Last week I walked home from school on the road under the bridge. There are 3 main ways to get to school, and although this way is the shortest, most people rarely take it-- there is a fish market under the bridge that produces all kinds of putrid smells, mud and muck in the street, and pot-holes in the road big enough for a house. On the way, I looked over to the side of the street to see a young boy crumpled on top of a bike, covered in dirt from head to toe. However, he was beaming. I took a second glace and got down to his level and called "Yang Yang?" recognizing his name, he smiled, shakily pulled a piece of gum out of his pocket and offered it to me. I smiled too, this was Yang Yang, the boy I had heard so much about.
The fish market itself is a very interesting, a work place and home for people from the poorest areas of China. Most are migrant workers, meaning that they come and work in Tianjin but don't have a residence card. They aren't given priviliages that a resident would have (housing, schooling for their children, etc). The fish market workers begin at 2 am and work until 4 pm daily-- all year outside. We recently took a "field trip" to this market with our class, and though it is about half way between our school and home--less than a half mile from either place, no one in our school gives it or the people there much notice. Our kids interviewed people there, finding lots of shocking differences and similiarities-- some of the workers were the same age as our students, and worked themselves to the bone every day cleaning fish, hauling ice, driving across the country to get fish--they were shocked that these are people too!
There is a man who works outside the gate of our apartment complex, collecting recyclables. It is known that he gathers our old clothes and garbage, sorts it, and then distributes it to the children of the migrant workers in the fish market. One day while my friend Angie was walking by, the man had a child with him, and asked Angie if she would take the child because his parents couldn't take care of him any longer. His name was Yang Yang, he has cerebral palsy and being the second child of a migrant worker, he didn't have a citzenship here. The parents were desprate, Angie was shocked. To make a long story short, Angie pursued getting to know about Yang Yang's situation. This brought her into the heart of the community of migrant workers who live right next door to us-- in 1 room windowless homes with the bare necessities of survival. Hidden in a market next door to our apartments there is an entire community of hundreds of people basically surviving! Yang Yang is one of many children who are basically invisible to the system- no identification, no schooling, no future. As Angie built relationships with Yang Yang's family, she understood them and their lives more and more. And their needs. To make this short, she started caring for the children of the migrant workers. Today, Angie and Scott, along with thier son Hudson (an adorable 4 1/2 year old, and a couple of Chinese teachers bring a big group of these kids to our school every saturday, play with them, teach them, feed them and encourage them.
This past weekend Dave and I joined this group-- and had a blast! We're encouraging our S&S kids to go every Saturday as well. We played cards, swang on the swings, played in the dirt and played-- carrying Yang Yang through the playgroud as he squeeled with delight. We listened as others taught the children about a man who could heal the blind and raise a man from the grave-- and the children acted out the stories they heard and asked questions about this man. We smiled as they devowered their simple lunches, and waived goodbye to this newest group of ragamuffins-- who are so cute!
Yang Yang is currently in the midst of finally moving into a foster family's home, to be cared for during the day (he is left to himself all day-- and pulls himself around on an upsidedown broken 2-wheeled lift/cart.) This is not a good situation, and he really needs a home where people can care for his needs and teach him-- he's a very smart little boy! There is a family who is willing to take him, we are just in a waiting process now for them to re-build their home to accommodate YY.
