Henan Volunteers: Cleansing the Soul

According to their motto - “Love, truth, and service to community” - Xingyang Volunteer Federation works to enhance people’s sense of social responsibility through providing them various volunteer opportunities.The office is in Xingyang, Henan province.
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The Beautiful Childhood Activity has reached a successful conclusion. As a new volunteer, I also gained a lot during my time spent eating, sleeping and studying with the children.

• Through this activity, the children’s closed hearts opened up. We have a group of special kids. Because of certain circumstances, their living environments, materialistic conditions, and spiritual life are not as fulfilling as those of other kids. Children grown up in environments like these are self-abased, fearful, shy, and introverted. They are unsure about their future life and learning and about how to plan their life and face challenges. Through this activity, their souls received a thorough cleaning. Many children showed the world their deepest, most protected secrets and pains and were able to free themselves from resentment for the unfair world. They realized their past mistakes and felt much happier, smiles evident on their faces. Seeing the children’s genuine smiles proves to us as volunteers that our hard work has not been in vain.

• Through this activity, the children learned to be grateful. Because of life’s circumstances, many children believe that their parents did not provide a good living and learning environment for them and that the parents don’t care about their growth. The children could not understand or feel their parents’ love and hard work. Through this activity, they realized that there are children of the same age who live in direr conditions; they don’t have care from parents or relatives and often live in broken families, providing for the family from a young age. The children learned that they should be happy about and grateful for their current condition. They also learned how to honor and repay their parents. The children told us, “I will care more for my parents. Although I cannot create a very wealthy life for them, I will try my best to do what I can to let them live happily.” “I hope to attend more events like this in the future to broaden my world view and nurture my mind. No matter what happens in the future, I hope to become a member of Xingze Volunteers soon, so I can do my part in helping more people who need help.” The sincerity of these wishes touches me and motivates me to continue.

• Through this activity, the children got the opportunity to experience the profundity and charm of traditional culture. During this activity, the children studied “Dizigui,” “Yirichanggui,” traditional mannerisms, and other cultural traditions. These activities taught the children how to read good books and live moral lives. The children felt different because they stood and sat straight and acted gracefully. The boys were handsome and upbeat while the girls were elegant and became young ladies. All of them want to have a better image.

• Through this activity, the children learned basic life skills. Volunteer teachers taught them how to organize their rooms. Xingze Volunteers led the children hand-in-hand how to fold clothes. If they don’t master it the first time, they can try again until they master it. When the children all learned basic life skills and morphed the initially messy things into neat piles, they were very surprised because this has never happened before and no one has taught them this before. They thanked the volunteer teachers for teaching them that, through their own hard work, they can change their living environment for the better.
• Through this activity, the children experienced motherly love, which for some of them was a distant memory and which some had never experienced. Just like the children said, “When I called Teacher Song “mother,” I was very excited and happy because I don’t recall ever calling anyone mother. It felt very pleasant and intimate. Xingze Volunteers gave me motherly love and cared for me like my mother. My heart feels filled with love.”
• Through this activity, as a volunteer, I felt a cleansing of my own soul. In my daily life and work, there are always down days and problems; I would even resent an occurrence or a person. Through this learning experience, I was able to elevate myself, drop the ungratefulness and complaints, and be positive towards everyone and everything.
• My biggest takeaway form this activity is finding a bright, loving family. Frankly, before this activity I had contemplated whether or not to participate. Through this event, I got an opportunity to release my love for others. This place is filled with love and positive energy. Every volunteer altruistically gives away their love, an intangible kind of love that cannot be seen but can be felt, a warm, great love. As long as circumstances permit, I will continue on the path of volunteerism and pass on the love. 

Original article written by Fengfang Wuyu, translated and edited by Allison Zhang