Hope-Mobile Has A Flat

Today was a really rainy day. We went to a village on the edge of town that was like a ghost town. Every building had been marked to be demolished and most of the residents had already moved out. We found a family with a few kids that lived inside one of the houses but they wouldn’t let us come in to talk with them. A huge rat came running out of their house and scared Irene half to death. That made for a good laugh.

Then we had a meeting and great interview with the principal of a school for kids that are not allowed to go to regular school because they have no Kunming ID Card (most 0f them are migrant workers’ kids). During his interview it started raining and basically rained us out for the rest of the day.

Oh yeah, and this morning we had a flat… (sabotage)

better days ahead…

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…