This is China’s first record of inspirational teaching by volunteers in western China. As a college student, the author came to the Xihaigu area of ??Ningxia in 2006, which was called “the most unsuitable area for human survival on earth” by the United Nations. Participate in one-year volunteer teaching work. It aims to tell everyone about the West he has seen and experienced, to tell everyone the story of a group of children who are struggling to pursue their dreams on the Loess Plateau, and to tell everyone the quiet and tragic things that happen every day in the hinterland of China's northwest. story. Everything in this book is true and true. I believe everyone who has read this documentary about volunteer education will be moved to tears by its simple language. The first step towards maturity is to cherish the present and the people around you.

Introduction

In August 2005, Ye Nan and eight other teammates went to Haiyuan County, Xihaigu Prefecture, Ningxia Autonomous Region, and began a one-year teaching mission. Ye Nan was transferred to Xi'an Township Middle School in Haiyuan County. This is a township-level lower middle school located on the Loess Plateau. Not only is the school education conditions relatively backward, but the living conditions are also very different from Xiamen. The annual precipitation here is less than 300 mm, but the annual evaporation is as high as 2,000 mm. The school's more than 700 teachers and students all rely on a little water pulled from the local area by tractors. The geographical environment adjacent to the desert makes sandstorms a simple meal. Ye Nan and the students work together in the winter weather of minus 20 to 30 degrees Celsius. Enduring frostbite in the severe cold without heaters and other heating equipment, everyone adapts to a dry life in summer without being able to take a shower for more than a month. Diarrhea and nosebleeds have become compulsory courses for Ye Nan every week. The body has cracked skin and rough and difficult-to-swallow food. It also made Ye Nan feel the heaviness of the west. When she was sick, there was a lack of medical treatment in the countryside, and more of it required her own willpower to endure and persevere.

While overcoming many difficulties such as this, Ye Nan held many jobs in Xi'an Township Middle School, including assistant to the political and educational office, counselor of the Youth League Committee, and biology and physical education teacher for two years. And serves as a tutor for all liberal arts subjects during evening self-study time. The heavy school work also gave Ye Nan a stage to display his talents in human resources management at the university. He helped Xi'an Middle School formulate many rules and regulations and helped the principal develop school management in a standardized direction. Ye Nan Nan participated in the campus construction plan and joined local teachers and students in Ningxia's "Nineteen-year-old Education" campaign. He pioneered many literary and artistic movements in the second classroom, integrated a lot of fresh knowledge and ideas into the classroom, and gave many special lectures in other schools in Haiyuan County. Ye Nan led and trained the Xi'an Middle School team to win second place in the Haiyuan County Legal Knowledge Competition. As a young teacher, Ye Nan was not only quickly accepted by the students in class, but also became close friends with them outside class. Ye Nan asked to live next door to the student dormitory and insisted on answering questions and communicating with students every night. One year of teaching support has helped Xi'an Township Middle School to undergo tremendous changes.

Ye Nan and his teammates use their time every weekend to visit students’ families. Ye Nan’s footprints are all over almost all natural villages, large and small, in Xi’an Township. The villages in the west are scattered and many places require hiking. It took nearly ten hours of walking to get there, and the inexperienced teaching staff often had to face the test of getting lost and sandstorms. The temperature difference of up to 40 degrees between day and night also made them almost freeze instantly. However, it is an unshirkable duty to visit the families of students. Through personal visits to the families of many poor children, we understand the unbearable burden they bear: some children have lost their parents since childhood and are alone, and some families only have a few hundred yuan for the whole year. , some children still live in primitive cave dwellings, and some children only eat 5 dry food buns a week... The heart-breaking pressure of survival not only made Ye Nan couldn't help crying, but also shaken Ye Nan's determination to Confidence to do a good job in supporting education in the western region.

For the author

Ye Nan, male, a member of the Communist Party of China. Since he was admitted to the School of Management of Xiamen University in 2001, he has been diligent and hard-working and enthusiastic about social welfare undertakings. Since joining the Volunteers Association of Xiamen University School of Management in 2001, I have always insisted on participating in various volunteer activities and is now a registered Chinese Youth Volunteer. He achieved excellent results while in school and won school-level scholarships and school-level honors many times. He also serves as the director of the Youth Propaganda Center of Xiamen University, deputy secretary of the Youth League branch of Xiamen University School of Management, and participates in the organization of large-scale events such as the "Challenge Cup" Chinese College Student Entrepreneurship Plan Competition. While studying at university, Ye Nan gradually learned about the difficult living conditions of children in the west, especially in the Xihaigu area of ??Ningxia (an area supported by Xiamen University), which is called the "least suitable area for human survival" by the United Nations Food Development Agency. As a student who was born and raised in the east, Ye Nan has developed a passionate and determined affection for the northwest of the motherland. Years of volunteer experience and the sense of responsibility as a party member drove Ye Nan to never give up in her senior year. Hesitantly signed up to join the seventh teaching support team of Xiamen University. Before going to the west to carry out teaching work, Ye Nan participated in organizing the Xiamen University Support Teaching Group's "Far Away" Charity Sale, "Far Away" Photography Exhibition and other organizational work. Together with his teammates, he raised tens of thousands of yuan in material resources for the west.

Book Review

This book reflects the process of Ye Nan’s development of volunteer teaching practice in the western part of the country in a difficult environment, that is, tempering progress in service, irrigating the land of knowledge with love, Use responsibility to cultivate flowers waiting to bloom, use actions to express your willingness to contribute, and use the meaning of youth's real life to vividly express the joy of being a teacher for the first time, the innocence of the relationship between teachers and students, and the joy when facing students' progress. Pride and touching feelings of caring for the west, cherishing what you have, and serving the country with determination.

There is a place that you cannot understand deeply if you have not been there; there is a life that you cannot imagine in detail without experiencing it; there is an emotion that you cannot feel without experiencing it.

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I originally thought that the title of "Keep the Dream" was too general, but now that I understand it, I feel that it is onerous and just right. Don't feel sad for your nation until your dreams are destroyed. I really feel sad for those children in the west who have become victims of various interest groups. Sometimes I really wonder whether "knowledge can change destiny" is only said to children in the city... In fact, children in rural areas also have the opportunity to listen to this sentence. , but the opportunity is really too small for them. Social inequality and the widening gap between rich and poor have to cause reflection. But how many people can truly feel this gap? The appearance of harmony cannot hide the fact of corruption. How many people are squandering. It is a luxury to think that someone will be satisfied when they are feasting and feasting? On the one hand, most children are lack of Due to accurate channel guidance, they lose the opportunity to broaden their horizons with their peers. Television, newspapers, not to mention magazines, are scarce luxuries in many places; on the other hand, a few children are lost in informal Internet cafes and cannot Extricate themselves, the outside world is too exciting, the colors on the Internet are too cruel, and the colorful temptations make their will confused. Although they only had a few dollars and a few cents per week, they still numbly threw themselves into the online world without even thinking about it, and spent a lot of time trapped in a different space. "The realistic records in the book are heartbreaking.