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Warm hearts and helping hands
March 21, 2011, Monday
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MORE than one-10th of Hangzhou's population donate their time and effort to worthy causes. Xu Wenwen meets some of the individuals whose generosity - whether great or small - is making a difference to people's lives and society in general.
Hangzhou has more than 600,000 registered volunteers, equal to one-10th of the city's population, but actually there are more, since many volunteers are not registered yet donate their time and effort spontaneously.
Both the registered and unregistered are playing an important role in maintaining traffic order, protecting the environment, helping the disadvantaged and safeguarding public security in the city.
Stories of them are abundant. Some save other people's lives, some sacrifice their own benefits to help strangers, while some merely do small good deeds.
What drives them to help, to contribute and to sacrifice without any desire for repayment? The following are inspiring examples.
? Xu Yin, 50, surgeon; member of Ramunion Rescue Team of Hangzhou
Xu Yin has saved many lives, both in and out of his vocation. In his daily profession, he is a senior surgeon, and outside work, he is an emergency rescue volunteer for the Ramunion Rescue Team.
The rescue volunteer squad is affiliated to the Hangzhou Sports Bureau and is responsible for the search and rescue of people lost in the mountains in and around the Hangzhou area, and therefore has very high physical demands of its volunteers.
Xu has tens of years of experience of outdoor sports, and is the group leader of several local outdoor sports clubs.
Yet Xu, the oldest member in the squad, cannot miss any rescue operation because he is one of the few doctors in the team. Accordingly, he has a special status in the squad.
But being special and old doesn't mean being protected. He needs to climb rocks, wade through water and drive along perilous mountain routes just as the other volunteers do. Moreover, as a doctor, he is required to find the lost people as quickly as possible.
"I could have died once during a rescue," Xu recalls. "I was ascending a bare cliff and I could only raise myself up by grabbing rocks and tree roots, of which some were loose and nearly caused me to fall."
Despite the danger and the hard work, the surgeon says he will remain active in the squad as long as he can. "I don't think there are many doctors who also lead outdoor sports club as I do," he jokes. "If I can still work in the team, I work."
? Li Huizhong, 25, producer for a TV station; head of Hangzhou Volunteer Troupe
Li Huizhong has been a volunteer for 10 years, and was designated as the head of Hangzhou Volunteer Troupe in 2007.
Their work, unlike Xu Yin's, doesn't require them to rescue people from dangerous situations, but is to please citizens by giving free art performances.
During the past three years, Li and his troupe have organized around 40 performances every year, averaging one performance a week, and each of them lasting for two hours.
In fact, they spend more time than the "two hours," says Li, "we also prepare, practice and rehearse." In addition, they have to find money to pay for cosmetics, costumes and props.
"The team does not go after fame or money, and people in the team enjoy this kind of pure friendship and relaxing atmosphere," he adds.
? Lin Junjun, 26, editor of a local magazine; initiator of EnjoyLife Volunteer Organization
Three years ago when Lin Junjun graduated from university, she volunteered to help at Qingchuan, Sichuan Province, where a devastating earthquake had taken many people's lives.
"I witnessed deaths and disasters," she recalls, "but I was also surprised by the calmness of people there. Rather than being consoled, those victims appreciated and consoled people coming to help, and I think their grateful hearts are the reason that misery seems overshadowed by confidence and courage.
"So when my one-year mission was over, I came back home and determined to help more with a grateful heart."
Two years ago, she founded EnjoyLife, which is so small and only has five core members at present, who act as copywriter, graphic designer and photographer in the team.
"Five people is enough," says Lin, since the organization "is like a small agency, or advertising company that helps other volunteer organizations by making proposals for them."
Lin gives an example. A local public welfare organization is planning to open a canteen for an elementary school in a poor mountain village in Gansu Province. It has done research including site selection and architecture, while EnjoyLife helps determine the budget, promote it and contact charities to help or donate.
"We are a bridge that gets more help and enlarges the influence," explains Lin, "so the course of the public good can be in sustainable development.
? Yin Jinlei, 19, university student; vice chairman of the Volunteer Association of Food Science Department of Zhejiang Gongshang University
Finding the pesticide residue of the cabbages an old man has just bought a little high, Yin Jinlei gives him a small bag of soda and tells him to mix it with water to wash the vegetable.
Yin and his peer volunteers test the pesticide residue of vegetables in a local grocery market regularly. Meanwhile, they promote knowledge of a healthy diet there by providing brochures and books.
Like Yin and the team, college students are the main force of young volunteers, and though many of them do simple good deeds, they keep carrying the venture from one grade to the next, with passion and youth.
