参观一所学校的感悟 Lessons from returning to a school I'd never visited

I was delighted to come back.

我很高兴回来。

But my recent visit revealed a place I'd never been.

不过这次发现了一个从来没去过的地方。

My first journey to Yege township's primary school transformed my life eight years ago.

八年前第一次拜访叶格乡小学的经历，改变了我的生活。

Its geographic location in the township in Qinghai province's Qumarleb county remains the same. But nothing else had, this time.

除了在曲麻莱县的位置没有变，这个乡的其它方面都焕然一新。

It was unrecognizable compared with what I'd seen when I first arrived there in 2011 to buy and install two solar panels for the seven tents 78 children called their dorms.

这里和当年的景象完全不同。当年我为78位学生的七座宿舍帐篷购买安装了两块太阳能板。

I'd originally believed I was going to put the panels in the school.

我本来以为太阳能板是安装在学校里的。

But after I arrived, the teachers pointed out classrooms' windows provided light during the day.

但到了学校以后，老师们说白天太阳光可以透过玻璃进教室。

The kids needed electricity to study in their tents at night. That is, while sitting on the elevated wooden boards on which they also slept.

孩子们晚上在帐篷里学习时需要电。他们坐在木板上学习，也在这里睡觉。

The community's conditions were so dire then that it compelled me to found a volunteer initiative to invest in the county's education.

当地的情况很糟糕，所以我萌生了捐资助学的念头。

Over the years, we've provided more solar panels, computers, clothes, food, coal, scholarships, surgeries and even yaks to several schools throughout Qumarleb's nomadic communities.

这些年来，我们通过曲麻莱县的游牧团体，为当地多所学校捐赠了太阳能板、电脑、衣服、食物、煤炭、奖学金、手术，甚至牦牛。

Flash back to 2011.

回想2011年。

Yege's students shared dilapidated desks in basic classrooms and huddled around textbooks in groups because of scarcity.

叶格乡的学生们上课只能共用一张破旧的课桌，共用课本。

Their canteen was also a tent. Children sat on the grasslands to eat in summertime for space.

学生食堂也是一座帐篷。孩子们在夏天席地而坐吃饭。

Tseringben, a friend who was then a teacher at the school, told me about how the students were amazed when he showed them his laptop—the first computer most had seen.

我的朋友Tseringben当时就是这里的老师。他说学生们第一次看到他的笔记本电脑时都很惊奇，多数人是第一次看到电脑。

One asked how to "pull the magic paper" out of the top of the screen.

一个孩子问怎么从屏幕里“拉出神奇的纸”。

He also told me about how he'd brought foods they'd never hear of, since their diets were nearly exclusively yak meat and dairy, and mutton.

他还告诉我，因为孩子们的食物基本只限于牦牛肉、奶制品和羊肉，所以他给学生们带去了他们从未听说过的食物。

Some bit into the eggs and bananas with the peels still on.

一些孩子吃鸡蛋和香蕉甚至不知道剥皮。

Back then, Yege only provided classes in Tibetan, Chinese, English and math.

当时，叶格乡的学校只教藏语、中文、英语和数学。

Flash forward to 2019.

现在到了2019年。

I entered through the new gate to see the new buildings, including new dorms for teachers and students.

我迈进学校的新大门，看到新的教学楼、教师宿舍和学生宿舍。

But I was more amazed by what I found inside them.

不过他们的变化更令我惊讶。

The school was putting the finishing touches on its computer and science labs.

学校已经配备了电脑和实验室。

The science classroom was outfitted with not only typical equipment like test tubes and beakers but also interactive models of human and heavenly bodies, and the actual bodies of animals preserved as specimens, such as those of frogs undergoing metamorphosis.

科学教室不仅配备了试管和烧杯，还有人体模型和动物标本。

Other rooms were heaped with supplies for the new art, music and physical education classes.

其它房间堆满了美术、音乐和体育课需要的器材。

The educators' education levels have also advanced.

教师水平也提高了。

Years ago, few qualified instructors were willing to work at the school because of the extreme conditions. Many had only finished primary or middle school and earned as little as 500 yuan ($73) a month.

多年前，极端艰苦的条件让多数教师望而却步。很多教师只有小学或初中文凭，月薪只有500元。

But the government, which has been working to bring rural schools up to comparable levels as those in cities, now requires teachers to be nationally certified. The insufficiently educated instructors have been given new jobs on campus as groundskeepers, cooks and repair people.

不过当地政府已经向城镇学校看齐，提升乡村学校的水平。政府现在要求教师必须有国家资质。之前资质不足的教师成为场地管理员、厨师、修理工等教工。

And the improved conditions means qualified new arrivals are more willing to stay in Yege.

条件的提高意味着更多有资质的教师愿意来到叶格乡

The students' dorms are modern buildings that host bunk beds with thick mattresses and quilts.

学生宿舍也换成了现代楼房，有上下铺和厚床垫和杯子。

They not only have electricity but also—importantly in a place where it snowed even when I visited in late July—electric heating, since burning coal poses the threat of carbon monoxide poisoning.

宿舍不仅通了电，还有电暖气。这里七月底还在下雪，烧煤容易造成二氧化碳中毒。

The spacious canteen serves not only meat and dairy but also vegetables.

宽敞的食堂不仅供应肉食和奶制品，还有蔬菜。

Every child gets at least one piece of fruit a day.

每个孩子一天至少有一块水果。

Yege's school hasn't moved from its physical location over the past 11 years. But it has moved forward, toward the future, in every sense.

十一年来，叶格的学校虽然地理位置没有变，但在各种意义上都在进步。