Hello from Beijing!

Hi! My situation here is really great, completely positive (except for the redtape and visa issues, which I won't even go into). The group I'm working with is *so* nice, I love all the girls. Caroline is the one who is in charge of it all. She started Hua Dan (the theater workshop organization) in 2004 to help migrant women new toBeijing gain self confidence, self esteem, independence, and deal withother emotional and spiritual problems they might encounter in their dailylives (such as sexual harassment or depression, for example). She believesin using hands-on, really creative methods of teaching -- everyoneparticipating in team building exercises and playing lots of games. It'sreally fun work. And she's so young -- only 28! She grew up in Hong Kongbut she's English. She's been here for four years.Because there are only four (!) full time employees including Carolinein the organization, and because she doesn't have much money for funding,Caroline runs Hua Dan from her own appartment. And because two employeesare poor migrant workers themselves, she has everyone take turns makinglunch so that they can eat some real food (instead of instant noodles, asthey had been doing before she found out). So, this past week I've beengoing at 10am and then just before lunch one of the girls will go into thekitchen and make a simple lunch for the rest of us. It's so cozy and areally great place to work. My work day is supposed to end at 6, but I'vebeen enjoying myself so much, I've stayed several hours later eachevening -- even until 9:30 the other day!The three girls are organizing three different projects; I'll be helpingwith two. The first one (which I'm not helping with) is called the LoveProject, which includes sex ed, dating, healthy relationships, etc. Thegirl who is running this is a recent graduate from Canada and Hong Kongand she's bilingual, English is her first language. Her name is Cui Lynne.I've met her once, but she's in Hong Kong so we haven't been doing thebonding thing like I have with the other three.Zhong Na runs the second project. She's a migrant girl from ShandongProvince and is about 26. She and I have been planning the drama classesfor a two week summer camp for kids between the ages 5-12. We'll have fourdifferent classes of kids, and each class will have four forty-five minuteclass periods -- so, we've planned four different lessons and will do themeach four times. The theme is "Protecting the Environment." We've alreadymade a collage poster (not sure how that's going to be used, but Zhong Nawas saying something about them looking at the poster and choosing apicture, then incorporating that into the little skit or drama game we'llhave them do...) This email is getting kind of long as it is, so I'll givea more detailed update about that activities we've planned as they happennext week and the week after.I'm working with Dong Fen (only 23, from Yunnan province) on the thirdproject. We're calling it the Waitress project because we are targetingwaitresses. Why? There are so many restaurants all over the place (eatingis something everyone does, after all, and in this country it's common toeat most meals out because the food's so cheap and Chinese cooking methodsso complicated) -- so there are so many restaurants, and many of thewaitresses are poor migrant women, so the target group is really, reallybroad. The turnover rate is *very* high, and so I think Caroline and thegirls -- Zhongna and Dongfen were both waitresses themselves once --decided that this would be a good group to target. The aim is to empowerthese waitresses so they can cope better with life and be a bit moreindependent. And ultimately, Caroline wants to train up enough girls tokeep the projects going on their own, both in Beijing and back in theirvillages.Dongfen took surveys about what restaurant bosses and the waitresses mightwant from a training course like this. Many bosses said they wanted thegirls to learn some English for the Olympics in 2008, when tons offoreigners will be in Beijing -- but lots of the girls have no interest inthat, thinking it's not really useful for their lives as housewives. It'sgoing to be tricky presenting the project and getting people to come.First is the question of place. Hua Dan tried to do a project in the parkin the past, but had trouble getting the waitresses to come because theywere either so exhausted they didn't have the energy to make it, orbecause they actually had to work during that time. Dongfen wanted tobring some friends along to her training course but couldn't because theywere all working. So, we've decided to do this workshop in the restaurantitself in hopes that more waitresses will be able to attend.The second question is about motivation. We're hoping to find a good bosswho we can continue working with long term (I guess so we don't need tokeep finding new bosses to cooperate!) and also to provide a bit offunding. But in the past, if the boss thinks a training workshop is a goodidea, she'll force everyone to go, and who wants to be forced into doingsomething like this? Much better that the girls choose to come becausethey feel it is useful for them personally. Another problem is thatsometimes the boss will agree to sponsor the project but then takes themoney out of the girls' paychecks -- which is obviously something whichmust not happen!So, we're trying to find a boss with an open mind to these creativeprojects, and somebody who is flexible and encouraging. He or she also hasto agree not to be present during the workshops because people tend tofeel inhibited when the boss is present and it really throws off thedynamics of the group.This week Caroline will be away in Hong Kong and Dongfen and I have beengiven lots of different tasks to do while she's gone:-- Prepare an advertisement brochure and spiel to convince the bosses tocooperate with and sponsor us-- Make a little invitation card for the waitresses to introduce them toHua Dan, what this program offers and why they would want to come-- Create some surveys to be given throughout the course to gauge how muchthe girls are getting out of it (there's a long one which we'll give onthe first and last day, and then two smaller ones we'll give in themiddle)-- Take a field trip to the bookstore and look at different language booksto get ideas and inspiration for our textbook (this textbook is so cool!I'll explain more about it later!)-- Plan a good, creative layout for the textbook-- Find a place to print the textbook-- Start brainstorming some fun activities to help them practice and applythe stuff they've learned-- Make a certificate which the girls can take away with them at the end ofthe course and use as a type of qualification when applying for futurejobs-- Draft a contract between Hua Dan and the bosses that will try to keepthem from exploiting the waitresses or putting a damper on our work-- Go around to a few restaurants and try to convince the bosses.As you can see, I know exactly what I need to do but I've also got a lot ofpower and independence to go off and do it. Wow, so great! What adifference from working in that Pharmaceutical Company in Shanghai!When Caroline comes back we'll sort out the specifics of the course,because we are also waiting for an English teacher friend of hers calledKeith to design the English component. The course will be thirty hourslong -- about a third will be English lessons and two thirds complementarytheatrical games and exercises.Okay, I better leave it here. For next time: yesterday's trip to themigrant community, my flat and wonderful flatmates, the textbook for thewaitress project, and more examples of the kinds of exercises we're using.And Tengteng and Pengpeng's wedding is a whole nother story!!!As I said, I'll be responding to individual emails but I'm sorry if ittakes a while!Love, Leah