When the Fitzhugh last met with intrepid Jasper student Christopher Gil, he was getting ready to head overseas. Chris was searching for a way to help change the world and his first opportunity came with the Me to We program, that saw him spend three weeks helping impoverished youth in rural China.

According to their website, www.metowe.com, Me to We is a social enterprise with a mission. The organization states they are about transforming consumers into world changers, one transaction at a time. Its focus is on sustainable development in countries in need, these being: Sri Lanka, India, Ecuador, Sierra Leone, China and Kenya. Me to We also provides inspiring speakers, leadership training and transformative travel experiences. Half of their profits are donated to its charitable partner, Free The Children. Chris had thoroughly researched the program before signing up. He chose China because he believes that there are many hardships in the rural areas of China. He was joined by youth from all over the world who want to make the world a better place.

“It was quite amazing and definitely something I’d like to do again,” he says of the journey.

It began with a trip to the Toronto airport, and after a bit of a hectic experience finding the area where he was supposed to be, Chris and the rest of the group had gathered and even managed to get a section together on the long, 14-hour flight to Beijing. 

After landing there, Chris said it was another hectic experience navigating the busy airport, and he felt almost claustrophobic amongst so many people – who aren’t necessarily as concerned about personal space as we find ourselves in North America. After an interesting stint with security, a fellow youth was searched, but only yielded peanut butter cups, the group found their Me to We facilitators and set out on a bus to their hotel.

Chris recalls driving up to what appeared to be a very nice hotel, the group getting very excited, only to keep driving a little further to the not-so-fancy hostel they were to stay in for a few nights. The sparse digs took some getting used to, but Chris says the facilitators were quick to tell the group that they should expect something different than they were used to while in China.

“The code word is TIC, “This is China”,” laughs Chris. “That was something we had to get used to throughout the trip.”

After some down time at the hostel, the group was whisked away for dinner where they were treated to authentic Chinese food.

“It was really good,” says Chris. “A lot of the food was spicy, so I really enjoyed that.”

The dinner provided the group with the chance to get to know each other and Chris says that afterward they spent the evening playing team building games. They were also given some rules of the program and some friendly advice.

“Some friendly advice was to always carry our own toilet paper,” says Chris, something that would come in handy later.

The group spent the next day touring Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Not really knowing the history beforehand, Chris says that being there inspired him to learn more about it.

“We weren’t actually allowed to talk about it while inside the square,” he says referring to the history. “There were guards patrolling.”

After visiting Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, Chris says the group went to visit a temple, and were told to bring an extra shirt, but didn’t know why.

“It turned out that the way to that temple, way up on that mountain, was an incredibly tedious, winding set of steps and rocks,” says Chris. “We were told to get with a partner, and we were to make a blindfold out of the shirt and take turns leading each other up this staircase of doom.” 

It was a trust building exercise for the group, and Chris says that after everyone made it up the mountain safely, they were treated to a spectacular view of the area.

After two days of being a tourist, it was time to head to the first community to begin their work. Chris says the bus took the group to a rural community and he was struck by the fact that a lot of the communities seemed to be in disarray. Free the Children has schools in Gansu, Hebei, Liaoning, Anhui, Sichuan and Guangdong provinces.

There were no cameras allowed;  the group was there to teach and do some manual labour, explains Chris.

“We were organized into groups, each with a Mandarin speaker, and we had to prepare lesson plans and focus on creating a mural,” says Chris. “Our group did a tree.”

The group also did some landscaping around the entrance of the school, weeding the front lawn to improve the appearance of the area.

Chris recalls the state of the primary school, and how different it was from the schools back home. He describes the scene, which included an eight foot wall surrounding the many smaller buildings, which were akin to portables.

“A lot of the ground inside the area was really just dirt and rocks,” he says, adding that there were no stalls in the washrooms, and it was there that he learned the importance of always carrying his own toilet paper. “I think more people should be able to see it too, just to realize that we have it a lot better than we might think. It was definitely eye opening.”

Chris says that despite their physical environment, the kids the group worked with were amazing and were striving to learn as much as they could. A good education is a way out for many of the children. 

Chris says that the main goal of the group was to really see and experience the other side of China, while attempting to provide some form of education and improving the area and community by any means necessary. That continued further in to the trip, when Chris and the gang headed to yet another rural community to work on a foundation for a school, with only two-and-a-half days to spend there.

“We were digging trenches three feet wide and six feet deep,” he says. “It was humbling to work that hard.”

The experience in building the foundation left Chris somewhat frustrated. Though it was rewarding to know he was helping, he kept noticing that some of the other youth did not seem to be as passionate about making a difference as he.

“I was there to make sure that I was doing my very best to help these people in the community get something, to improve their lives,” he says. “And there were other people that just sat there the whole time we were digging. I really was disappointed when I saw them not doing the best they could have done.”

Of all the amazing things he saw and did, Chris says one moment that had a big impact on him came when hiking near the community in which the Me to We group had done the foundation building.

“It looked like a war zone there and then there was our shining tour bus in the middle,” he says. “I really sort of felt that something was wrong.”

Despite the frustration he felt about wanting to do more and not feeling like he accomplished enough, Chris says he was touched by the people he met. He was thrilled that the kids were still kids, and that he felt they had a future ahead of them. He says the whole experience was worth it and feels that the Me to We program is on the right track.

“I think they know what they’re doing and working with them was great, they are amazing people,” he says. “It’s so much more worth it to experience it [and that’s what Me to We does]. With Me to We I felt like I was actually making a difference.”

Chris leaves for school in less than a week; he was recently awarded a scholarship through the United World College (UWC) to attend Lester B. Pearson College on Vancouver Island. Pearson College is a two year, pre-university school that brings 200 students from 100 countries to live and learn together.

“I think this school is the perfect way to surround myself with people who share the same ideals and passions,” he says. 

Chris says that his next steps include donating the two silent auction items he did not use after fundraising and a little unused cash to the Action Club of Jasper Jr./Sr. High School. 

“This is for the next person that decides to rise to this challenge,” he says.

Chris says perhaps one of the most important lessons he learned was that to make a difference elsewhere, he must first focus on making a difference here at home.

“It’s time to make a difference here, in North America. I owe it to everyone I met,” he says. “I need to work towards in creating and changing the world so that equality and fairness are not just words, but a beautiful reality that everyone can embrace. Where good, not greed fuels interactions with others. Where children won’t be forced into slavery and have to go hungry. I just want everyone I care about to be happy. I wish the best for the people in the world, and will work toward making this dream world reality. The real work begins now, and so does my true test. Failure is not an option… I owe it to this world and the people worthy of it.”