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Age no barrier to spreading sunshine through a neighborhood
September 8, 2009, Tuesday
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AUNTY Bao is in her 70s but she's certainly not taking life easily now she's retired. She's the driving force behind a community initiative to improve relations among residents of a Hangzhou neighborhood, always ready with a kind word, friendly advice and a helping hand, discovers Xu Wenwen.
Sometimes it takes just one person to help a community come together - and a lively 76-year-old is the beating heart of Dengxin Lane Community in Hangzhou.
Bao Qian has always been a woman to push her limits. Back in 1992 she didn't let her age prevent her from learning how to use a computer, and in 2001 she roamed around the city every day and wrote 365 articles on the Internet about her travels.
When she turned 65, Bao decided it was time to learn English, and when she was approaching 70, she took driving lessons and became the oldest to gain a driving license in Hangzhou.
So when the municipal government launched a community project in 2005, Bao was the perfect choice to spearhead a new chat room, named Aunty Bao's Chat Room in her honor.
The former staff member of Hangzhou People's Art Center jumped at the chance to help people meet and form friendships among all ages, since she's something of a local media personality after her exploits.
However, all wasn't plain sailing at first. The chat room, which opens every Tuesday evening between 8pm and 10:30pm, couldn't attract even one resident when it threw its doors open.
"No one would come into the room. People just watched curiously for a while and then left," laughs Bao, "I had to stand at the door and introduce myself to everyone, telling them who I am and what I'm doing."
One day, an eight-year-old boy was curious enough to come inside, and Bao started chatting with him. "I felt he was quite clever and capable, so I asked him if he could bring his friends here to take part in community activities."
The boy, named Lu Zhengyang, called on his friends immediately and Bao organized a meeting with the youngsters and elderly residents. Both old and young decided to form a small team to protect the environment in Dengxin Lane Community - and that original team is still working today.
To improve life for neighborhood children, the chat room set up a cultural space for children where they can watch cartoons, play games, produce artwork and learn how to help with household chores.
Lu, who is now 11 years old, recalls with pleasure the first time he learned how to cook.
"The first time I learned how to make dumplings was in the cultural room," says Lu. "The dumplings I made at the beginning were pretty bad, but I felt good when I had learned how to do it."
Since the main purpose of the chat room is to help residents, Bao decided to get people involved by knocking on each door in the neighborhood. Before visiting people, she researched personal circumstances and decided to help disadvantaged families.
"I once went to visit a 65-year-old man who lives at home alone. After several hours of chatting, he gave his bank card to me and asked me to withdraw some money for him because he didn't know how to work the ATM machine. That kind of relationship really builds a strong sense of trust," Bao marvels.
To help more elderly residents, Bao designed a questionnaire and carried out a door-to-door census of people aged over 60 in 2006. Within a year, she and community staff interviewed more than 1,000 old people in the lane, and the results of her report sparked the launch of a cafeteria, a maintenance crew, an English class and a drop-in center for old people.
Since those early beginnings, Aunty Bao has helped hundreds of people to resolve disputes and conflicts between generations in families.
That's not all. The center has reached out to people suffering mental illness, too.
Men such as Jiang, who is in his 40s and has battled depression since he failed the college entrance exam at 18, owe their new beginnings to Aunty Bao's Chat Room.
After several chats with Bao, Jiang was touched by her kindness and wrote a poem for her. Those sweet verses touched Bao's heart, and she encouraged Jiang to publish his poems in the community newspaper.
His depression has lifted after finding he's able to share his poems with others in the community, just one of several success stories.
Bao calls herself a "shanzhai mental health nurse." Shanzhai, meaning parody, is a popular buzzword among young people online, and Bao realizes that just one day a week for the chat room isn't enough to go around.
In 2007, Bao and the community launched a lecture series on happiness and harmony, giving tips on how to stay healthy in body and soul and fostering a sense of belonging.
Last year the center recruited 13 volunteers to give advice every second day in areas such as marriage counseling, health, legal matters and government bureaucracy.
So far, Aunty Bao's Chat Room has helped nearly 7,000 residents, who describe her as having a "heart of gold" and "eternally young."
