There is a saying in the west, “when life give you lemons, make lemonade,” which basically means to make the best of a bad situation. And that is just what Gabe Carrillo (姓:Carrillo, 名字: Gabe) did when he found himself stuck at home by volunteering to help with Wanke Feicui Tianyu’s nucleic acid testing during Xi’an’s lockdown.
“In my mind, we can’t just sit back and be served. If there is a solution, we must be a part of it, or we want to contribute to it. As a foreigner, I really wanted to give back to the community that has been so welcoming to us. We have lived in China for 11 years, and always felt welcome. The Chinese are great hosts, and this give me a chance to give back to the community.”
Normally, Mr. Carrillo would be volunteering on the premises of Xi’an International School (XIS) as the school’s facilities manager. He keeps busy maintaining the schools many classrooms, facilities, and equipment. Now that he can’t be on campus for the time being, he is turning that sense of serving others to serving his local community. His acts of service didn’t go unnoticed by his neighbors, either.
At XIS, we place a high value on service to our community, and we are glad that Mr. Carrillo is living out that value by helping where he can during these days.
April Carrillo, Mr. Carrillo’s wife, has been working at Xi’an International School since 2010. Mrs. Carrillo teaches high school math (Algebra, AP Calculus BC, Geometry).
XIS’s mission statement states “XIS cultivates excellence through actively engaging and caring for the well-being of our community.” We are proud to see Mr. Carrillo living this out by example.