Ms. Zhou focuses on mental and psychological counseling for woman in rural areas. In this update, Ms. Zhou talks about her memorable encounter with a stranger at the ChengDu railroad station. Learn more about her counseling center here!
-- On March 2nd, I arrived in Nanjing; on the 3rd, I had a class to teach; on the 4th, I left early in the morning to fly to ChengDu. Coming out of the ShuangLiu airport, it was raining really hard, but I still had to run to the train station to buy a ticket to NanChong. Somehow, I managed to purchase a ticket, but then discovered that were no seats remaining on the train. Slightly frustrated, I grabbed a seat nearby to cool down. Just as I sat down, a woman and her mother came by. The woman looked about 50 years old, and her mother about 80, and the two were carrying a lot of luggage. She sat down next to me and took the initiative to chat. Right as she found out who I was, the lady desperately grasped my hand and spoke to me in tears saying, "Ms. Zhou, please help my son!" Her son was 14 years old, and addicted to the Internet. She and her daughter have tried disciplining him, but nothing has worked. Now, he doesn't even go to school. He locks himself up in his room, and has even jumped out of the window to run away. After one such episode, he didn't come home for a couple days. The mother tried asking his teacher for help, but to no avail. She also asked her daughter to not beat her little brother, but she often gets caught up in frustration and doesn't listen. Ms. Zhou provides mental and psychological counseling for woman in rural areas. In this update, she reflects on how a burdensome lecture she needed to give eventually became an unexpected blessing. Learn more about Ms. Zhou and her work here! -- Although I was already overwhelmed with preparing for upcoming lectures in Nanchang City, I agreed anyway to visit the QianXi Teachers’ Education Institute and give a talk highlighting the importance of mental health issues and interpersonal communication skills. This was my first time training people who were teachers of other local teachers. A total of 50 people came out for the talk, which lasted two hours. It was an intimidating two hours - 50 pairs of eyes were glued on me from beginning to end, and I didn't get a single moment of rest. After the class concluded, many of the teachers offered encouraging feedback. They included: “This lecture will be a milestone for QianXi education. It is of great significance and of great impact to our education methodology!" "This is just the information that we wanted - the details, truths, principles, and individual stories. It quenched our thirst!" "Your expertise in this area will bring you jobs, reward you with a happy life, and make you into a role model for all the teachers of this county." Ms. Zhou writes about her encounter with YingZi, a local directer of a women's organization in the SiChuan Province. Ms. Zhou focuses on psychological counseling for rural women - find out more about her counseling center here! -- YingZi is the director of a women’s organization located in a village in Pengan County, Nanchong City, SiChuan Province. Ever since I came to Nanchong, she has always been talking with me and getting to know me better. I really like and admire this peasant girl. YingZi is 38 years old, and has worked many hard years outside of her home village. She was also self-educated and earned an associate degree, and later established her own career. She told me about her village, family, past, and ideals. She has six brothers, each with his own dream, and each one is the author of their own life story of epic ups and downs. However, YingZi felt responsible for all of the unfortunate things that happened at home. She talked about the subtle relationships at her husband's family, her husband’s poor childhood, and the pitiful, wandering days of his young adult years. She also talked about the people back home, and how most of them have been unable to escape constant suffering. After they earn money from places outside of their hometown, many of the men live drunken, gluttonous, gambling lives without caring about their wives and kids. The wives and children are left with nothing and are forced to give up all hope. The village women often quarrel and gossip with one another, and when unpleasant events happen, they can furiously curse at each other for three days and nights. _[The following article is about Ms. Zhou's Psychological Counseling for Rural Women. It chronicles a day in Ms. Zhou’s experience as a counselor for the mentally ill. To learn more about this organization, please go here.]
“Responsibility allows me to forget pains of the past.” -- Ms. Zhou Yesterday, Zhou got a visit from a man who looked about 30 years old. He was wearing a hat as well as a mask, so she did not realize that she knew him until after he sat down. He turned out to be the son of one of Zhou’s former colleagues. He said to her, “Ms. Zhou, I’ve been wanting to come visit; but I was too afraid to do it. I hesitated for 20 minutes or so before calling you today.” After chatting with him, Zhou learned that he is plagued by serious clinical depression due to complicated family problems. His SDS is as high as 78, while the average for most people is only 50. Zhou suggested that he take his condition seriously and go visit a doctor, as there are medications to help him. He left after an hour and proceeded to send Zhou several texts later, all of which expressed frustration and sadness. Ms. Zhou tried to resolve his confusion through her kind replies. This visitor remained on Zhou’s mind throughout the night. So she texted him, hoping to obtain his family’s contact information and communicate with them. But he did not message back. Zhou was worried all night, concerned that he may take extreme measures. His condition was so bad that any setback may break him down completely, leading to drastic decisions. Yesterday, some leaders and I came to teach in a village called GuanYuan. At 8 o’clock in the morning, we came to the meeting room which was nice and bright in the village. Upon arriving, I only saw two people there. I asked why there were so little people and someone said that the old branch secretary broadcasted the news that the lesson was about health and the villagers were sick of selling medicine and health products so they didn’t want to come.
The women’s federation chairman in the county accompanying me, was somewhat embarrassed. I was also very upset. The president decided to introduce myself and my lessons by the big trumpet immediately. Then, we went to wait in an office upstairs. After about 10 minutes, a village came to us and told us to begin teaching because there were so many people. I went downstairs doubtfully. Oh my God, over 60 people had come to the meeting room. |
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