Bao is more modest, although she admits: "I feel a sense of satisfaction when everyone nods and smiles a greeting to me. To be old definitely doesn't mean being worthless and obsolete. I'm living proof!"
Sometimes it takes just one person to help a community come together - and a lively 76-year-old is the beating heart of Dengxin Lane Community in Hangzhou.
Bao Qian has always been a woman to push her limits. Back in 1992 she didn't let her age prevent her from learning how to use a computer, and in 2001 she roamed around the city every day and wrote 365 articles on the Internet about her travels.
When she turned 65, Bao decided it was time to learn English, and when she was approaching 70, she took driving lessons and became the oldest to gain a driving license in Hangzhou.
So when the municipal government launched a community project in 2005, Bao was the perfect choice to spearhead a new chat room, named Aunty Bao's Chat Room in her honor.
The former staff member of Hangzhou People's Art Center jumped at the chance to help people meet and form friendships among all ages, since she's something of a local media personality after her exploits.
However, all wasn't plain sailing at first. The chat room, which opens every Tuesday evening between 8pm and 10:30pm, couldn't attract even one resident when it threw its doors open.
"No one would come into the room. People just watched curiously for a while and then left," laughs Bao, "I had to stand at the door and introduce myself to everyone, telling them who I am and what I'm doing."
One day, an eight-year-old boy was curious enough to come inside, and Bao started chatting with him. "I felt he was quite clever and capable, so I asked him if he could bring his friends here to take part in community activities."
The boy, named Lu Zhengyang, called on his friends immediately and Bao organized a meeting with the youngsters and elderly residents. Both old and young decided to form a small team to protect the environment in Dengxin Lane Community - and that original team is still working today.
To improve life for neighborhood children, the chat room set up a cultural space for children where they can watch cartoons, play games, produce artwork and learn how to help with household chores.
Lu, who is now 11 years old, recalls with pleasure the first time he learned how to cook.
"The first time I learned how to make dumplings was in the cultural room," says Lu. "The dumplings I made at the beginning were pretty bad, but I felt good when I had learned how to do it."
Since the main purpose of the chat room is to help residents, Bao decided to get people involved by knocking on each door in the neighborhood. Before visiting people, she researched personal circumstances and decided to help disadvantaged families.
"I once went to visit a 65-year-old man who lives at home alone. After several hours of chatting, he gave his bank card to me and asked me to withdraw some money for him because he didn't know how to work the ATM machine. That kind of relationship really builds a strong sense of trust," Bao marvels.
To help more elderly residents, Bao designed a questionnaire and carried out a door-to-door census of people aged over 60 in 2006. Within a year, she and community staff interviewed more than 1,000 old people in the lane, and the results of her report sparked the launch of a cafeteria, a maintenance crew, an English class and a drop-in center for old people.
Since those early beginnings, Aunty Bao has helped hundreds of people to resolve disputes and conflicts between generations in families.
That's not all. The center has reached out to people suffering mental illness, too.
Men such as Jiang, who is in his 40s and has battled depression since he failed the college entrance exam at 18, owe their new beginnings to Aunty Bao's Chat Room.
After several chats with Bao, Jiang was touched by her kindness and wrote a poem for her. Those sweet verses touched Bao's heart, and she encouraged Jiang to publish his poems in the community newspaper.
His depression has lifted after finding he's able to share his poems with others in the community, just one of several success stories.
Bao calls herself a "shanzhai mental health nurse." Shanzhai, meaning parody, is a popular buzzword among young people online, and Bao realizes that just one day a week for the chat room isn't enough to go around.
In 2007, Bao and the community launched a lecture series on happiness and harmony, giving tips on how to stay healthy in body and soul and fostering a sense of belonging.
Last year the center recruited 13 volunteers to give advice every second day in areas such as marriage counseling, health, legal matters and government bureaucracy.
So far, Aunty Bao's Chat Room has helped nearly 7,000 residents, who describe her as having a "heart of gold" and "eternally young."
Bao is more modest, although she admits: "I feel a sense of satisfaction when everyone nods and smiles a greeting to me. To be old definitely doesn't mean being worthless and obsolete. I'm living proof!"
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