Here are our humble beginnings.
It was the summer of 2018 when Dyllan and I attended a service trip to a remote village in Ningxia, China. Despite living in China for many years, we were shocked to see children living in caves and toiling in the fields. While the government claims that these villagers live above the poverty line, we knew these local children were destined to perpetuate the poverty cycle.
As we stepped into the local elementary school, we witnessed inattentive students sitting in English class, being taught by a teacher who could barely speak the language.
Being fortunate enough to study in North America, Dyllan and I realized that we are far more qualified to teach English than local teachers who only learned the language in university. By taking advantage of our unique strengths, we could provide invaluable skills to entire schools.
The next day, Dyllan set up Zoom on the school computer and coordinated schedules with Ms. Ma (马老师), one of the five teachers in the school. As she taught 4 subjects, she was grateful that she can focus more on her students' wellbeing. We left them with a gift of new stationery and books for a year. That September, we started teaching a class of 20 students once a week.