34 years is not a long time. But when this meandering river of life, wrapped in surging hopes and ideals, firmly rooted half of the river channel in the hinterland of Sichuan's most remote Liangshan Mountain, continuously sowing love and hope, and lighting up the lamp of reading and learning knowledge for hundreds of local mountain villages and nearly 10,000 mountain villages, this river that has flowed silently for 17 years has become the "cloth" (that is, the "legend" in the Yi language) recited by the local Yi compatriots.
With the Lunar New Year just around the corner, everyone in the city is lit up and ready for the New Year, and people are looking forward to a new beginning.
The Red Star News reporter drove more than ten hours to Meigu County, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, and in Matuo Village, Lama Town, surrounded by mountains, and met Teacher Xiao Shanwen, who has been rooted in the local area for 17 years, as well as his volunteer teaching colleagues, and the children in the mountainous areas they are helping, listening to their expectations for the New Year.
For a promise, he took root in the mountains for 17 years
Xiao Shanwen is a native of Yibin City, Sichuan. In 2006, at the age of 18, he signed up for the country's Western Volunteer Education Program with his family behind his back, and took a car from his hometown along a rugged mountain road to Meigu County.
Xiao Shanwen remembered that in the middle of the road, he suddenly encountered a road collapse, and the boulders falling from the sky instantly smashed the road, and a car of people almost rubbed shoulders with the god of death. Is it going in or out? Xiao Shanwen didn't say a word, and crawled through the rocky area with a few bold classmates, and then rushed to the county town on a motorcycle from a local compatriot.
Just as the young people who were supporting the teachings were fortunate to have withstood the test of the natural environment, the next difficulties followed. Walking into the classroom of The Bridge Middle School in Meigu County at that time, 18-year-old Xiao Shanwen found that many of the students in the audience were about the same age as himself, some were even older than him, and they could not speak Chinese. As a Chinese teacher, he was stunned.
However, Xiao Shanwen, who was naturally optimistic, was not discouraged and quickly found a way. He and the students used gestures, made friends with the students after class, and used his meager salary to buy new school supplies and snacks for the students, they quickly mingled, the students learned Chinese, he learned Yi. In class, he draws imaginative cartoons on the blackboard with chalk based on the teaching content to attract the attention of the students. Soon the 18-year-old young teacher became one of the most popular Chinese teachers in the school.
Xiao Shanwen (center) works with volunteer teachers and students at the teaching site in Nilejue Village, Meigu County
At the end of the three-year volunteer teaching period, his parents urged Xiao Shanwen to go home and found him a comfortable job in the city. The students knew that Xiao Shanwen was leaving, and they all cried one by one. On the one hand, the parents' ardent expectations, on the other hand, the children's innocent and innocent confessions, Xiao Shanwen gritted his teeth and failed his parents: "I want to teach them until graduation."
Who knew that this promise had since become a stalk imprinted in his mind for 17 years, and he could no longer give up, and he sent away a batch of mountain village students to graduate and go to school. "For the children in the mountains, light a lamp, open a window..." became Xiao Shanwen's motto.
In 2011, he resolutely decided to teach at Madu Primary School, which is thousands of meters above sea level and under more difficult conditions. "I've been wondering why local students have such poor grades in secondary school because of the lack of Chinese teachers in primary schools." There is no TV in the mountains, no internet, and even bathing is a problem in winter... When he encountered students dropping out of school, he went from village to village to persuade parents to send their children back to school, and sometimes it took several hours to climb the mountain during home visits. He also paid for grain and oil for his fellow villagers and encouraged them to send their children into the classroom to learn knowledge.
In this process, Xiao Shanwen also found that in the mountain village primary school, the teacher resources are very scarce, and many village primary schools often have only one or two teachers, and some can't stand the harsh conditions and quit halfway. Therefore, in addition to doing his job, Xiao Shanwen mobilized his friends and relatives around him to find serious and responsible caring people as volunteers and volunteer teachers to make up for the lack of local educational resources. In the village of Nilejue in Wagu Township, Meigu County, thousands of meters above sea level, he recruited the first volunteer teacher, followed by the second and third places... By 2016, more than 60 volunteer volunteers had been recruited to support 24 mountain village primary schools.
