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Mingda School is in Xiji County, Ningxia province and pays attention to rural education in northwest of China, in particular English education. The School provides a relaxing and healthy education environment for the left-behind children living in rural areas. I felt somewhat worried about beginning this topic. I was planning to teach the students about puberty. When I talked about it with the volunteers, they blushed. They asked me why we should talk about this subject with the children in remote areas. Why not? Why can't children in the remote areas accept such basic education? I remembered when I was a middle school student, our teacher asked us to read books about puberty. But most of the students would only do the required homework, chat, or play, so I did not receive any education about puberty when I was a teenager. When I finally reached university, I found I had missed out on knowledge that I should have gained in middle school by reading those books. Though the mountainous areas tend to have more conservative thoughts, we still hope our children can gain knowledge that is appropriate for their age. We should not avoid this important topic. Though it was a lecture, the content was related to physical health. The volunteers attended this lecture with the students. They were told to speak freely, using words that they were normally too shy to speak. The children realized that there was nothing to be worried about. Original article written by Fangding Zhang, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Vanne He
Xi’an Alliance works to promote a spirit of volunteerism. Many student volunteers are trained to participate in public welfare activities and social work. The main office is in Xi’an, China. On August 15, 2013, a volunteer team made up of 6 members from Shanxi 029 Public Welfare Service Center visited a special family with 15 members in Mapaoquan village. This family is defined by the government as 'stricken', which means their family includes members that are mentally challenged, disabled, widowed or left-behind. They have not been educated. We have been calling for loving people to care and help the family and help us bring them daily necessities. There are 3 elderly people living with three of their sons and 2 daughters-in-law. One of the sons and his wife work in the city, leaving their children at home. The eldest son has 6 children, of which the eldest daughter is 21 and mentally challenged. Her name is Nini, and she loves to smile, but we did not meet her on the day we visited the family. The second child is a boy. His name is Li Tongtong and is 19 years old. He is also mentally challenged and does not like talking. The third child is 13 and in Grade 5. He worked hard in school, but had to leave because the family did not have enough money to support his education. The 4th child is 6 and lovely. He is currently going to school, but the family cannot afford to continue his education. The 5th child is a girl, who is 3. The 6th child is 1 year old and does not have a name yet. It was hot outside, so the volunteers helped to wash the children and feed them, in addition to cleaning a minor wound on one of the children. Original article written by Bin Kong, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Vanne He
Last week, I had the privilege to coordinate a music camp for young students at my house, with the help of my friends. On Monday morning at 9:30am, 9 mini musicians arrived - five pianists, three violinists, and one cellist. The morning flew by as we proceeded to fill the time with private music lessons, duet time, composer stories, snacks, and games. The first day was slightly hectic as none of us were entirely sure of what we were doing, but with each passing day, it became easier to manage the students and transition from one activity to the next.
Overall, the camp was a success! The students each told me they had thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of the camp, and we raised $1200 through camp tuition. All of it will go to Sahaya International: $1000 for constructing a house and the remaining $200 for 2 education scholarships. Article by Lauren Kam Xi'an Alliance works to promote a spirit of volunteerism. Many student volunteers are trained to participate in public welfare activities and social work. At 8:02 on April 20, 2013, a 7-magnitude earthquake hit Ya’an of Sichuan Province. On April 24, 2013, Shanxi 029 Public Welfare Service Center set off to the stricken areas with relief materials. On April 26, 2013, we met a few families in Tianquan County. They did not have any tents for 7 days, because they were not local or from villages. Their 2 sons went to stricken areas, and they had to stay with their grandson and daughter-in-law.   The old man said this was the nicest meal he had had since the quake. The Guizhou Dandelion Volunteer Teaching Center provides a professional platform for public welfare, attracting greater resources to poverty-stricken areas, improving education, and allowing more children from rural areas to receive care. In April, our visits to volunteer teaching sites are ongoing. We hope all the children are healthy and growing. The following pictures show our visits:
Original article written by Guojing Qi, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang
Little Red Scarf provides financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, they provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle He was lying in the bed the first time we saw Fuchao. He is 17, and his face looked dark. A big pair of eyes were bloodshot. We knew he was seriously ill. According to his father, he had pneumonia when he was a baby, and his face turned purple. His parents knew something was wrong with his heart, but their family was too poor to afford the medical treatment. Fuchao could ride a bike when he was in the primary school, but he was unable to ride the bike when he grew up due to the lack of oxygen. The school is far away from his home, his mother suffers from mental problem and his father works in the city, so he had to drop out from school and help with some house chores. Unfortunately, he got a cerebral hemorrhage when he was 16. With a timely rescue, he survived, but left the family with heavy debts. Fuchao needed another surgery to repair his skull defect, but the family did not have any money for it.  Mianzhu Heart-to-Heart Charity Team was established in May of 2009. It is a NGO working with students from poverty-stricken families. 
Rainbow Village Help Center is a TFish Strategic Member. It was established for the purpose of giving glasses to impoverished children. Qujing Special Education School is under construction, but we still feel its warmth. The school lacks water due to droughts. The water supply lasts only 2-3 hours a day. There are 53 blind students and 403 deaf-mute students in the school, which covers primary, secondary and vocational education. There are 21 students in the class for the blind. 13 of them are low vision, not totally blind. Their vision got worse when they were growing up because they did not receive any treatment or correction.  Liu Hailin is 11, and he is in the class for the blind. His grandmother, father and uncle all have low vision. His eyes have not received any treatment or examination so far. The smiling girl is Liu Fuyuan. She lived in a remote village when she was a child. Her eyes inflamed, and her father used hydrogen peroxide to treat the inflammation, which caused the loss of function for the corneas. She became blind. Such cases are not rare in special education schools.
Mianzhu Heart-to-Heart Charity Team is a non-governmental organization working with students from poverty-stricken families. At 8:02 on April 20, a 7-magnitude earthquake hit Lushan county of Ya’an city. Hundreds of people were killed by the quake. To better cooperate with the relief work at quake-hit area, Peng Jie and other 4 volunteers from Mianzhu Heart-to-Heart Volunteer Team arrived at Ya’an. Peng Jie sold his camera and contributed the money to the relief fund. He flew from Tianjin to Chengdu directly and hurried off to Ya’an. The other 4 volunteers arrived at Ya’an on the 21st. The relief work at the moment was transiting from search-and-rescue to settlement. Peng Jie and volunteers started to distribute supplies at 3:00, April 22. At 9:00, Peng Jie and volunteers went to Shuanshi town, a more severely hit area, but they were asked to evacuate due to the mudslide. They will get in the town again when the road has been cleared. Delays for the professional relief team to arrive at the spot and the shortage of psychological comfort for the disaster-hit people are the problems at the quake-hit area. Peng Jie and his team accumulated much experience in medical relief and psychological counseling, so Heart-to-Heart Team responded immediately in these aspects. The team planned to provide voluntary services in Shuanshi town for 10 days. The roads are blocked so supplies cannot reach the spot on time. Now they had to pay all charges including communication, transportation, food and some basic relief equipment. They need about 5500 yuan. TFish remitted 6892 RMB ($1130) of relief fund to Mianzhu Heart-to-Heart on April 23.
The Jingjieniao Home provides services for the mentally handicapped from poverty-stricken families. The organization is dedicated to improving their spirit and living standards and advocating for every disabled individual to have adequate access to social resources Volunteers from the International Organization of Pediatric Dentistry visited the Home to check the teeth of the children here. They taught them how to maintain oral health. It was the first time many of the children saw a dentist. Thank you volunteers! Original article written by Zhaohao Feng, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang
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