As an important part of China's battle against poverty, poverty relief via education improvement requires unremitting work. A group of young Chinese women, born in the 1990s, have dedicated their heart and soul to rural education. They had no fear of hardship or loneliness after quitting their bustling urban lives. 

Lin Xiaolian: Contributing to Hometown Education  

Lin Xiaolian has stuck to her post of a volunteer teacher for years to contribute to improving education on Beili, an island in Xuwen, her hometown in Zhanjiang City, South China's Guangdong Province.

Lin majored in English in Lingnan Normal University. During her junior year internship, she participated in a rural education program, and became aware of the rural children's thirst for knowledge and the scarce education resources they had, in contrast with their urban peers.

After graduating from the university, she returned without hesitation to her hometown and became a volunteer teacher at Beili Primary School. 

Lin was tasked with teaching English to several grades, and sometimes she also took over Chinese language classes. Due to a lack of access to transportation, she only went home once a week, not leaving the island until Friday.

She not only brought vigor and warmth to her students, but also helped them achieve good grades. In 2018, 10 out of the 45 final-year students got admitted to the Meixi Secondary School, a reputed middle school in the county. This was the largest number over the past few decades.

Because of Lin's outstanding performance, the secondary school gave her a job offer, but Lin refused. "I'd like to stay at the primary school where children can only change their fates by receiving education, so they need me more. I want to help them become better," said Lin.

Liu Yuan: Cultivating Children with Love

Liu Yuan, 29, graduated from the Leshan Normal University in Leshan City, Southwest China's Sichuan Province. Watching a TV program one day, she learned about some poverty-stricken and remote regions, and decided to apply to a public-service organization for becoming a volunteer teacher in mountainous areas. 

She was appointed to the Dimo teaching school in the province's Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture where people of the Yi ethnic group inhabit. Local Yi people speak their own language.

When the children were in preschool, Liu taught them to speak Mandarin and, little-by-little, to sing simple nursery rhymes. Through the constant efforts of the volunteer teachers, students can now speak fluent Mandarin, which in turn contributes to the improvement of teaching procedures and performances.

Liu tends to let students study in a happy mood rather than putting too much pressure on them. She is more like a friend and elder sister who is willing to help them deal with trivial affairs in their lives. Given her five years' efforts, she was fully recognized by the parents and chidren.

Yin Shaman: Bringing Love to Children in Mountains

To pursue her dream of being engaged in public welfare undertakings, Yin Shaman chose to study Chinese language and literature at Jishou University in Jishou City, Central China's Hunan Province.

Having seen the impoverished and undeveloped conditions in the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in the province, Yin has an idea of using her expertise to teach the children there and help the locals get rid of poverty.

During her college years, Yin proposed initiatives and joined public-welfare activities to support impoverished students at more than 10 elementary schools in eight counties and cities of the prefecture, raising materials valued at 50,000 yuan (US $7,298) which included cotton-padded coats, scarves, school supplies and vacuum cups.

Over the past seven years, Yin has supported education at over 20 elementary schools in the mountainous areas as a teacher or by offering aid, and visited more than 260 impoverished families from nearly 40 poverty-stricken villages, helping more than 370 students attend school free from worries.

"I will adhere to the path of public-welfare undertakings, because there are always children needing me," Yin said.

Tian Yinwei: Improving Herself as a Volunteer Teacher

Tian Yinwei worked at a pharmaceutical company after graduating from the Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine. Two years later, a subway ad on recruitment for volunteer teachers drew her attention and changed her life.

In 2017, Tian became a volunteer teacher at a primary school in Tianyang County, Baise City, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. She found that most children had weak learning foundation, and she encountered difficulties in classroom teaching. She believed that the improvement of family education was the key to solve the problem. 

Through her repeated home visits, local children have a better relationship with their parents, and they became interested in studying. 

Meanwhile, Tian has set up courses of picture books, drama, photography and nature to broaden children's horizons. 

"I learned more from the children. They made me a better person," Tian said.

(Women of China)