"I think the cause of the public good means the rich contributes money; the strong contributes labor (a Chinese idiom)", Yin says. "We don't have money, but we study food science, that's our forte."
Hangzhou has more than 600,000 registered volunteers, equal to one-10th of the city's population, but actually there are more, since many volunteers are not registered yet donate their time and effort spontaneously.
Both the registered and unregistered are playing an important role in maintaining traffic order, protecting the environment, helping the disadvantaged and safeguarding public security in the city.
Stories of them are abundant. Some save other people's lives, some sacrifice their own benefits to help strangers, while some merely do small good deeds.
What drives them to help, to contribute and to sacrifice without any desire for repayment? The following are inspiring examples.
? Xu Yin, 50, surgeon; member of Ramunion Rescue Team of Hangzhou
Xu Yin has saved many lives, both in and out of his vocation. In his daily profession, he is a senior surgeon, and outside work, he is an emergency rescue volunteer for the Ramunion Rescue Team.
The rescue volunteer squad is affiliated to the Hangzhou Sports Bureau and is responsible for the search and rescue of people lost in the mountains in and around the Hangzhou area, and therefore has very high physical demands of its volunteers.
Xu has tens of years of experience of outdoor sports, and is the group leader of several local outdoor sports clubs.
Yet Xu, the oldest member in the squad, cannot miss any rescue operation because he is one of the few doctors in the team. Accordingly, he has a special status in the squad.
But being special and old doesn't mean being protected. He needs to climb rocks, wade through water and drive along perilous mountain routes just as the other volunteers do. Moreover, as a doctor, he is required to find the lost people as quickly as possible.
"I could have died once during a rescue," Xu recalls. "I was ascending a bare cliff and I could only raise myself up by grabbing rocks and tree roots, of which some were loose and nearly caused me to fall."
Despite the danger and the hard work, the surgeon says he will remain active in the squad as long as he can. "I don't think there are many doctors who also lead outdoor sports club as I do," he jokes. "If I can still work in the team, I work."
? Li Huizhong, 25, producer for a TV station; head of Hangzhou Volunteer Troupe
Li Huizhong has been a volunteer for 10 years, and was designated as the head of Hangzhou Volunteer Troupe in 2007.
Their work, unlike Xu Yin's, doesn't require them to rescue people from dangerous situations, but is to please citizens by giving free art performances.
During the past three years, Li and his troupe have organized around 40 performances every year, averaging one performance a week, and each of them lasting for two hours.
In fact, they spend more time than the "two hours," says Li, "we also prepare, practice and rehearse." In addition, they have to find money to pay for cosmetics, costumes and props.
"The team does not go after fame or money, and people in the team enjoy this kind of pure friendship and relaxing atmosphere," he adds.
? Lin Junjun, 26, editor of a local magazine; initiator of EnjoyLife Volunteer Organization
Three years ago when Lin Junjun graduated from university, she volunteered to help at Qingchuan, Sichuan Province, where a devastating earthquake had taken many people's lives.
"I witnessed deaths and disasters," she recalls, "but I was also surprised by the calmness of people there. Rather than being consoled, those victims appreciated and consoled people coming to help, and I think their grateful hearts are the reason that misery seems overshadowed by confidence and courage.
"So when my one-year mission was over, I came back home and determined to help more with a grateful heart."
Two years ago, she founded EnjoyLife, which is so small and only has five core members at present, who act as copywriter, graphic designer and photographer in the team.
"Five people is enough," says Lin, since the organization "is like a small agency, or advertising company that helps other volunteer organizations by making proposals for them."
Lin gives an example. A local public welfare organization is planning to open a canteen for an elementary school in a poor mountain village in Gansu Province. It has done research including site selection and architecture, while EnjoyLife helps determine the budget, promote it and contact charities to help or donate.
"We are a bridge that gets more help and enlarges the influence," explains Lin, "so the course of the public good can be in sustainable development.
? Yin Jinlei, 19, university student; vice chairman of the Volunteer Association of Food Science Department of Zhejiang Gongshang University
Finding the pesticide residue of the cabbages an old man has just bought a little high, Yin Jinlei gives him a small bag of soda and tells him to mix it with water to wash the vegetable.
Yin and his peer volunteers test the pesticide residue of vegetables in a local grocery market regularly. Meanwhile, they promote knowledge of a healthy diet there by providing brochures and books.
Like Yin and the team, college students are the main force of young volunteers, and though many of them do simple good deeds, they keep carrying the venture from one grade to the next, with passion and youth.
"I think the cause of the public good means the rich contributes money; the strong contributes labor (a Chinese idiom)", Yin says. "We don't have money, but we study food science, that's our forte."
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