China dream comes true

An Indian -Australian teacher spends a year volunteering at a Chinese university

Acursory look at an indiscreet ad in the daily ne\vspaper one lazy afternoon, took an Adelaide woman away from her horne to China where she did voluntary wor k for a y ear.

'Ar an age when many are probably thinking about recirement, I was looking for a dream job char would give me personal and profess ional satisfaction," Rajni Madan, an Adelaide-based teacher, sa ys. "\Xlich m y China sojourn organised by rhe AustraliJm Volunreers International (AVI), I was able to do just that".

Placed as an ESL reacher for Life -Science students a t No rth\'v'est University for r ationa.lities in Lanzhou, c apital of Gansu province adjoining Tibet, Ra jni claims she has had an an1azi11g year.

"I've always had an inherem pull rowards China and wamed ro visit," Rajni reveals "So to go there, and for a year, doing what I love best, was a dream come true".

A keen craveller and one who is always looking for n ew challenges, sh e was on the loo kout fo r pro jects char would suit her quali..6cations and skills , when she chanced upon two returned AVI volrn1reers from Fiji and lndones ia speaking about thei r experiences Her m ind was made up.

Not long after, she found hersel f in a classroom in China, smrounded by students eager to learn.

"Ir was a ple,'lsure reaching in Lanzhou," Rajni tells Tndian Lit1k. "The students are hardworking and p o lite and ve r y respectful of their teachers. All the other volunteers thought so roo: many felt that they had never experienced such respect in their careers! The students had only one objective - ro learn Since there were no behaviour prob.lems to deal with, all my focus was o n my goal, that is, to reach. I felt I had made an impact on a number of sn1dents who ini tially thought English was too difficul t a language to learn, but became enthusiastic learners during t he course. At times my cl ass had 168 students, the la rgest I have ever handled Some studen ts are still i u couch".

Rajn i Madan is a multi- faceted

With s tude nts in t raditional dress personality in the rrne sense of t he word Arriving in Auscralia in 1993, armed w id1 a Bachelor of Education and Masters in Life Sciences degrees, she went on to obta.i.n a PhD in Biology. Finding opportunities limited in that fie ld, she used her B.Ed to rake up relief teaching at schoo ls and, at die same time, r un a small business besides managing a family of three sc hool children an d a husband wh ose job often took him tO the bush.

Today she is all for organsations like the AVl. that help people realise their dream o f working ro make a difference in the lives of people. But it ,vas n o wall, in rhe park, she soon found om. Interview after imen7iew assessed not onl y her skills but also her capacity ro survive in a foreign land and leve l of family s upport, besides medical and psychological evaluations. Ir took more than six months to get that final nod.

''\X'hen I landed in China, l was received by an AVI support officer and a university staff member. I felt l was wid1 friends".

F-1.er accommodation, however, was a bit daunting, bur she claims all the concerns disappeared when she ope n ed her fourth floor windows out to a beautiful hillside view.

"The unive rsi ty paid me local wages, and though this was not comparable to my Au ssie wages, it was enough ro live comfortably. Vo lumeer colleagues stayed in d1e same building as me and b efo re I knew ir, I was o n my way ro becoming a 'Foreign Expert', a tennin ol ogy used to describe us all".

Outside the classroom, the students became friends and local guides.

"They inform ed us regularl y on issues such as when die power or water supp ly would be cue, sin ce such instructio n s were always in Chinese The encire cit y had an efficient heating sysrem ,vith oil heaters for the biting cold weather. Some students accompanied us ro di e marke t helping us tran s lating to d1e stall ho lders and even bargaining. ln:vitatioos to dinner at their homes were numerous, in line with Oriental hospi tality"

China i tself was a revelation.

"Al though the population is larger d1an that of India , 1 never saw crowded streets o r rail stations because of its large land mas s. Generally the streets are clean and safe ro walk at any time of the day. I t:tied to learn Chinese too, in week ly lessons. I cried m y Chinese on so m e students with Jim ired success. W riting d1e Chinese script however, proved to be a kind of medi tation. And when m y famil y v isited , we saw the sights, such as the Great Wall"

How did she cope with food?

"Food was a major fear, yes. Be ing a vegetarian how would I cope in a land where they say, anything that creeps or crawls is eaten. Bur that fear was soo n overcome: the markets were foll of fresh produce, vegetables, fruits and varieties of bread. It was a delight for a home cook like me. T-lowe\7 er there were problems when 1 wen t out w ith colleagues or to students' home s The y had no concept of how anyone could live without eating meat. bas Buddhism failed in this regard, one is rempred to think".

And finall)7, an y regrets?

"Probab ly that I ended up teaching ESL rather than life sciences!" Raj n i laughs. "But overall, it was an amazing experience l will avidly support anyo ne d1inking of taking this p lunge!".

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