Dude, where are all the boys?

Last night and today we have been visiting villages within the city that are mostly occupied by trash pickers. These are families that literally dig through the trash cans of the city everyday looking for materials they can sell. In doing this we have discovered a huge problem.

Last night we came across a family who had 6 girls and they lived in 1 small room. That’s grandma, grandpa, mom, dad and 6 girls in a room about the size of my bedroom in America. I can’t even begin to describe the situation they were living in (we filmed it and interviewed them). The lady and her husband have basically put themselves in this situation all because they want a son. Their first child was a boy but he was stolen as a baby (another huge problem in poor parts of China).

The kids all go to school but this generational poverty is very hard to break. This morning in another area we met the same situation and heard of countless other stories of the same vein. Families with too many kids (all girls) putting them deeper and deeper into poverty.

How do you change something like that?

Bring Hope, Get Dirty

Well guys, the first week of filming is done and it was great. Very hard but very good. I have tought everyone the famous English slang phrase ‘no pain, no gain’ and it seems to fit our project just fine.

We’ve seen kids whose parents reject help for them and that’s hard to watch. But we found a little girl who is 9 and she cried when she told us her story and she will come to camp and hopefully experience some fun and love that she is in great need of.

The Hope-Mobile is in need of a car wash and we are all in need of a Saturday. Thanks for reading, the adventure continues Monday.

Dolphins vs. Children

I’m sitting here in a van outside a village on a rainy day in Kunming writing to you. Our documentary subjects are currently in the village looking for a kid they can help this summer. Had a couple of thoughts I wanted to share…

The documentary that won the academy award last year was called ‘The Cove’. It was an amazing story about the dolphin massacre that happens in Japan. I absolutely loved it and I wanted to join the cause right away. Most people respond to injustice and sometimes it is easier to respond to the injustice brought upon animals than to the injustices brought on people. It’s too close to home and we simply don’t know what to do. If we save a dolphin they can go swim their own way and we generally don’t need to deal with them anymore. A person who needs rescuing, on the other hand, might have mental issues or handicaps or parents that have left them socially inept. It’s messy, painful, and there are probably going to be more tears than smiles. There will be no swimming off into the sunset at the end of the day. Also, we can see in other people our own faults and that is no fun.

They spent 2.5 million US dollars to make ‘The Cove’ and save dolphins from injustice. We are spending less than $20,000 to make a comparable documentary and spread the word about our own injustice to the children of the world. (in this case China)

Here’s the problem, most of us have never hurt a dolphin but all of us have probably hurt a person and that makes it all too close to home to process. These are just some thoughts I’m having as we continue our journey here. Would love to hear your comments on this…

2 year old beggar boy

After I chased him around awhile we wound up finding his whole family, 3 moms and 3 beggar kids, we talked to them and interviewed them. You’ll have to wait for the documentary to see the result!

This is the Hope-mobile…

You heard of the pope-mobile?