深圳学生山村小学体验生活送爱心

Wang Yuanyuan

cheekywang@hotmail.com

Four children will go to a village school in Dongchuan, Yunnan Province, from June 8 to 11 to experience what it is like to live in a rural area with local students.

The children won a charity competition organized by Yum! China on Thursday. The competition encourages young students and children to donate one yuan to buy nutritious food for children in rural area, which are associated with poverty in China.

According to the plan, they will live and study with students at a Xiangbi Primary School in Dongchuan and will bring their stories back to Shenzhen to inspire more students, letting them join in the project to bring food and care to their rural counterparts, said the company.

"The program was organized to mark Children's Day. It is very meaningful to let students celebrate their special day with a charitable activity because it can help raise their awareness of the importance of compassion," said Li Honglin, vice president of Zhuyuan Primary School in Futian District.

Nearly ten students from schools such as Shenzhen Foreign Languages School, Nanshan Foreign Languages School, Lianhua Middle School, Bainikeng Primary School, Nankai School, Tianjian Primary School, Zhuyuan Primary School and Cuizhu Primary School attended the competition.

"I often celebrate the Children's Day with my daughter at stores and parks, but this year I decided to take her to the competition. She likes charitable activities and wants to make important contributions to society. She is now encouraging her classmates to donate one yuan to rural students and wants to launch a similar program at her school," said a mother surnamed Cheng.

The company launched the program in 2008. So far, the company has raised 43.50 million yuan and sent out nearly 12 million meals to primary school students in rural areas of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. More than 8.2 million yuan of this was donated by the company's employees. Since 2010, the company also helped build "charity kitchens" with full kitchen facilities at more than 100 primary schools in mountainous areas.