in the summer. We contributed all our efforts to helping local English teachers with their English speaking and listening skills at Kunming Teachers College. About two hundred English teachers came from both urban and rural areas of the Kunming region. This program, hosted by the Kunming Teachers Training Center, gave the teachers many first time experiences. It was their first personal conversation with a native English speaker and the first time to laugh with westerners. It was the first time to make dumplings with strangers who are both eager to learn and hopeless in ability. For many Chinese, at the end of the program, it was the first time they have ever hugged someone they had just met three weeks ago. I see tears at every Final Celebration Party and burst into them myself in secret. Although we are from places so far, the connection is made so easily with sincere love.

AN SHANG: waves to you a friendly "Ni Hao" and "I Miss You!" One team of six volunteers between nine and eighty years old served in An Shang in April and charmed everyone with their "family-like" team features. Students from Fanyi University came to meet with our volunteers for three full weeks dedicated only to improving their English. But by the end of the program, neither the volunteers nor the students wanted to leave this place which connects their hearts together. On the last day, local farmers put down the cooking utensils, stopped the farming work, changed to their tidy and neat clothes, only to see the volunteers off, with simplest local dialect "Hao hao de, Hui lai ya" hoping their friends can understand. It means "take care and come back."

WHAT'S NEW: LA LA SHOU (HAND IN HAND) SPECIAL EDUCATION CENTER: builds a new partnership with Global Volunteers, with a great need for help. La La Shou was originally started by two desperate mothers of autistic and special needs children. The only hope they had to help their own children required them to go through incredible twists and turns to rescue this center. Through their efforts and the support of many in the local government, La La Shou obtained the status of a non-profit and privately funded organization in Xi'an. They believe that every child has hidden abilities to counter his deficits, but what the child needs is an enormous amount of care and understanding. La La Shou (hand-in-hand), the name of the special education center, was explained by Ms. Zhang Tao, the Executive Director and co-founder of the organization as the following: "Hand in hand, mothers and sons; Hand in hand, all mothers of the special needs children; Hand in hand, people who care the special group of people." Please join us to love and care hand in hand for the special needs children.

HAINAN ISLAND "ASIAN HAWAII:" The Education Bureau for the city of Haikou has asked Global Volunteers to help their English teachers, in much the same way we are doing elsewhere in China. Beginning in December of 2007, Hainan Island will be the future site of the Global Volunteers winter program. Hainan is a tropical island just off the southern coast of the China mainland and across the Gulf of Tonkin from Vietnam. It has a totally unique culture and history. In recent years it has been referred to by many as "the Asian Hawaii." I look forward to this start of this new program with two full teams of volunteers. For more information, please click here: http://www.volunteerinchina.org/hainan.htm

Again, I want to thank all of you, both volunteers and sponsors, for what you have done for my people and all the support you have given to China Program. Without every one of you, Global Volunteers cannot do anything. Please listen to the words from the hearts of local people: Wo men xu yao ni. Qing kuai hui lai. (You are needed here. Please come back and continue with your generous support).

Warmest Regards,
Hu Di

Global Volunteers' China Country Manager