Front page story for November 24, 2005
Four Virginia Baptist couples from Chesapeake broke new ground last month when they spent a week in Nanjing, China, teaching the children of migrant workers there.
The eight Americans-all members of Jackson Memorial Baptist Church in Chesapeake-spent each day teaching English to the migrant children through a variety of activities, including songs and games.
The number of rural workers in China migrating to cities to find work is mushrooming, according to the Amity Foundation, the organization that organized the teaching endeavor.
Chinese authorities established Amity in 1985 to “contribute to China's social development and openess to the outside world,” “to make Christian involvement and participation in meeting the needs of society more widely known to the Chinese people” and “to serve as a channel for people-to-people contact and the ecumenical sharing of resources.”
“All major cities in China have a large ‘floating' population of rural workers who have come to the city for jobs,” said Lynn Yarbrough, an Amity teacher who is supported in part by Virginia Baptists. “They are the ones building all the tall buildings and residential complexes that seem to sprout like mushrooms in Chinese cities.”
Yarbrough said most of the workers-who are predominantly men-leave their families in the countryside. But increasingly many are bringing their children with them.
“For various reasons, mostly economic, their children often are unable to attend local schools, so private schools are set up, mostly in poor facilities and in less desirable areas,” said Yarbrough. “In cooperation with the Amity Foundation, which provides support for some of these schools in Nanjing, these Americans came to bring sunshine into the lives of these children.”
One of the schools, located near the memorial to the 1930s massacre in Nanjing, was located on the second floor of a building on a street of second-hand furniture and furniture repair shops. The second school was on the second floor of a factory that manufactured electrical equipment.
“The headmaster here was a kindhearted man who demanded strict discipline,” said Yarbrough. “The opening activities included performances by the children. The older children gave a demonstration of a traditional form of Chinese martial arts, using folding fans that, when opened on cue, gave out a sharp report.”
One Chinese college student was assigned to each American couple to translate and provide other assistance.
“That provided opportunities for the college students to enjoy dialogue and culture exchange,” said Yarbrough.
In related news, the Amity Foundation marked its 20th anniversary this month, holding an international and ecumenical conference in Nanjing that drew about 130 people from around the world. The conference's theme was “That All May Have Abundant Life,” based on John 10:10.
Among the participants were Ann and Kent Brown, members of Gretna Baptist Church in Gretna, Va., who represented Woman's Missionary Union of Virginia at the event.
Staff report