Longwan Caring Home: Children from Mountainous Areas

Beer bottles in the basket. People drink a lot.

Longwan Caring Home is located in Dahua County, which was listed as one of the poorest counties in Guangxi Province. Longwan Caring Home is a big family consisting of orphans, single parents, and abandoned children. The normal expense of the Home is sustained by plantation, breeding, and small business.

Children from Longwan are growing up every year and our caring services are also getting better every year. Every activity helps us learn more about them. We call these people our mountain people, because there are so many that come from the mountains to receive care. 

During the 2014 Chinese New Year holiday, 7 children visited the mountains with a guide, teachers and volunteers. 

Walking to Nongwei village, we saw a child carrying a big basket on his back. There were beer bottles in the basket. We inferred that mountain people drink a lot. 

Though it was cold, children living in the mountains live happily, but tenaciously. The children were playing and chasing each other around and growing up naturally. This is a big difference between the children living in the mountains and those living in the cities.

Though they are poor, they still preserve the traditions of celebrating Lunar New Year. They had hopes and prayers, expecting a good harvest in the coming year. People living in the mountains have steady belief. They keep working throughout their lives. There are many old men who are nearing 70 but are still as strong as ever.   

We visited Meng Jinchun’s family. She was feeling better after suffering from a sickness. She was cooking. She said she would be livelier if she had not been sick. In the mountains, children often expose their wild sides. They love to climb mountains and trees. 

Meng Guanyuan and Meng Guangui lost their father when they were quite young. Their mother left the children and got remarried, so they do not have a good relationship. We visited their mother and their mother had 3 children after she remarried. Her current husband drinks a lot. With tears in her eyes, she explained to us why she left the children all those years ago. 

Original Article Written by Banai Hua, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang

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Mother Nature gives them happiness

The old man is 70, but he is as strong as he used to be