I Love You, Goodbye!

Nope, It’s not what you’re thinking (LOL)! Stop it! It’s like this.

Barely 7 weeks left and I am about to wrap up another placement with VSO. I can’t imagine time flies so fast. I didn’t notice I am already 2 years in China. Forward is always forward. I have to move on and flip another page. But the sad thing all the time about leaving is “saying goodbye” to the people who have been a significant part of your personal and professional life here in China. This is the stage in the volunteering journey I hate so much because it involved a myriad of emotions so difficult to contain.

To be saying goodbye this early is truly a surprise to me. Indeed, China never ceases to surprise me. Last Saturday, my colleague, the PLWHA Support Group and I worked overtime (call of duty) to re-polish proposal they have developed and hopefully reach on time to the funding agency. It was challenging because it was their first time to develop a proposal. It was equally challenging on my part guiding them through to the proposal guidelines to conceptualizing a project for people living with HIV and AIDS. We started at 2:30 and finished at around 8:00 p.m. I was tired. It was a long day. As they drove us home, the word “party” popped out. A women group in the village I have occasionally attended to whenever they invite me for public seminar or a lecture is holding a party and they’re inviting us, and it’s right now! Wow, (the only word I mumbled) the shortest of all short notices I have received ever. Although, short notices are common, I still feel like, wow! They were persistent, and I can sense my colleague was also excited so I relented. We arrived at around 9 pm in the house of the Village Doctor and spent few minutes chatting with the people around. Chinese hospitality has always overwhelmed me. My stomach hasn’t finished his job yet and here we are again about to overload our digestive organs. It’s just so difficult to refuse an offer. Tea was served along with rice pancake with natural honey and apple. Figuratively, It’s like a scene (always) of haggling for something ‘til you open your mouth and push the food in into your digestive system. I felt like gluttony is consuming me that evening. I was wondering what time the party would start as it was already half past 9. On our way, we stopped by this stocks of raw sugarcane piled along the road and apparently the Village Doctor owns them. He insisted of us bringing some home. Again, we relented and started to pack the car with few sticks.

The Village Doctor who is a man by the way successfully organized this group while also assisting the Support group of PLWHAs I am helping. We arrived in the village activity center where women members rehearsing an ethnic dance for the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). There were around 23 members present. So I asked my colleague, where do you think is the party? His only reply was I also do not know. So I thought maybe I lost in translation again. The women welcomed us warmly and invited us to join them in their dance rehearsal. They were ecstatic to see my footwork in ethnic dance. It was cool, I thought. I love dancing anyway so I am not a pain in the ass (LOL).

After few minutes, we were ushered to the meeting room and offered tea. I realized that the “party” is actually a meeting of some sort. My colleague told me that this meeting was held for me. "Oh okay" were the only words I mumbled. So the “saying goodbye” has just begun. I was so surprised and touched by the gesture of the whole club. I was guilty of thinking about the short notice and everything. It was a night of sharing good memories and how they came to like me, the qualities they saw in me (SOS! Somebody must write this portion, as I don’t want to sound boastful). It was an evening of sincere praises. This is what I like working overseas, I feel like a star (LOL). I feel like I am their Brad Pitt (my friends at home please stop complaining it’s their opinion let’s respect that, okay?(LOL). But what really touched my heart that night was when they shared to me what they can not forget about me and I quote “You taught us how to use condom (LOL). Before we thought that condom is dirty and that we don’t even want to touch it. But after you demonstrated condom use in the community – we are not ashamed anymore how to teach others and talking about condom has started to become an ordinary thing as compared before. We still need to reach for more so that they can protect themselves from HIV”. Hearing these words from these women gave me sweat in a very cold evening I have to remove my coat. I really don’t have indicators to measure change in the people I have worked with. As HIV and AIDS Project Advisor, this is already something I can consider significant change. Any change in the community I am working with big or small as long as the community identified it as significant is a real achievement to me. I am satisfied and happy knowing that I carved something in the hearts and minds of these women.

Surprises, surprises, I wonder what awaits me on the day I leave Longchuan. If I can only leave Longchuan without a trace…I know it’s impossible.

I Love you all but I have to say goodbye. Till our paths crosses again!