Two American bloggers based in southern China's Guangzhou city are gearing up for a year's worth of blogging trips which will take them through all twenty-two provinces in mainland China and see them raising funds for charities, offering scholarships for Chinese students to go study in the West as well as raising funds to cover medical costs for people struggling with cancer back in the heavily-industrialized Pearl River Delta, where cancer rates run high.
Lonnie B. Hodge, the elder of the two, US army veteran, past recipient of the National Endowment of the Arts and resident of Asia for nearly two decades, has played a very active role in China's English-language blogging community since he started OneManBandwidth in 2004, supporting not just top blogger and photo contests, but also charity initiatives being played out across the country, all on top of maintaining a business column and drawing on life experiences (and a PhD) in decoding life as a teacher and business consultant in today's China on everything from cancer to censorship to corruption on campuses.
Cancer has been a central topic on OneManBandwidth for the past year as Hodge has followed closely the lives of what he is calling The League of Extraordinary Chinese Women, linked by their shared suffering of breast cancer; one is still living today. As those around him continue to pass away, Hodge himself does not have long left to go.
And thus the inspiration for what Hodge and his Macau University of Science and Technology teaching colleague David DeGeest are calling The Dreamblogue: Traveling China for Charity and Understanding.
The first trip will take the pair to Tibet on August 15 and more information will be released shortly. One recent post looks at the Asia Library Project initiative mentioned in the short video, taken in Guangzhou this past week, below:
Hodge and DeGeest's first step toward making people's dreams come true has been to invite readers to share them on The Dreamblogue:
Dreamblogue readers and corporate sponsors are already helping fulfill some of the dreams posted here. For how you can help us visit our help page and continue to follow our adventures in China. All ad revenue will from this site benefits Chinese and American individuals with dreams deferred by health, or social circumstances.
And several have already come in:
tdgardens’s dream:
That every child have a book to hug, hold, and carry them to a dream all their own.hailvict’s dream:
To become someone who makes a difference every day of their life.mmhalim’s dream:
travell to china i cannot imagine what is the great system that can organize all this people and in the same time they are be one of the great country in the worldTaitai’s Dream:
My main dream right now is that the lumps found in my mother-in-law’s lung are benign. That would be lovely, thank you.kevin’s dream:
I hope the project of “Blog of dreams” will be successful.Roxi Copland’s Dream:
touring worldwide as a vocalist and pianist
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[...] but the Dreamblogue seems to be finding it’s feet. They’ve even made it onto Global Voices, which should hopefully bring them some much-needed traffic (more traffic=higher advertising [...]
I think what Lonnie and David are doing is great. Just wondering whether they will be bringing Chinese locals on the trip with them? Or if any Chinese citizens themselves have attempted to do something like this? Sometimes, it’s hard to make a real difference as an outsider, especially if these charity trips are brief–who is going to sustain these dream projects once Lonnie and David jet-set to their next destination?
[...] China: To blog to dream Global Voices Online July 29, 2007 Two American bloggers based in southern China’s Guangzhou city are gearing up for a year’s worth of blogging trips which will take them through all twenty-two provinces in mainland China and see them raising funds for charities, offering scholarships for Chinese students to go study in the West as well as raising funds to cover medical costs for people struggling with cancer back in the heavily-industrialized Pearl River Delta, where cancer rates run high. [...]
I am here for the duration….This is my lat stop on the expat railway….David may be headed for graduate school next year (maybe HERE), but with a new language and perspective to take with him…
And one of the groups that will benefit from the adventure, The Library Project, is relocating to China and its director, Thomas Stader, is going full-time with the building of libraries in orpahages and rural villages…..
We have been planning this for about a year now and just pulling together all the last pieces….We met today with 9 student volunteers who have helped us shape the final thrust of the site…changes will be more evident by week’s end…
Thanks to John and everyone who has believed this cold really happen…
LBH