Stories from Inner Mongolia: The reason why I give to Wokai.

By George Scott

As a day of filming goes it couldn't have gone much worse. After charging the battery and checking the tape was rewound, I left the video camera on over night so in the morning the battery was flat again. Having been here for two weeks already, I was hoping having a camera would inject a little variety into the routine in which I’d found myself. Being fairly limited in what I was allowed and able to do I’d began to feel slightly despondent toward the trip and was hoping filming would somehow add another dimension. So once I’d realized the camera wasn’t on for the day, I nearly called the visit off, thinking that having had two weeks of trips all revolving around a similar theme, I wouldn’t be missing out on much.

As we drove further out of town, my mood began to lift, leaving the flat grayness of Daban behind us and passing onto the expanse of the grasslands. The grasslands really are very beautiful, over the weekend I climbed a little mountain to get a slightly better view, they’re also very large. We drove up passed an old dried up river bed and came to a small village nestled against the side of a mountain. It felt more remote and peaceful then some of the other villages I’d visited, and looked almost picturesque gazing out over still snow dusted plains that stretched out towards the distant mountains. Honestly no amount of pseudo-romantic language can do justice to the setting, it was beautiful. The village itself was made up of no more then eight or so small houses, evenly spaced between the river bed and the mountain. Walking into the house where our meeting was being held we could have been walking back in time. The house was very basic, we passed through an old Chinese kitchen, and into the only other room of the house, a larger meeting room, a kang, a raised heated stone sleeping platform, taking up a third of the room, sheets and blankets neatly folded to one side to make room for visitors to sit. During winter hot coals are put in a small stove under the platform keeping it warm as the temperature elsewhere can drop below -20. Four small stools and a fold away table, the only other furniture in the room.

In the main room everyone still wore their coats and gloves, but that isn’t anything particularly unusual for these rural parts. As soon as we arrived the table was brought out and a pot of hot tea was placed in the middle. As the rests of the group began to come in, jokes were exchanged with friends and family, there were three young children playing, dashing in and out not sure what to make of me, shouts of “Ni hao”, coupled with shrikes of excitement following them each time they ran away. Being too young to have started learning Mandarin, I’m a little worried that they’ll grow up with the misconception that all foreigners only speak bad Chinese and nothing else. 

A smiling elder lady sat down beside me, she didn’t speak very much Chinese, only Mongolian so Tu Ye, the loan office and my guide, acted as my interpreter too. They were all farmers, growing crops in the summer and looking after their animals in the winter. They’d all been customers of microcredit since 2002, each using the loan to buy tools and supplies for farming. When I asked them about their life before they’d starting borrowing, they said the difference between then and now was very big. They’d been times before when they’d struggled to find enough food, now they had plenty and each family could even afford a motorbike. The old smiling old lady who’s home we were in told me that before they started taking out loans their annual income for the household was around RMB 3000 roughly $200. Now, if the harvest was good they could earn over RMB 10,000 in a year. She said that simply they were happier. Seeing the children running around I ased about school, these three children hadn’t started yet. But all of the children in the village go to school. Up until last year when the government introduced new legislation, middle school and above came at a cost of RMB 3000 per year, equal to this one family’s entire yearly income. She said that didn’t matter, if the family couldn’t afford it they would borrow from friends and family.

I’m actually struggling to do get down exactly how kind and welcoming these people were. Here they were with almost nothing, living in what many people would describe as a shack and yet they were so happy, so warm and so generous. This is the reason why I’ll give back to Wokai. Even when they had nothing, earning RMB 3000 a year, they would still send their children to school even though it could mean, as it did up until last year, taking on the equivalent of a years income in debt just to pay for it. When I asked the smiling old lady about this she said, “We Mongolian people will do everything to ensure that our children have an education and a future.”

Microcredit had genuinely helped these people, and I really felt honored to have met them. Before we left, we were asked if there was any way we could stay and eat with them, almost to the point of insistence. I would have accepted, but Tu Ye had made it very clear the week before that it wouldn’t be fair to do so and I’m sure that I’ve done nothing to merit the banquette that they would probably prepare just because I of my presence.

So not having my camera was probably a blessing, giving me more time to speak to people I was here to see. Getting to know them instead of shoving a camcorder in their faces, which I’m sure wouldn’t have done anything for the conversation.

Comments

[Alice Wu]

"Here they were with almost nothing, living in what many people would describe as a shack and yet they were so happy, so warm and so generous. This is the reason why I’ll give back to Wokai." -- George, I know exactly how you felt. I had a similar experience from my previous volunteer work.
This is also why I am volunteering with Wokai.

I am so glad Wokai brought you there and inspired you, and now you are passing it forward. Whether it's in words or in photos, I am deeply touched.

[Jake de Grazia]

That's a great story, George, clearly one told with love. Makes me think you might be smart to leave the videocamera behind on all first visits. Film the second time you go.