In order to further promote the improvement of the lack of teacher resources in remote areas, with the help of caring people from all walks of life and the support of the Youth League County Committee, Xiao Shanwen led the formal establishment of the Buckwheat Flower Expenditure Teaching and Learning Association, systematically trained the recruited volunteers, made them qualified volunteer teachers, and helped more and more local children in mountain villages to learn knowledge and understand the world outside the mountains.
Technology helps to open a window for children in the mountains
"My idea is to light a light for the children in the mountains." Xiao Shanwen told Red Star News that in the past, there was no network or television in the mountains, and the only way for children to understand the outside world was through books. Now 5G networks and smart terminals have also entered the mountains.
In the years of volunteer teaching career, Xiao Shanwen and the teachers also found that many children from the mountains had to walk for several hours to go home, coupled with bad weather and other reasons, some children's lives could not be guaranteed. In 2020, with the approval of the government and with the support of caring people and institutions, Mr. Xiao founded the Meigu County Children's Home to solve the worries of going to school for children with remote and difficult families, and in 2021, the Meigu County Children's Home officially moved into a new home in Matuo Village, Rama Town. There are more than 70 children from the mountains living here, and the children come here after school, and there are teachers who teach cultural classes, cultural and sports classes for free, and provide food and accommodation. The children lived and studied together, felt very happy, and developed good living habits.
With the donation of caring people, more and more smart devices such as computers and smart screen TVs have been sent to children's homes, so that the teaching environment of children in local mountain villages is getting better and better, and the facilities are getting better and better, from the initial lack of electricity and network to having high-quality teaching equipment and living resources, and can also easily achieve remote teaching and contact with relatives through Huawei's smart screen "Play a TV". The children's learning and life finally had the way Xiao Shanwen had been looking forward to it.
According to data, at present, meigu county, including buckwheat flower expenditure teaching and learning associations, there are more than 10 volunteer teaching assistant associations, and more than 200 volunteer teaching volunteers are scattered in various rural schools, effectively supplementing the shortcomings of insufficient teacher resources. Loving donations from all walks of life have supported the development and growth of these teaching assistant associations, and also allowed children in remote mountainous areas to harvest valuable knowledge in time!
Xiao Shanwen said with emotion, "The growth of children's homes is inseparable from the help and support of all sectors of society! Among them, the Beilun District Government of Ningbo City gave meticulous care to the children's home in the process of helping Meigu County in Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province. Recently, more than 10,000 pieces of love winter clothes and materials donated from Ningbo public welfare have been sent to the children's home in Meigu County and several other primary schools in mountain villages, bringing winter warmth to children in the mountains.
Pan Yue, a suspended cadre in Beilun District of Ningbo City and deputy director of the Meigu County Government Office of Liangshan Prefecture, told reporters that in the future, through various efforts, the learning and living conditions of children in local mountainous areas will continue to be improved.
Listen, teachers and mountain children look forward to the New Year
Xiao Shanwen often said that although the mountains are bitter, the children's laughter is sweet.
He compares the children of the mountains to buckwheat flowers, which are not as bright as roses and as fragrant as gardenias, but they bloom proudly even when they grow on plateaus thousands of meters above sea level, and have high medical development value. He hopes that the children in the mountains can be like buckwheat flowers, not afraid of the complex living environment, and confidently show their excellent side.
The Spring Festival is coming, and Xiao Shanwen expressed his expectations: "I hope that I can have more time to spend with my family, and I also hope that the children's home can develop better and better."
Huang Sheng, a volunteer teacher, said: "Looking forward to the New Year, the children will become happier, livelier and happier."
Teacher Peng Juan said: "I hope that the children can get good results in the exams and have a happy New Year."
The children of the children's home also have their own small expectations, some look forward to becoming a little musician in the New Year, some look forward to getting better academic results, and some look forward to meeting their parents who are working outside as soon as possible, and the whole family is reunited early in the New Year.
Red Star News reporter Pang Jian