2020-May-29

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A Good Book Can Change Your Life

BY XIUFAN (LUCY) GUO · MANAGER OF RENEWALS, CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE · CHINA

When I was young, I spent a lot of time reading. I was self-conscious about my speaking abilities and had a hard time articulating my thoughts. I always had the sense — even when I was very young — that I ought to be somewhere else.

I grew up in a small town, so I wandered the world through books I received from parents, friends, neighbors, and my town’s mini library.

It was through books that I went to Victorian England, Russia, the mountains, and the sea. They seemed like places I had lived, visited, and would visit again, along with all the people in them. Reading made me eager to see the whole world.

Reading Changed My Life

I believe reading is an excellent way to help stimulate kids’ interests, improve their learning skills, and help them see the world differently.

When I started reading more, I began to question everything in my life.

I became a thinker. My vocabulary and writing skills expanded tremendously. Because of this, I grew more knowledgeable in my field, and today I can lead my team confidently.

I read so I can become a better version of myself daily. And working on myself has made me a better mom, wife, sister, daughter, friend, and businesswoman.

I’ve always wanted to share the joy and benefits of reading with others.

Taking My Passion to Schools

Seven years ago, I received an email from the Cisco China CSR team to recruit volunteers to work with the Green & Shine Foundation for giving back activities.

Cisco volunteers teaching in a mini library that they helped build.

Green & Shine focuses on rural education in China through reading programs. They share my belief that reading changes lives, so I raised my hand to volunteer.

The Foundation actively sponsors cooperative, voluntary, and sustainable charity programs, such as donating mini libraries, holding science camps every summer, and providing teacher training programs.

I’ve been a member of the Green & Shine Foundation since I first volunteered seven years ago, and I’ve been able to organize many charity activities with Cisco volunteers since.

Transforming the Reading Landscape

I built a volunteer team in Cisco Beijing to organize giving back activities. So many Cisco colleagues I’ve met have a passion to join in and give together.

A mini library in a rural school of Ningxia Province that Lucy and Cisco volunteers supported.

We organized employees in Greater China to donate four mini libraries with 8,000 new books to rural schools. Then we held summer camps for their students and recruited Cisco volunteers to join in the classes.

We designed a series of age-appropriate classes and activities for the students, including lots of fun games, kids’ music, and simple dancing. The lectures we held were to teach learning skills and to share experiences with the students and their parents. The kids influenced me and the other volunteers more than we did them.

Bringing Cisco to Rural Schools

We discovered that teachers in rural schools need more support, like upgraded laptop notebooks and training to organize their classes.

In China, my volunteer team got connected to donate a Cisco Webex account to Green & Shine, as well as 100 second-hand laptops with Webex installed for teachers. Now the Foundation can leverage Webex to deliver many trainings to teachers in these schools.

Cisco China volunteers working at a rural school.

During our visits, we saw schools’ mini libraries were in need of a refresh of more books. My volunteer team had a great idea and organized a second-hand book drive across all Cisco China offices.

We recruited more than 30 volunteers to collect over 1,900 donated books in five business days. All of these books were sent to rural schools.

Through the giving back activities with Green & Shine Foundation, my volunteer team was the bridge between thousands of kids in rural primary schools in Western China and Cisco China employees.

Small Actions Make a Big Impact

As a member of the Cisco community, our natural inclination is to give back. The mini libraries, the summer camps, and all of the activities with Green & Shine are truly my volunteer team’s work, along with all the donations from Cisco China employees.

I’m particularly passionate about children’s education because there are so many children in China who need support.

Don’t pass on opportunities to do good, no matter how insignificant it might look.

Lucy joined Cisco as an Enterprise Inside Salesperson in 1999. She’s now a Manager of Renewals in Customer Experience at our Beijing office. Giving back is a way of life for Lucy, and that helping others is indeed helping ourselves.