"Don't you think this little girl looks great with the red glasses?" said Sam Waldo, pointing at a photo he took in Shangri-La County in southern China's Yunnan Province, with a radiant smile on his face.
Sam, a 28-year-old American volunteer teacher, has been dedicated to helping students in rural Yunnan since he first came to China.
He has teamed up with other volunteers to raise funds and donations for vision tests and corrective lenses to help local students in need.
"We did some researches and this problem exists throughout Yunnan," Sam said, concerned about the impact vision problems may have on students' academic performances. "Giving a child a pair of glasses is equivalent to giving them an additional year of schooling."p "It's also been proven that glasses have a higher impact on educational outcome for students than a family's education level or economic background," he said.
Sam's attachment to China could trace back to his school days. When he studied Chinese at Columbia University in New York, he fell in love with the ancient language and culture. Later, in 2008, he made his first visit to China, a trip that further consolidated his decision to move to this country.
Amazed by its economic and social development over the years, Sam felt a sense of excitement in China, a country filled with new ideas and dynamism.
"I was really amazed by everything that happened here, so much change, so much possibility and a lot of areas to contribute. So that's why I decided to move to China in 2010," Sam said.
Interested in understanding the other face of China that foreigners usually don't get the chance to see, Sam joined a program called Teach for China that offered volunteers teaching opportunities in rural areas in Yunnan Province.
"I was really excited to go to a part of China, hours and hours away from the nearest McDonald's, from the nearest familiar cultural things, and to really spend a long time there getting to know what is life like there for people, what are the needs and dreams and challenges of young people in China's rural areas," he said.
Upon arrival in Yunnan, Sam was fascinated by the local culture. "From Monihei Festival in Cangyuan to WWII history in Chuxiong, or hiking trails up in the Nujiang area next to Tibet, there was so much diversity in such a compact region," Sam said.
"Most of my students were different ethnic minorities. When I went to their homes and met their parents and grandparents, they were still wearing a lot of traditional clothing, and farming in traditional methods using hand plows and water buffalo, something that was entirely new for me to see and explore," he said.
