Trip to Xiji with Teachers Training Center

The last weekend in November(29-30th) we went to Xiji in the south of Ningxia with Teachers' Training Centre. We went by car for about 4 hours to get there. We met with teachers from the rural areas in the south, who had come to Xiji, both Saturday and Sunday. Had a class on Saturday and a meeting on Sunday. We learned a lot from them, about their work and they said that they had learned a lot from us as well. Listening to the teachers describing their work situation was very fruitful for us.
The south of Ningxia is home to the Hui moslem minority group. Xiji's surroundings was quite different from what we are used to, so it was an interesting experience. Ningxia is a poor region in China, and we were told that the south is some of the poorest parts in Ningxia. The landscape in the south was amazing, and we got to see some cool sights as well. One particular sight was a huge Buddha statue in the Xumi Mountains north of Xiji.

About the project - Sinonor

The Sinonor project is an exchange between China and Norway. Here they exchange experiences, ideas and, maybe most importantly, people. We are a part of the teacher exchange, where Ningxia University in Yinchuan gets English teachers from Norway, and the Red Cross Nordic United World College in Flekke gets Chinese teachers from NU. The exchange has existed for six years now, and it seems like we are in the final year. That's why we are just three participants this year, compared to around seven the other years (5 Norwegians and 2 Chinese). So we, Christian and Tom Christian, are the Norwegian participants. At the same time a really nice young lady called Li Dan stays at the RCNUWC.

Now there is a new project from RCNUWC called Sahanor. It will be the new focus for the next five years. It's an exchange project between RCNUWC and Polisario, who runs the West Saharawi refugee camps in Algeria. This year there will be six young norwegians who work for the refugee camps. You can read more about their lives in Algeria at http://sahanor.blogspot.com

If you have any questions about these projects, feel free to ask the writers in both blogs. We'll answer as soon as we can.