Curt Lindquist, who teaches at Reinhardt College, Georgia, USA, visited the Amity Foundation last summer and, on his return, encouraged his students to do some research of their own into China and Amity. He sent this report:

I had finally reached the Nanjing Amity office. I opened my notebook with my list of questions. Given the opportunity, I excitedly plunged into asking those questions. Immediately, I stopped. Smiling with a soft voice, She Hongyu said. “Let’s get to know each other for a bit before I answer your questions.” With that brief disarming comment, I knew that I would thoroughly enjoy getting to know the Amity staff. My intuition was right!

As a Professor of Religion at Reinhardt College in metro Atlanta, I have had the opportunity to study in China several times. During this June 2009 trip to China, I hoped to learn about the Amity Foundation. And learn I did. She Hongyu, Robert Ji, Yue Yaomeng, Liu Ruhong, Tim Zhou, Vivian Zheng, and Tong Su all helped me understand through hours of discussing as well as introducing me to various sites around Nanjing. Readers of the newsletter and the website are familiar with these sites: the Amity Home of Blessings, the Amity Printing Company, and the Amity Children’s Development Center.

Their dedication toward advancing Amity’s mission was obvious; their pride in contributing to China’s tackling various social problems was well-placed. They enabled me to travel to Sichuan Province and visit Woyun Village. Again, as followers of Amity’s work know, the work there was extremely timely and crucial for the recovery of those villagers. My friends at Amity made one final set of arrangements by enabling me to visit the Hong Kong office. The Hong Kong office, under the extremely capable and impressive leadership of Mr. Anthony Tong, continues to help Amity from fund-raising to coordinating social programs in addressing China’s needs.

As a professor, I kept asking myself: “How can my students benefit from this visit?” In order to show my gratitude, I planned that students in my fall 2009 World Christianity course would research for a month the topic of Christianity in China. Furthermore, they would be responsible for making oral presentations upon various themes. Would my students learn, appreciate, and be impressed by Amity’s work in China?

Since I have finished the course, I realize that my students now have a deep and abiding appreciation for Amity’s work. My young Baptist and Methodist students of north Georgia have learned that while the world is large, there are many individuals and organizations which work for bettering the world in ways that they understand. Some of my students learned about Amity’s founder Bishop Ting; some students investigated the social programs of Amity; others researched the various relationships between the NGO and the government of the People’s Republic of China; others tried to learn about specific individuals associated with Amity.

In all of this, I hope that the hours that Amity individuals spent with me were repaid. I certainly know that a dozen students from Georgia now have a greater appreciation of Amity’s important work. And, just possibly, Amity might have not only made a few more friends, but will have a few more volunteers in the future.