Our work in Niupeng seen by Sabrina

Je m’appelle Li Aixue. Je suis Chinoise. Je fais mes études à l’Université de Guizhou. J’édudie l’Anglais.

My name is Li Aixue. You can call me Sabrina too. I worked with Sophie and Bertrand as an interpreter from October 4th to October 16th in Niupeng. I am from the southeast of Guizhou province, China. I am a junior in the college of International Studies of Guizhou University. I major in English and my second foreign language is French.

October 3, 2008. Mr.Chen who worked for ID asked me if I was willing to be an interpreter because ID needed an interpreter to work in Niupeng, Weining county, Guizhou province, China. I wanted to experience another life in different places and practise what I learned in the university, so I decided to ask the head of my department for leave to work with two Frenches in Niupeng, a place I have never been to. Before I made this decision, I did not know what I could see, what I could listen to, and what I would think about in Niupeng. I think that I get something special that I could not get it in the university.

October 4th, 2008. It was rainy. I first met Sophie and Bertrand at the gate of the bus station in Guiyang. Sophie was a pretty girl, and it seemed that Bertrand did not like to talk too much. About 6 p.m, we arrived Weining. I knew what we would do in Niupeng and I knew more things about ID that night.

October 5th, 2008. Mr.Wu, a nice man who was one of the leaders of Niupeng, came to recieve us. In the government building, I knew another nice leader, Ms.Wen.Then we came to the Wenxin Hotel. I choosed a room with a TV set.

We began to work on October 6th and finished it on October 16th, 2008.


October 6th was the market day, our work was to ask the seller if he was a farmer and something about himself and his products. The first person I asked was a straight-out woman, I could see her sunburned face and horny hands. Sophie, Bertrand and I, we first came to the restaurant to eat dumpling that midnoon.


October 7th , there was a bright sky. We drove the motorbike on the high mountains of Niupeng. We could see few trees and a lot of corns and tobaccos. We came to the nouthwest of Niupeng and visited Heping and Fahong villages. In Hongyan primary school, Sophie and Bertrand became big stars. The boys and girls did not care their dirty clothes and they smiled, they disported, they were happy and shy when they saw the two foreigners.



October 9th, we came to Dengjiaying village. There was a railway across the village. I have a special feeling with railway, so I felt very happy to walk with Sophie and Bertrand on the railway. There was a small and old house beside the railway which was made of yellow soil. A old man about sixty years old sit in front of the house, he sold some candies in the house. He smiled and looked very nice. He told us his story. He had joined the army and built the railway in the past, now he had no land to farm. He lived a hard life but he looked like a happy man I think maybe because he could see the railway and the trains everyday. Yes, we both like the railway.

During the twelve days, we encountered different people and different things when we were working. The little girl’s bad luck we lamented over in pottery village. The woman who spoke loudly in Sanhe village. The little dogs who played with the little pigs in Miao people’ village Xinhua. The eighteen kilometres bad road from Niupeng to Tuanshan village we drove and walk on . The two young teachers who worked as volunteers at a primary school on the top of the mountain. The family with four children whose food were not enough to eat. The plastic bags which were casted anywhere. The farmers who worked hardly on the land under the sun. Many tobacco houses which were used to cook tobacco in the villages, and many old and small houses ……

In Niupeng, I could feel the brisk wind against my face and breath the fresh air. I stared at the vast mountains before me, feeling small and feeling awake. There was neither crystal nor shining brass, only earth and stone. I saw no luxury here, I saw toil. This wide-open land are beautiful for the people outside, but it is just a field to farm for the people who live there. They work it, their food comes from it, and their houses are built of it. In some ways, this land is a fetter that keeps them in poverty and out of the modern world.

Sometimes I feel it is an unfair world. The people in Niupeng are hard-working, but they do not have enough money to support their families. They lack of water, they do not have enough money to buy fertilizer, they just can earn about two thousand Yuan in one year, they eat corns and potatoes which are planted by themselves, they live in their small and dark houses, they walk on the dirty street where can be seen rubbish everywhere. I am sorry to see the state of Niupeng. This is the true state of Chinese countryside. I hope people in Niupeng can have a better life soon because each of them has a nice and pure heart, and all the farmers in China can live a happy life in the future. As a chinese, I am very thankful to ID’s deed of light.

And Sophie and Bertrand, they gave me an interesting hat which was bought in the market of Niupeng, I think I will wear it one day. When I did not have enough clothes to wear but it was cold, Sophie gave me her clothes to wear. And Bertrand, when my lips were discomfort, he gave me his ointment. I am thankful to their kindness. They are responsible and hard-working. They taught me not only French but also something else.

Sophie and Bertrand, vous êtes gentils, merci !