From lawyer to volunteer for life

Yin Xianjin, 35, Deyang city, Sichuan province

I was a regular customer of a teahouse in my hometown, which is famous for its entrepreneurship and tea-drinking culture, before the quake hit last year.

But since the disaster struck the region, I have seldom talked business and discussed cases as a lawyer there.

Instead, I either go online to exchange quake reconstruction work with those who want to help in any way they can, or discuss with other quake volunteers how to efficiently implement the projects they are interested in or working on.

I have decided to devote my entire life to this 'matchmaking job' and help rebuild my hometown, despite the tremor destroying my own apartment and leaving my family without a home. I also lost dozens of friends in the quake.

I give all that I have got as a volunteer because of the cries I heard from the children as they died in Jiulong Primary School, which is about 20km away from Deyang city.

The school building collapsed on May 12 last year, killing most of its pupils. Sounds of the children crying under the debris could be heard even on the second and third day after the quake struck, but we could not remove the debris and save them.

My heart still bleeds every time I remember those children crying themselves hoarse in the rubble of the isolated towns within the mountains.

I first got in touch with my friends in Beijing online and sought their help for victims. They sent me money and we formed a wishlist for the victims.

We started buying the items on the list soon after and I packed them into my car. Toys for children, milk powder for babies, medicines and other daily necessities ... we delivered it all to the remote villages that were far from the main roads and extremely difficult to reach.

The HK Pao Education Foundation also donated 500,000 yuan in April to help rebuild a primary school in Deyang.

A Chinese-American, James Jao, brought volunteers from across the world to Deyang's Hongbai Primary School in the mountains, where about 300 kids died in the rubble last year. The volunteers decided to teach the surviving students English as a way to heal the psychological trauma they suffer from the quake.

Similarly, I have helped Lin Qiao, a 7-year-old girl from a penniless family in Deyang's Zhongjiang county. Qiao has leukemia, and has received 50,000 yuan for medical treatment.