Liu Yan, Quest Fellow
Unlike most university graduates in China, 23-year-old Liu Yan wanted to return to her rural beginnings and use her knowledge to benefit her local community. As a Quest Fellow, she established ten information centres with computers and access to the internet across a remote region in rural China. She raised funds to rebuild a village following a fire, created local events to foster community relations and forged a path for community development in ways that promote and support the customs of the Miao people. “My fellowship helped me to focus in on my dream,” says Liu Yan, “to work with my community, grow together and create positive change for society at large.”
Upon graduating from Heilongjiang University in Non-Profit Management, Liu Yan returned to Leishan County in her native Guizhou province to undertake a Quest Fellowship with a clear vision. “I can’t eradicate poverty on my own, but I can engage the community and together we can grow. Only a bottom-up approach can promote dialogue and develop our lives.”
Liu Yan began her fellowship by surveying local people to listen to and understand their problems. She found that their main concern was losing their traditional Miao culture in the drive to modernise and address poverty. So she sought to bring tradition and modernity together in harmony.
Following her training, Liu Yan worked with her mentor to bring the internet to the community and set up a village blog to share the local culture with a wider audience. Her blog was met with an overwhelming response from external donors and she secured funding to establish ten village information centres with over 20 computers across the region.
She has since taken charge of coordinating communication from the Miao villages to the outside world to fund projects for the villages. She has gone on to organise conferences to share their culture and issues with others and applied for technological support from TEDx, an organisation that sets up global conferences for community sharing.
Halfway through her fellowship, a fire broke out in a nearby village. She cleverly utilised her existing project to address this issue by using her online network to seek support and raise over 10,000 RMB (£1,000) to repair the damage. Leading emergency projects and managing donor interests was no small task, but she ensured that the funds were allocated fairly to build new centres for culture, children and information.
Liu Yan’s experience and drive was transferred to other members of the community including Zhang Fengying, a teacher at the local school, who undertook a culture conservation project and has since created teaching materials and activities to engage children.
Liu Yan has enriched her cultural knowledge and better understands the rich Miao heritage, something she says will enhance her study of anthropology and help her acheive her dream of becoming a researcher. “I want to attract more people from diverse backgrounds to pay attention to rural community development and inspire them to think and reflect on the causes and solutions to the villagers’ problems.”
