Source: School of Chinese as a Second Language
Translated by: Li Shouyi
Proofread by: Liang Jianxin
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

Recently, 10 international students from six countries and 5 Chinese students at the School of Chinese as a Second Language (SCSL) of Sun Yat-sen University went to Nansha District of Guangzhou to volunteer in the Mid-autumn Festival activity for poor single-parent families. The “Heart to Heart, Grow for Love” activity was organized by the Women’s Federation of Nansha District. The volunteers from SCSL, together with 6 social workers from Chenlang Social Work Service Center, sent festival greetings to over 180 participants.

The activity was aimed at promoting the communication and connection between child and mother in the poor single-parent family through various games, providing them with a platform to utter their feelings and affections to each other. Students from SCSL actively interacted with the participants, sharing their stories of getting along with their mothers and the skills to facilitate parent-child communication. The participants experienced the educational and cultural atmosphere of different countries through these games.

Ms. He Zhen, head of the Women’s Federation of Nanshan District, emphasized the importance of family education and appealed to the participants to strengthen communication between parents and children.

The Women’s Federation of Nansha District presented a pennant to SCSL in recognition of its contribution. At the close of the activity, the international students were all surrounded by the children, who enthusiastically engaged in taking photos with their newly-acquainted foreign friends. “Bother Mike, I really like playing games with you”, one child said to the Tajikistani student Mike, which delighted all of the students. While gaining a better understanding of the problems and difficulties that single-parent families are confronted with, students from SCSL also brought care to the children through the activity. It is also the third voluntary activity that SCSL organized to help the less-privileged groups after the “Love Warms Seas” voluntary activity in Guangzhou Rehabilitation School and the “I Am Your Eyes” neighborhood supporting activity in Foshan, all of which witnessed the active participation of international students and received positive feedbacks from the public.