China 2011 - Olivia donates to local school

Jingzhou, China

Prior to the trip, we let our guests know of an opportunity to donate school supplies to a local school along the Yangtze River. In Olivia fashion, many of the women carried bags of supplies in their very limited luggage!  Each woman was allowed a total of 44 lbs of luggage for the entire trip, and most did this in just one piece! So to see such an outpouring of love and generosity of supplies was heart warming.

We drove through the town of Jingzhou on our way to the rural area of the city. 

Jingzhou, China

Jingzhou, China

Jingzhou, China

Jingzhou, China

When we arrived at the school, we were greeted by the children playing all sorts of instruments and practicing their English with "Hello, how are you?  What is your name?" Their families and the local village all came out as well as this was a big deal to see 250 women from the US, Canada, Australia, Brazil and more! Us foreigners have big noses you know :-) And everywhere we looked, smiles were freely given.

 



Lisa, Barbara, Susie and Linda with the local girls

Lisa Koch and Roxanna Ward

After our warm welcome by the children, the girls performed a song and dance for us. The boys are very shy and looked on as the girls took the stage!



After the performance, we officially donated a huge box of supplies to the head of the school, and many of the women donated cash as well.  They were so moved by  Olivia, and I am sure they will never forget our visit, as we will never forget them.

We presented the Head of the school with the donations

One of the boxes of school supplies donated by the women of Olivia

After the festivities, we were invited into the classrooms to have a more personal interaction with the kids. They recited the alphabet, we sang "Old McDonald Had a Farm" together, and shared laughs and precious interactions.

At the end of our visit, most of us felt this was one of the highlights of the trip.  Having the one-on-one interactions with the children and local farmers was priceless. In Olivia fashion, we were ambassadors, leaving a place better than we found it :-)

We boarded the buses back to the ship, and were on our way after clearing a temporary road-block

 More to come!