Han Ximin, Li Jianqiang

    LONGGANG Mountaineering and Sports Association organized eight volunteers to spend Spring Festival holidays with “left-behind” children in Ningdu, Jiangxi Province, about 700 kilometers from Shenzhen.

    The children were called “left behind” because one or both of their parents work far from home. The children usually are taken care of by grandparents or other relatives.

    To brighten the children’s holidays, volunteers brought English learning devices, books, badminton equipment and stationeries, and organized hiking trips.

    Caring for these children is a regular program of the association, which has organized such trips in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Meizhou in Guangdong Province. The program was named one of the top 10 programs of social organizations in Longgang District last year.

    In the most recent trip, volunteers visited the family of Zou Rongsheng, a 37-year-old migrant worker who had missed holiday reunions with families for two Spring Festivals.

    Zou had earned a little money, which he sent back to his parents and his 11-year-old son, Zou Yu, for schooling.

    But to save costs, Zou Rongsheng had to spend this New Year in Longgang, again away from his home.

    The volunteers arrived at little Zou Yu’s home on the third day of the Lunar New Year, in Anfu Village, about one hour’s drive from Ningdu County.

    Zou Yu, a sixth-grader, has been under the care of his grandparents since his parents divorced. After the lengthy separation from his parents, Zou seemed a bit introverted and shy, lacking confidence when talking with visitors. Zou had been using a plastic bag as a school bag and was very excited when the volunteers handed him New Year’s gifts: an English learning device, a brand-new school bag, books and stationeries.