Two American bloggers based in southern China's Guangzhou [1] city are gearing up for a year's worth of blogging trips which will take them through all twenty-two provinces in mainland China [2] 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 [3] back in the heavily-industrialized Pearl River Delta [4], where cancer rates run high [5].
Lonnie B. Hodge [6], the elder of the two, US army veteran, past recipient of the National Endowment of the Arts [7] 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 [8] in 2004, supporting not just top blogger [9] and photo contests [10], but also charity initiatives [11] being played out across the country [12], all on top of maintaining a business column [13] and drawing on life experiences (and a PhD [14]) in decoding life as a teacher and business consultant in today's China [15] on everything from cancer [16] to censorship [17] to corruption [18] on campuses [19].
Cancer has been a central topic on OneManBandwidth [8] for the past year as Hodge has followed closely the lives of what he is calling The League of Extraordinary Chinese Women [20], linked by their shared suffering of breast cancer; where once there five, only one [21] is still living today [22]. As those around him continue to pass away [23], Hodge himself does not have long left to go [24].
And thus [25] the inspiration [26] for what Hodge and his Macau University of Science and Technology [27] teaching colleague David DeGeest are calling The Dreamblogue: Traveling China for Charity and Understanding [28].
The first trip will take the pair to Tibet on August 15 and more information will be released shortly [29]. One recent post [30] 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 [31]:
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 [32]:
tdgardens [33]’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 [34]’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 [35]’s Dream:
touring worldwide as a vocalist and pianist