Summer adventure brings color to rural children's vacation

KUNMING — During the summer break in Nujiang Lisu autonomous prefecture, Southwest China's Yunnan province, dozens of elementary students at the Third Wanquan Primary School in Lanping county are eagerly preparing for an adventurous experience.

Backed by seven dedicated volunteers from the Faculty of Education at East China Normal University in Shanghai, the 35 students' summer adventure will span two weeks, encompassing lessons on self-awareness, responsibility, knowledge and capability.

The courses are an integral part of an assistance project designed for Lanping, a remote region nestled among impoverished mountains and an autonomous county inhabited by members of the Bai and Pumi ethnic groups.

All the young students participating in this year's summer camp are members of ethnic groups.

Their educational journey only began in 2019, when they were relocated from the mountains to the lower levels to attend school.

For years, their home, Nujiang, which has been blighted by extreme poverty, has lacked adequate educational resources, said Hu Hang from the ECNU education faculty, who is an instructor at the summer camp.

Since 2018, the university has operated the Rainbow Summer Camp social practice project and has continuously conducted educational support activities in the region, Hu added.

This summer, six students from a range of backgrounds — including early childhood education, special education, teacher training and educational information technology — were selected for the mission.

For years, the student volunteers, together with the organizers, designed and updated a curriculum to meet the children's diverse needs.

The series of courses, which aim to nurture aspirations, particularly resonates with the school children and has gained immense popularity.

The children share their dreams and forge ahead toward their aspirations by symbolically casting them in the form of message-filled drift bottles.

During the class centered around aesthetic experiences, they delight each other with their live guitar performances and singing.

In the mental health experience class, the children are taught to express their emotions through paintings and share their artwork.

During the physical fitness expansion session, they participate in group activities such as soccer and basketball. Additionally, they rehearse Wuqinxi, literally "Five-Animal Exercises", as a set of physical exercises accompanied by qigong (breathing exercises).

The Rainbow Summer Camp's diverse and vibrant curriculum lives up to its name, bringing a kaleidoscope of colors to the children's summer vacation, said teachers at the elementary school.

"We seek to plant a seed of 'determination' in the hearts of these children," said Liu Kun, the summer camp captain and an undergraduate in the ECNU education faculty.

It is a seed that will lead the children to develop first-rate ambitions, capabilities and character, thereby forging a brighter and more fulfilling rainbow future for themselves, Liu said.