Ma Dan: Let more Tibetan children go out of the mountains and see the outside world

Yangtze River Daily - Changjiang Network November 24 (reporter Wang Su correspondent Liu Xiaona) "This award is not only my personal honor, but also the honor of teachers aiding Tibet, reflecting our country's advocating labor and dedication. On November 24, the National Commendation Conference for Model Workers and Advanced Workers was solemnly held in the Great Hall of the People, and Ma Dan, a teacher in Wuhan who aided Tibet, won the title of "National Advanced Worker".

(Madan. Photo courtesy of me)

Ma Dan, 47, is an art teacher at the Wuhan Tourism School. In August 2016, as one of the first batch of educational talents in our province to help Tibet, she came to Shannan No. 1 Middle School in Tibet and Donghui Middle School in Shannan City as a music teacher.

"To be honest, when I first came here, the psychological gap was very large. The water and power outages were harsh, and altitude sickness made me unable to adapt, and I once fainted in my dormitory. Ma Dan said that the first month before coming to Shannan was crying, but seeing the children's bright smiling faces and desire to learn, she had the courage to continue to persevere, "No matter how hard and tired, lack of oxygen can not lack of spirit." "She overcame her physical discomfort and missed her hometown, rooted in the snowy plateau, worked hard and selflessly.

Originally, she could return to Han to work after the expiration of three years of aid to Tibet in 2019, but Ma Dan offered to stay for another three years, and this year is her fourth year of aid to Tibet. "Here, no matter where the school is, whenever the children see me, they will kindly shout 'Gera' (Tibetan: teacher) or 'Agha' (Tibetan: sister)." She proudly introduced that she and the children get along like a family day and night, and after school, they also herd cattle and sheep with the children.

In the context of the transformation of test-oriented education to quality education, Ma Dan did not focus too much on children's achievements, but paid more attention to stimulating students' interest in learning, tapping children's potential, and guiding students to develop in an all-round way.

"In teaching, I combined modern hip-hop dance with traditional Tibetan dance forms, choreographed a unique set of Tibetan cheerleading, and set up the first student cheerleading team on the snowy plateau. In 2018, under the leadership of Ma Dan, the children of this group of Tibetan herders stepped out of the plateau for the first time and came to Rizhao, Shandong Province, to participate in the National Cheerleading League, and won the champion of the flower ball cheerleading project and the runner-up of the street dance cheerleading project respectively.

In the years of education assistance to Tibet, Ma Dan has made a lot of practice in adhering to the party's leadership, safeguarding the reunification of the motherland, and promoting ethnic unity, and her collective has been rated as the "advanced collective of national unity" in Shannan, and she has also been named a national model teacher, an advanced individual of national unity and progress in Hubei Province, and the title of "the most beautiful teacher aiding Tibet" in Tibet.

"Coming to Tibet to teach and educate people is a glorious mission. I want to be a good messenger of national unity, continue to uphold the matter of aiding Tibet, and let more Tibetan farmers and herdsmen children go out of the mountains and see the outside world. "Madan has a dream and is incredibly determined.

【Editor: He Equation】