Hats Off to Chinese Volunteers

We are out of the Guangdong province! It took us three weeks, but we are finally in Jiangxi, a neighbor to Guangdong. The way we entered this province was quite remarkable. The experience made Day 23 one of my favorite days so far.

On the evening of Day 22 we had dinner and a semi-official meeting with the Nanxion Love Heart Volunteer Association. I know that is their official title because they gave us each a trucker hat with their logo on it. Actually, I pestered them into giving me a hat because they are so dang cool, ranking just below the hats the little Canadians decorated for us with the New Day South kids' names. The Nanxiong volunteer leader is a Buddhist man who has nothing but admiration and encouragement for us. We drank tea, ate dinner, and talked with the group until it was time to find our lodging for the night- a Zhongshan volunteer’s family’s house. We struggled Annimal’s luggage into the trunk of a volunteer’s car and made it to our destination. Tired and sore, we were guided up the stairs to our room that we would share for the night. We opened the door to see a wardrobe, a mirror, an end table, and one bed.

‘Welp, I’ll take this one.’ I said, throwing my pack down to claim my territory. ‘Ann, where are you going to sleep?’

The next morning we met the same Nanxiong volunteers and started walking. Just before noon they led us in a direction different than expected. They took us up a road that connects the Guangdong and

Jiangxi provinces. It was built in 213 B.C. and was once the only road that led from Guangdong to Beijing. As we walked we learned from the volunteers that many scholars and merchants walked this path to Beijing to take important tests or to sell their goods. Even Mr. Zhongshan himself once led his rebel army over those same stones. We dodged tourists, took pictures, and tried to help the volunteers with our bags. The path was very uneven and steep, making it difficult for one man to haul Annimal’s walking trailer up parts of the path. Like a merchant in the old days, he pulled the cart full of goods up the inclines and over the rocky path. I was absolutely in awe of this road. We were walking the same path that a few of the greatest people in Chinese history have walked over. The American in me was reminded that some Chinese people have items in their refrigerators that are older than our entire country. It was a beautiful path made of stones smoothed by heavy use. Rocky walls and clean-smelling greenery enveloped us, adding to the old-

world illusion. Halfway to the top we stopped at a stand selling fresh tofu. I wandered over to a large stone apparatus with white foam coming out of it.

“What IS that?!” I asked in disgust. It was tofu! Actually, it was soybeans being ground by a stone grinder. There was a man turning a large wheel and feeding beans into a hole in the middle. I immediately asked to try, jumping into the ‘driver’s seat’ and turning the wheel around and around. We tried some of the tofu. It was delicious, even though it looked a little bit like baby puke. (Actually it looked a LOT like baby puke). When we reached the top, volunteers from the first town in the Jiangxi province met us. They were very nice men who took our bags from the Guangdong volunteers. We had someone film us with our camera as we walked out of Guangdong. This was a big moment for us. After ‘passing the torch’, the Guangdong volunteers said goodbye. We thanked them profusely and carried on, descending the mountain with our new friends into Jiangxi.

It’s strange and interesting to watch the culture change as we move away from the province we’re both familiar with. Annimal is actually out of her element, now asking people to repeat sentences due to their accents, and eating unfamiliar foods. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only fish out of water.

Volunteers have continued to help us. In fact, we haven’t gone one full day without local volunteers finding us on the road, walking with us, and paying for our snacks, meals, and sometimes even our hotels. Annimal expressed her fear that I might be annoyed by constantly having people around us. But my feelings are on the contrary; I am overjoyed to have company, even though I can’t communicate with them. I simply love the symbolic gesture of people walking with us in support of our goal. And they bring snacks. I like snacks. It’s also entertaining to see how excited and enthusiastic people are to join us. They are so willing to help that they won’t let us do hardly anything ourselves. We have volunteers rinsing our dishes in tea for us before meals, carrying our bags for us (no matter how much we protest), filling our water bottles with

water and our pockets with food, washing our clothes, rubbing our sore muscles, tying our shoes, brushing our hair, and even tucking us in at night. Okay, the last few I made up. But I bet they would if we asked them to. Annimal says their motivation is twofold; 1) They want to help us because they admire what we’re doing and they see how difficult it is, and 2) They want to experience a piece of what it feels like to do what we are doing. No matter their motivation, it is great to have their support. Yesterday Annimal and I were walking with three volunteers from Nankang when we stopped to do an interview for the Ganzhou news. The volunteers were estatic just to be in the background of the camera roll as we talked and walked. After the interview, Annimal and I talked about how amazing it is that this tiny little idea has turned into something SO HUGE that will hopefully inspire SO MANY people to rise above their fears and perceived limitations. As we walked, we were sweating. This was the hottest day we had experienced on The Walk so far. We looked behind us to see the sun shining through the clouds in the most beautiful way. Beams of light shone down from the heavens, blinding our eyes and warming our faces. Annimal said it was Feng Ming shining love and protection down on us. That day we walked 30 kilometers. This is farther than we have ever walked in a day. Maybe it was the little guy in heaven that gave us power. Maybe it was the sunshine and volunteer support. Maybe it was the rice wine. Whatever the reason, we are reaching new heights and we are thankful.