So later on in the year when I and my crew went to China to film, I arranged to visit this 85-year-old man in his south China village -Kaiping-bringing along a picture of the tombstone in Madera. The man and his wife were overwhelmed. We asked for a gathering of his family on the occasion of the upcoming Chinese New Year celebration, and they all came: the three generations of elderly son, his wife, their three daughters and a son, and two grandchildren.

The picture of the Madera patriarch of this large brood was on the wall; a father the elderly son had not seen since he was nine years old. The old man said, "I begged and begged my father to take me with him to America but he wouldn't take me," and started to cry.

We explained about how the schoolchildren in Madera had uncovered all this history, and the 11-year-old great granddaughter looked ready to cry. Asked why, she explained: "I have seen my great grandfather's picture on the wall all these years, but it was only a picture, I always wanted to meet the real man. I knew he sent money from America to my great grandmother to build this house.Now you have come from America to tell us about the children in California, and I am very grateful to them."

It was a gift returned from Madera, California to Kaiping, China. The children of Madera were deeply moved by the footage they saw of the family and the fine house they lived in: " I expected it to be more like a shack. But that was a very nice house... That little grandson, you could see how he was following every little thing that was said. He craned his neck around to be sure he didn’t miss out on anything... the son may be in his 80s, but he looks a lot younger than my Uncle who’s only in his 60s..." The Madera students were overjoyed to meet the family, and knowing that their work made it possible.

The following reflections occurred to me with regards to the Madera story as it developed:

• It is typical that an Asian American story did not already exist as a narrative, but required the digging, recovery, gathering and analysis of primary documents; and interweaving of information not commonly known, as well as attention to bridging cultural differences. The children acted as the historians, who cared enough to keep working until they "got it right"; they were guided by inspired teachers; who believed them capable of doing rigorous research and having it count in the "real world"

• The meaning of the findings are grounded in human relationship; the children were able to emotionally care about the men they studied, and crossed over differences in time, race, language, age, and culture.

•In the end the children affected the grownups around them: the adults learned about acting from conscience; the land they researched was officially declared a historic site and therefore protected in perpetuity; another local history group was inspired to create a handsome monument of polished granite, explaining in English and Chinese that this was once the site of the cemetery of the Chinese community of Borden.

The children were themselves transformed by what they did, and what they learned.