The “Lancang-Mekong Youth Volunteers” project was officially launched in 2019 with the support of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. More than 60 postgraduate students and graduate students from Peking University signed up for the program. According to the schedule, these students, divided into four groups and with 1 to 2 lead teachers in each group, went to Sing Buri of Thailand, Samraong Town of Cambodia, Vientiane of Laos, and Hua Hin of Thailand, for volunteer teaching and exchange activities from July to August 2019.In fact, most of the teachers and students felt anxious before departure. Since it was their first time volunteering in other countries, there was basically no relevant experience for reference. For us, Southeast Asia is a foreign region whose social culture and customs are different from those of China. Moreover, the majority of us do not understand the local language. It was an extremely short-time stay, with less than two weeks. In short, we understood that there would be many difficulties and problems in our volunteer work. Therefore, we did not set overly high targets before we set off. The most important thing about the trip, in our view, was that we made some achievements, which would provide lessons for volunteer teaching in the future.However, when we got there, the hospitality of the local children quickly dispelled our anxiety. At first, the children were still shy. But after we got along for some time, they were fully accustomed to learning. We found that they were very smart and showed a strong desire for learning. Throughout the process of volunteer teaching, the children were very active in communicating with us. We also sensed their innocence and kindness as they often offered us help and support of various kinds. So the teaching went very smoothly.In the local area, our top priority was to teach primary school students and communicate with university personnel. The volunteers worked successively in three local primary schools, teaching English, painting, sports, and other subjects.In advance, we had made preparations for the teaching of English. We had drawn up a detailed teaching plan and printed some pictures for teaching. In class, we taught the children everyday English vocabulary and common English greetings. Volunteers also came up with many new teaching models. For example, they showed the children English vocabulary with pictures to help them learn English. The kids enjoyed it very much. Our volunteers also played some English songs and videos to the children on the laptop and learned to sing to the beat with them. Sometimes, we also tried to teach them some short English sentences while we were playing games. By learning through play, our English teaching went smoothly.Before we set off, we had also made a teaching plan for the painting course. After we arrived in the local area, we quickly purchased a batch of colored pens, paper, and fans for painting. These are all essential teaching tools for the painting class. We taught them how to draw local plants, animals, as well as the techniques of mix colors and painting. We also prepared a piece of large cardboard. After the children finished painting, we asked them to paste their works on the cardboard for an exhibition and jointly select the best painting.PE class is perhaps the most interesting part of the curriculum. On the green school playground, the children were very much alive. They cheerfully asked us what kind of sports we would teach them. According to the previous teaching plan, we would offer some interesting sports activities, such as gymnastics and boxing. They were very happy and especially curious about some techniques of Chinese boxing. The children’s laughter made our volunteers especially gratified and excited.It was in the process of teaching and learning that volunteers and children unconsciously strengthened their friendship and intimacy. Although most of the time we could only rely on translation apps for communication, we got closer to each other very quickly. Volunteers became one with the children, and the atmosphere is getting more and more friendly. Many interesting and touching things happened.Many kids were very interested in Chinese. They would ask the volunteers to teach them Chinese greetings and give them Chinese names. They said that only in this way did they feel closer to the volunteers. The volunteers often saw them humming English songs they had learned in class. I once heard from a classmate that two brothers and our volunteer could not communicate due to the language barrier in a school of Sing Buri. As a result, they often took the volunteers to their favorite place on campus and told them that the location was the best angle to appreciate the beautiful scenery nearby. There was also a child who gave a small bag of clear glass marbles to the volunteers so that they could play together. Some children were especially curious about the cameras held by volunteers because they lived in the countryside where the living conditions were poor. They would make a camera gesture and ask volunteers to take pictures of them. Some also showed the volunteers how to climb trees. One kid showed the volunteers his handmade plane and demonstrated how to use it. In the PE class, some children also performed Thai boxing. In their break time, they would teach volunteers to sing local folk songs.They were grateful to the volunteers for their hard work. In the Vientiane volunteer group, on the day of departure at the end of the course, the kids performed the artistic programs designed by themselves. In the Hua Hin group, the children often brought locally-made bottled drinking water to the volunteers during their spare time. When we said thank you to them, they would smile happily and perform the “Wai”. In the Samraong group, every day when the volunteers walked into the campus, the kids would bow and perform the “Sampeah” even the volunteers were in the distance. On the day when the volunteers were leaving, the kids even ran with the car and cried, “I love you, I love you”. Until now, these heart-warming scenes were still in the mind of our volunteers.Due to limited space, many stories cannot be covered. To sum up, I think volunteer teaching has sowed the seeds of friendship in the hearts of children in Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. I believe it will become our common memory.In addition to teaching in primary schools, we also visited a local university and had exchanges with the teachers and students. A teacher in charge gave us a general introduction to the current teaching of the university, and we briefly talked about the progress of our volunteer teaching. She was extremely enthusiastic and showed us all the facilities on campus at the end of our visit.Also, we motivated our volunteer students to participate in other social activities such as community service, environmental protection, and social research. Elephant protection was the most unforgettable experience. It was very difficult for students from Chinese cities to see elephants up close. Therefore, when having the chance to stand at the side of elephants, they were all thrilled. Elephant keepers instructed them on how to feed and wash these giant animals. In this process, the volunteers felt the intimacy of animals. I thought this would help to raise their awareness of animal protection.And we had learned much from social research activities. We have sensed the different life aspects of people living in Lancang-Mekong countries. Here, the roads are clean, and even in night markets, there is no litter on the ground. These people have a colorful life and various ways of entertainment. And their careful protection of the ancient cultural tradition was highly admirable. In contact with them, we were impressed by their honesty and sincerity. I think this is all worth learning for us Chinese.This is the general situation of the “Lancang-Mekong Youth Volunteers” program. On the whole, it meant a lot to us. At present, China is promoting infrastructure construction projects centered on the Belt and Road Initiative, of which “people-to-people connectivity” is an essential part. However, exchanges between China and local communities and people in Southeast Asia are limited. Therefore, many people may misunderstand China. I believe we can expand the non-governmental exchanges between China and Southeast Asian countries through a series of exchange activities as represented by the “Lancang-Mekong Youth Volunteers” program to remove misunderstanding and build up a friendship. For this reason, the volunteering teaching activities are crucial to the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative projects. We hope that in the future, more and more young Chinese volunteers will volunteer in the Lancang-Mekong region to enhance people-to-people connectivity between China and countries in this region. Finally, I sincerely wish for long-lasting friendly relations between China and the countries in the Lancang-Mekong region.