This is the 11th year of Global Volunteers in China. The organization has been working as a close partner with the Sino-American Society in trying to forge peace through service. We always keep our eyes on our goal but never repeat ourselves in our work. We try to do something different and creative each year to keep our program meaningful and attractive. By trying to make the impossible possible, we have witnessed many milestones in the Global Volunteers China Program, and one of them is Project Peace, a vivid demonstration of the Global Volunteers philosophy.
As a native of Anshang, I have witnessed every single element of the process in this remote village since 2002 when Project Peace first started. The villagers helped complete a brand new and modern school, the first of its kind in the entire area. The villagers built the first cement road in the entire township in 2004, and six more cement roads were built during the following two years. Anshang is the first and only farming village to install street lights in the entire county. Anshang is the first and only farming village to have beautiful gardens with evergreens, flowers and grasses. Anshang is the first and only farming village to have its own restaurant that accommodates 150 people. Anshang is the first and only farming village to launch its own website and realize the people's dream of going to the world while sitting at home. Anshang is the first and only farming village to set up and practice a new system of government, a democratic and self-governance system.
Why has there been such a great change in such a short time? Great changes in Anshang are due to an alteration in the minds of the villagers, and Global Volunteers has served as a catalyst in this transformation. During the construction of Project Peace, the villagers have had access to volunteer teams and have accepted the new ideas and concepts presented to them by people from other countries.
“People from Global Volunteers keep coming to Anshang from the other side of the earth at their own expense to help us," the villagers say to themselves. "So shouldn’t we double our efforts to turn Anshang into a better place?” It is now a common understanding that Anshang villagers have received not only a modern school, but also a valuable spiritual legacy from Global Volunteers.
From their own experience, the villagers have come to the conclusion that volunteerism can actually change two worlds.