"Keep" your life, "Guard" your home
【Example 1】
A "disaster" more terrifying than an earthquake
At the end of May 2008, after the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan, many volunteers crossed the mountains and ridges to enter the disaster relief site, including Teacher Chen's team. After helping and accompanying the victims through the hardships of the first few years, she found herself facing another "disaster" that was more terrifying than the earthquake: the mountains and plains were filled with "left-behind children" who had been separated from their parents for a long time.
These children living among the green mountains and green waters should have a clearer and brighter sky than children in the city. But now they are like migratory birds that have fallen on the way, trapped in the deserted mountains, eagerly looking forward to the return of their parents, and feeling nowhere in their hearts. The longing thrown in and the dense loneliness are like the lingering haze, blocking the view to the future.
According to the 2014 China Youth Research Center's "National Rural Left-behind Children's Situation Survey": 51.7% of left-behind children's parents go out to work, 40.2% of fathers go out, 8.1% of mothers go out, and nearly half of the parents (49.6%) and mothers (42.2% ) left home to work before their children were six years old.
Among the more than 60 million left-behind children, 46.5% have been left behind for more than two years and 32% have been left behind for more than five years. 49.2% left-behind children had accidents in the past year, and 18.6% teenage sexual assault cases occurred in left-behind families.
The most vulnerable people in China right now
Parents of left-behind children move away from home to make a living and cannot take their children with them, but they cannot leave their jobs. In this contradiction between "can't take them out" and "can't go back", left-behind children can only endure the cruel fact of being separated from their children and become institutional orphans, experiencing great physical and spiritual challenges. There are too many sad stories about left-behind children:
Example 1: Lin Jiewan and his wife from Boluo, Huizhou, Guangdong have been working in Shenzhen for many years. Within seven years, the eldest daughter Lin Wenting was disabled in both of her feet due to a fire caused by a candle. The younger daughter Lin Wensi was severely scalded when she brought boiling water. The second daughter Lin Wenrong was severely burned at the age of six when she used firewood to boil water at home, causing serious burns on her face and chest. His eyes were pulled together so that they could not be closed, his hands and feet were severely deformed, and he was called a "ghost child." He had not been able to leave the house for four years, and he had never been to school for a day.
Example 2: The parents of 13-year-old girl Xiao Min left home to work ten years ago. One day, after Xiao Min knocked down her three-year-old playmate Qiqi, she made the most extreme choice: picked up Qiqi and threw her into the feces. in the pool. Xiao Min grew up with an alcoholic grandfather and a sick grandmother. At that moment, Xiao Min, who was used to facing problems by herself, could not face her own fear and could not escape, so she chose to cover it up.
This is the miserable world of left-behind children. Their living conditions appear cruelly to the public time and time again. As early as 2006, in the China Youth Daily, left-behind children were called "the most vulnerable people in China today."
Love can be a healing agent that can heal wounds
"What a great need the left-behind children and their families have! I hope that anyone with a loving heart will not be afraid to get close to the miserable world. Become a healing agent!" Teacher Chen, who was affected by the situation of left-behind children after the earthquake, said this call. She actively encourages more people to care for left-behind children and become a messenger of love.
Indeed, the various worrying problems caused by left-behind children have caused some caring institutions and individuals to take action to effectively help these children. Brother Wang, who returned to his hometown two years ago to serve local left-behind children, is one of them. He said, "This is a call from God." At first, Brother Wang opened a care class for left-behind children in his own home, bringing love to the children around him through study, guidance, companionship and care. After a period of time, Brother Wang cooperated with student volunteers from a local university and entered the children's schools once every two weeks to serve them through teaching English and quality development activities.
In recent years, more and more organizations have provided projects to serve left-behind children, with rich and colorful contents, including camps, carnivals, home visits, community activities, etc. "Children are the hope of the future, and they are worthy of our enthusiasm and love." This is the common sentiment of the volunteers. They have come into contact with many left-behind children. Each child has a different personality, background, and their own The stories also have an obvious common need: to feel love and express love.
In a summer camp, children received a special assignment: "Give me five minutes." The children were required to use five minutes every day to verbally express encouragement and appreciation to their loved ones around them and far away. At first they all felt embarrassed, but under the leadership of a few people, all the children participated and challenged a higher level of difficulty: "Use your mobile phone to call your relatives far away. Not only do you say nice things, but you also sing nice songs." After dialing one after another, the voices of the children's chorus were transmitted to a distant place through the mobile phone. On the other end of the phone, only a surprised, moved and even choked response was heard: "Thank you! Thank you!" The children learned in the summer camp In order to express love, it is because they first felt love from the volunteers.
▲Brother Wang’s English tutoring class for left-behind children in his hometown.
Sunshine above the haze
How much children's hearts need the nourishment of love. A little care can make them feel the warmth of family affection. Most of their parents work in developed areas such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, and come back once a year. Their impressions of their parents are so vague that volunteer teachers can no longer fill the gaps in the children's hearts.
Tagore wrote in a poem: "I don't remember my mother. Whenever I look out of my bedroom window at the distant blue sky, I feel that my mother's gaze on my face fills the entire sky. "
May our dreams also allow every child to look up and feel Heavenly Father’s unchanging loving eyes fixed on them through the dense haze, and hear Heavenly Father’s gentle and kind voice whispering to them: “ I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
Author profile
Xiaoqiu has been involved in the field of literary ministry since 2005, and has been engaged in editing and translating Christian books and magazines until now. He is currently the director of Yiwen Studio and the editor-in-chief of a magazine.
Zhao Jing works at a magazine and is a freelance writer.