Labor of Love

Feeling her way carefully down the long, dark pathway of a bicycle shed in Shijingshan Districts Laoshan Community, 72-year-old Yu Shuhua reaches a small room. Its a chilly winters day in Beijing, and at 4 p.m. the afternoon light is dwindling. Luo Meiqi, the 12-year-old daughter of a migrant worker who runs the shed and also calls it home, is waiting inside. Yu, a retired college teacher-come-volunteer, tutors little Luo every day after school.

“I first met Luos children on a summer day in 2008 when they were doing their homework in front of the shed. I spotted some incorrectly written Chinese characters in their exercise books and helped the children to fix them. They began to ask me questions,” Yu told China Today.

Many migrant workers children dont perform well academically when they first move to Beijing due to differing textbooks and lackluster teaching in their hometowns.

Yu is a member of the Laoshan community-based volunteer education help team that targets children with academic problems or who are in need of psychological help. Most of the children come from poor or unhappy families. This volunteer group currently consists of nine retired teachers from the community, and has provided free educational help to disadvantaged children for 11 years.

Luo Meiqi parents and her two brothers bunk together in the room. Meiqi lives alone in a small detached shack in order to have a quiet environment for studying.

In Luos room, there are two chairs, a bed and a desk. As there is no heater, the room is cold in winter, and wind whistles in through the tiny cracks in the brickwork. “In winter, my feet are numb with cold after an hour sitting at the desk, “ Yu said.

Luo Meiqi waits in eager anticipation for Yus daily arrival. She counts on Yu not only in academic matters but also to share vexations and annoyances from school. “Granny Yu is very patient. She spent several days just correcting my pronunciation,”Luo Meiqi said.

Luo came to Beijing in 2008 from Henan Province and its still possible to detect her regional accent. She has improved immeasurably since Yu began to help her in early 2009. “I like to share my worries and feelings with Granny Yu. She always comforts and encourages me, and helps me find solutions to any problems,” Luo said.

“I love these children. Their progress in school and happy laughter are the best reward for me,” Yu said. She especially enjoys the feeling of intimacy between her and the children, who accept her as “granny” and close friend as well. She says getting to see Luo and other children grow and prosper makes it well worth the hours she puts in volunteering. She is a happy woman.

Helping the helpless

The volunteer team was founded in 2001, first as a juvenile education theory research group of five retired teachers. It was initiated by Peng Shizhi, a retired cadre from the Laoshan Subdistrict Office who had been responsible for juvenile education in the community during his government career. At first, they only provided educational guidance to parents in the community. While visiting local households, however, they witnessed the appalling conditions in which some of the less fortunate children lived and studied, and decided there and then to provide educational help to those in need.

Most of the target children live in families with domestic problems. Some have divorced, disabled or drug-using parents, while others suffer from domestic violence. Such disadvantages in their family lives make many of these children unsociable, irritable, or loathe to study. Some run away from home and take to lives of crime.

Xie Yun, 83, is a volunteer teacher with the team. She vividly remembers when she first visited the household of Ma Wei(pseudonym) about 10 years ago. “I knocked on the door several times, and it opened. But I couldnt see anyone. Suddenly a voice came from below: “Hello, please come in.”“A middle-aged disabled man was sitting on a mat beside the door. He couldnt walk, and shuffled his way inch by inch across the floor,” Xie recalled. Ma moved over and poured a small cup of hot water for Xie, expressing his gratitude for the volunteers concerns for his child. “He told me: ‘I want to help my child, but I cant do it all by myself. My eyes welled with tears,” Xie told an interviewer from CCTV. That moment steeled her resolve to devote her retirement to helping children in need.

Before joining the volunteer team, Yu Shuhua tutored a boy with divorced parents free of charge. “To improve his writing, I asked him to jot down what he wanted to say in a notebook, and wrote style comments below his writings. One day I found he had written: ‘I dont know whether I should live or die when writing about his parents relationship,” Yu said. The inner sorrow conveyed by the words astounded Yu, and reminded her of a study by an American psychologist finding that the harm imposed on a child by divorce is second only to death.

“Some children need help, so people need to extend helping hands,” Yu said.

No child left behind

With more volunteer teachers trickling in, the team has expanded to nine members. In 11 years of service, theyve tutored and guided 68 disadvantaged children through difficult years. Most of those they have helped have entered colleges or vocational schools. The teams guiding principle is that no child should be left behind in receiving an all-important education.

They usually tutor at the childrens homes to save the children time and ensure effective communication with parents. Sometimes they take children to their own apartments for tutoring if the living environment in the childrens homes is not conducive to study.

Apart from providing academic guidance, the volunteer teachers also try their best to instill in children a healthy and optimistic attitude towards life.

Ten years ago, Zhang Li(pseudonym) was a shy and introverted girl. Her parents divorced and her family lived on the government subsistence allowance. Zhang began to stammer when she was in primary school, which made her even more reluctant to participate in class discussions for fear of becoming a laughingstock. Xie helped her by teaching her to read texts sentence by sentence, sometimes with the help of interesting games.

When Zhang made a little progress, Xie would lavish her with compliments and encouragement. Zhangs willingness to speak was greatly enhanced. After months of exercises, Zhang lost her stammer. Whenever there was a gathering or party held by the volunteer team for its students, Xie always encouraged Zhang to give a speech or a performance. Gradually Zhang became more active. Today, 17-year-old Zhang is a confident leader at the Beijing Foreign Trade School student union.

Spreading the spirit

“Their volunteer work ethic has exerted great influence on nearby communities,” said Zhang Yanling, director of the education and culture section of the Laoshan Sub-district Office. More and more retired residents have begun to show an interest in joining the volunteer team. “One 90-year-old resident who cant join in the teams activities for health reasons has been donating money to the team for years. He makes contributions in his own way,” Zhang said.

Due to media coverage of the team, some students from colleges and high schools around Beijing began to contact the team, hoping to join.

“But its not easy to find suitable and qualified volunteers. Many people join but soon quit, exhausted by the tiring and demanding workload,” said Shao Yupei, head of the team. His team has high requirements for volunteer teachers, and looks for passionate, optimistic candidates with rich teaching experience.

As of now, the average age of teachers in the team is 70. Its imperative to recruit new members, and they are busy finding and training volunteer students from the North China University of Technology, the nearest university to the community.

Inspired by the volunteer team in Laoshan community, many communities in Shijingshan District have followed suit and established volunteer teams of their own. The local government has even introduced a program called “big hands holding small hands,” which tries to build an education bridge between schools and communities. Schools provide lists of students in need, and community service centers are responsible for finding volunteers to offer tutoring help. Shao and his volunteer team are modest about their achievements. “Were greatly honored by accolades, approvals and support from the government and people from all walks of life. Recognition of our efforts encourages us to carry the volunteer spirit forward. Were really happy that we can be useful and valuable to the society in our old age.”