as you may know, i stayed on for a week after the trek with intrepid. intrepid practice responsible tourism and find a way to give back to the local community. it could not be more fitting that we spent an afternoon at xi'an huiling - a school for persons with learning disabilities.
xi'an huiling is a community-based, non-governmental organization. the students are over 16s and they all live at the school where they receive training to develop their life skills. activities go beyond reading and writing, they are taught how to use public transport, how to cook for themselves, proper social skills, etc.
when students are ready to live on their own they move together as a family (in groups of 3 or 4) to an unsupervised flat near by where they continue to develop their skills.
the students earn their own money by creating arts & crafts to be sold at local markets or by selling their paintings - even by participating in traditional dance performances.
before we ended our visit, we were treated to a live performance culminating in the a group rendition of the chicken dance! (video to follow soon)
please click here to view pics from my visit at xi'an huiling and the rest of my time in xi'an.
No comments:
Post a Comment