FOCAL POINTS

e. Summer Camps in Hunan （湖南）

Three summer camps were held in Hunan Province in 2019, including one science camp, one music camp, and one fine arts camp. The Changsha Training Charity organized the camps along with volunteers from Hunan Agricultural University and Changsha Vocational and Technical College. A total of 293 rural children participated in the three camps.

The science summer camp was held from July 5th to July 10th in Fuping School in Pingjiang County and 142 school children participated.

Fuping School is a typical rural school with over 80% of students being “left-behind” children. The subject areas of science, music, and fine arts were mostly taught by language and math teachers. None of these children had ever attended a summer camp. They were very excited about such an opportunity and highly motivated to participate in all activities. Through hands-on experiments and observations, children got a glimpse of what chemistry and physics meant using natural ingredients in everyday lives, such as writing with cornstarch which changed color when sprayed with iodine, or using vinegar and baking soda to blow up a balloon.

Every child has potential, every child has imagination; they absorbed new knowledge as sponges, and they quickly fell in love with science. It is our hope that the summer camp will open a window in children’s minds and plant a seed that may grow into a lifelong pursuit of science.

The 5-day fine arts summer camp was held in Gengzi Elementary School in You County. A total of 80 school children attended the camp. Similar to Fuping School in Pingjiang County, 90% of students in this school are “left-behind” children whose parents went to cities for work. Children in this school rarely had an opportunity to enjoy creative art. Activities provided to the children by our volunteers were well received and appreciated. Children were able to learn origami, embroidery, leaf collage and stone painting. They used natural materials to make authentic art pieces.

The music summer camp was held in Yantou Village Elementary School in Guzhang County. The school is hidden in a remote, mountainous area in Xiangxi, which is an ethnic minority region. It took volunteers 7 hours via mountain roads to arrive in the camp. Yantou Elementary is a school with only 40 students, ranged from first to sixth graders. Many local children in the village were invited to attend the camp, which made a total of 71 participants.

Children in this school have never had music lessons before. One volunteer teacher brought a violin and other musical instruments for children to explore. Another teacher taught children how to dance with rhythm and use their vocal voices to sing songs. Our volunteer teachers were pleasantly surprised by these children’s natural voices and genuine body movements, which were not only expressive but also creative and beautiful.