Children select their favorite books in a reading corner of a Sunshine station. [CCTF]

With the donation of 20 million yuan (US $2.82 million) from Central Special Lottery Public Welfare Fund, the China Children and Teenagers' Fund (CCTF) built 200 Sunshine public service stations nationwide for left-behind children and other rural minors in 2022.

The Sunshine stations are designed to provide target children and their families with comprehensive services, which cover daycare and companionship, entertainment, family education and psychological counseling, further improve their living environment and explore effective approaches in the caring of them.

As of this April, the Sunshine stations had been opened to the public for nearly 177,000 hours and delivered tangible benefits to about 325,000 children.

"It is an important and useful gesture to embrace children if you want to help them foster the sense of safety," said a teacher at a training session for 60 volunteers from the Sunshine stations in Southwest China's Sichuan Province in this May.

Harbor of Warmth

The Sunshine stations are often located in residential communities adjacent to schools or kindergartens, with the view to expanding their coverage and getting families, schools and the society jointly involved in guarding the healthy growth of children.

With an area of about 60 square meters, the Sunshine station in Xiaolinglong Community in Sichuan's Jian'ge County has been divided into several thematic zones, where children can take part in sports activities, read books, do homework, receive psychological counseling, and make crafts.

Meanwhile, volunteers regularly plan and organize various interactive activities and further enrich the extracurricular life of children.

Children paint pictures in a Sunshine station. [CCTF]

Sunshine stations are not only a place for children to attend activities but also a harbor of love and warmth for them.

Providing Caring Services

Liu Juan is a full-time volunteer at the Sunshine station in Kantou Village, Taihe County, East China's Jiangxi Province. The Sunshine station is transformed from a room of a local school and is equipped with desks, chairs, books and toys donated by the CCTF.

Volunteers organize a parent-child activity in a Sunshine station. [CCTF]

Liu has integrated her previous kindergarten teaching experience with the design and management of the Sunshine station. She has done her utmost to make the weekend activities more colorful and attractive in a move to get children and their parents fully involved and further improve parent-child relations.

Liu has opened a small vegetable garden on the school playground, where she and the children plant and take care of vegetables to gain the sense of fulfillment, feel natural changes, and learn more about the 24 Solar Terms.

Volunteers like Liu have become backbones in the administration of the Sunshine stations. A majority of them are full-time mothers or retired teachers. They regularly attend training and receive technical support in the further enhancement of their professional competence.

Volunteers attend a training session in a Sunshine station. [CCTF]

According to Chen Changxia, who is responsible for the management of professional service teams of the Sunshine station project in Sichuan, volunteers often attend pre-employment, mid-term and the summary-stage training courses, which are related to children's mental health and family education psychology so as to help them grasp a deep understanding of minors' psychological state and deliver corresponding services.

An increasing number of volunteers nationwide have signed up for the public welfare initiative.

Passing on Love

With the help of volunteers, Xinyue (pseudonym), a 13-year-old girl from Xigang, a nearby village of Kantou, has become more confident and optimistic.

Xinyue lives with her grandmother as her parents work away from home. She was shy and reluctant to speak with others when Wang Qiaozhi, a volunteer from a Sunshine station, visited her for the first time.

Wang, who used to be a rural left-behind child as well, shared similar experience with her and knew well about how to help her make a difference. Wang has invited her to take part in various activities, and encouraged her to express herself through writing or painting.

Xinyue has become more outgoing, regarded the Sunshine station as her second home, and fostered closer relations with Wang.

A wall in a Sunshine station is decorated with photos and paintings. [CCTF]

In fact, there are numerous similar touching stories between volunteers and children, which has planted the seed of love in the children's heart, earned the support of more social forces toward the Sunshine station project, and created a bright future for rural children.

Huang Taoqing, head of the Sunshine station project in Jiangxi, said that the public welfare initiative has brought together all types of resources available from government departments, women's federations, colleges and universities, philanthropic organizations, rural schools and communities in the building of a happy childhood and bright prospect for the minors.

(Source: CCTF/Women of China)

Editor: Wang Shasha