March-April 2005

By Dr Niels Peter Schmidt

Dr Schmidt, a dentist from Denmark, writes of his work in China with his Filipino wife, Babes C. Aguirre, who taught English in China as a member of the Association for International Teaching, Educational and Curriculum Exchange (AITECE, pronounced ‘EYE-tesh.’)

Recently, my wife, Babes C. Aguirre, and I, returned to Manila after one and a half years in China. Babes taught English as a second language in Guiyang Teachers’ College. She went as a member of AITECE.

During Babes’ stay she also organized some voluntary health services for the ethnic minorities in that area, especially the Buyi and the Miao people. She persuaded me to provide dental care during visits to Guiyang, in cooperation with the local health authorities. As a target we chose some remote villages outside the city of Zhenning and the local hospital inside the city, but here will focus on the Buyi people.

We sometimes get very reflective responses to articles in Misyon and have already used one as an article. From time to time we’ll publish more. ‘In a year’ has come around for Christine Laungayan, the first to feature in ‘Your Turn,’ and she graduates this March.