Advanced Search

Related News

Home » Sunday

Teacher wins award for work with poor

By Xu Wei | January 4, 2009, Sunday | Print Edition

AMERICAN teacher David Deems (pictured below) has won respect from the Chinese for his selfless devotion to education at poverty-stricken villages in northwestern China over the past 14 years.

Last week, Deems, whose Chinese name is Ding Dawei was honored at a special awards ceremony hosted by a weekly Shanghai television news program.

The annual awards, based on an online voting poll, bring many of the country's unsung heroes into the spotlight.

The other nine winners this year were all ordinary Chinese people who have done extraordinary things.

They included a girl who saved a stranger's life by donating one of her kidneys and a 13-year-old child who shouldered the heavy responsibility of caring for his sick, blind grandmother.

Deems was the only foreign nominee. In many eyes, this American volunteer teacher who has been working humbly and quietly to educate poor Chinese children for years is a modern day "foreign Lei Feng" (a selfless soldier from the 1960s).

Born into a teacher's family of Cleveland, Deems developed his affinity for Chinese culture at a young age and studied Chinese at university.

Since moving to China in 1994, he has made a big contribution to elementary education in the poverty-stricken area.

He not only teaches putonghua (Mandarin) and English at a primary school in Dongxiang County, Gansu Province, but also raises donations to improve teaching conditions there, such as renovating unsafe classrooms and training teachers.

He keeps a record of all expenditure and reports regularly back to the donors who support his projects.

And as an advisor to the Dongxiang education authority, he has helped to build 11 village primary schools and assisted poor students to visit big cities like Beijing and Zhuhai in Guangdong Province.

Many of his Chinese friends are glad to see that the 40-year-old is no longer alone in his meaningful career and life.

Deems got married in 2005 to Stacy who is also a volunteer teacher in China. The pair hope more people from prosperous cities can offer a helping hand to assist poor and needy children in remote areas.

Q: You came to China to teach in the mid 1990s. Why did you choose to teach in Dongxiang rather than in a more developed area along the coast?

A: I found many Chinese teachers from the western part of China came to the coast to look for jobs. Dongxiang is one of the most under-developed areas in northwestern China with a poor basic education and high illiteracy rate. So it was a natural choice to go there.



Q: Was life there hard for you? How did you get used to living there?

A: I don't think it was hard. There are good things everywhere. Every local place has very interesting and unique flavors. We cherish the simple life and beautiful scenery there.



Q: What's your secret to getting along with kids?

A: I love children. What children really need is respect from others, especially adults. In Dongxiang, we have many children whose fathers are working in big cities. They feel lonely. When they come to school, the school should not be full of pressure. If you give a little bit of love to the children and pay attention to them with care and respect, it is easy to get along with them.



Q: How did your romance begin? What do you do for entertainment in Dongxiang?

A: When I came to China, I was alone and Stacy was also single. We met in China. I went to Qinghai Province to find her. The fourth time I went there to see her, she fell in love with me.

So it was like "love at fourth sight." Our entertainment in Dongxiang is usually to read a book together. We're reading the same book right now. I know maybe it is a little bit boring, but very romantic for us. We also like Chinese pop music. Liu Huan is my favorite Chinese singer.



Q: I heard that you once asked the school to lower your salary to the local average income level. Is your salary enough to make both ends meet?

A: Yes. I don't want a higher salary than most of the local teachers. Now I get a salary of 1,200 yuan (US$176) per month. Except for food and stamps, my main expenditure is on telephone calls back home. I don't smoke and drink, and Stacy seldom buys clothes, so it's enough.



Q: Why do you always carry a Chinese flag wherever you go?

A: I just want to remind myself that I am in China now. I should speak beautiful Chinese. When people enter my room and see the flag, it helps to shorten the distance between us. And it also helps me to remember now I am a teacher in China and I should do a good job teaching students.



Q: Some Chinese people call you a "foreign Lei Feng." What do you think of this title?

A: I am just an ordinary person who is following God's plan for my life, doing what I should do. Lei Feng was the same, an ordinary person. All of us can be like him as long as we follow our conscience. "Serving the People" is always true no matter it fits Lei Feng or "foreign Lei Feng" or "ET Lei Feng." It is what we're supposed to do as human beings.



Q: Do you have any advice to improve elementary education in remote and poor villages?

A: Very difficult topic. In Dongxiang, we have different problems compared to other poor areas. We have language barriers with the minority groups and few people can speak fluent putonghua. So we find that it is more important to first let kids learn to speak putonghua. The country is so big with so many people and so many different conditions. It is hard to say one thing that would improve conditions.

Sunday


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend