A volunteer group of Minhang teachers is traveling to impoverished backwaters of China, trying to bring rays of hope to children whose lives are a daily struggle and whose futures are equally bleak.

Zhao Yu, a 12-year-old boy of the Naxi ethnic minority, dreams of joining the navy and working on a real submarine.

That’s quite a dream considering that he lives deep in the mountains of the landlocked province of Yunnan in southwestern China.

That doesn’t mean his dream is worthless. A group of educators from the Minhang showed up in Zhao’s hometown with a rather special mission.

“We wanted to collect the wishes of 300 children in rural areas and send the messages back to Shanghai,” said Xie Kaili, the leader of the volunteer team. “We hope they will spur people to help the children realize their dreams.”

The project, launched by the Minhang District Young Teachers’ Volunteer League, not only tries to fulfill wishes for children, but also seeks to establish a long-term sister school relations between Minhang and schools in impoverished inland areas. For the past two years, the volunteers have visited Jiangxi and Yunnan province and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, listening to children and surveying their needs.

Fascinated by ocean world

In mid-April, the volunteers arrived in Shangri-la, Zhao’s hometown. During a six-day stay, the volunteers met often with the children. Zhao, a student at Hongqi Primary School, had never seen the ocean but was still fascinated after reading a book called “The Fantastic Ocean World.”

He told the volunteers that the book said more people have been to outer space than to the bottom of the ocean. The unknown intrigued him.

“He asked me, ‘What does a real submarine look like? Is it huge? Is it fast’?” said Xie. “I couldn’t answer. I could only record his wish and see if I maybe could find someone to help him fulfill it.”

Volunteers sent back a multitude of messages about children’s wishes. There was Yang Xiaodi, a boy of the Yi ethnic minority, who wished for a soccer ball and the chance to play in a real match. There was the Tibetan girl named Duji Yangzong and the Naxi girl Luo Yiran who both wished for healthy eyes.

Duji was born blind in the left eye, and an artificial eye she was given doesn’t fit properly and falls out sometimes. Luo suffers from tumors in both eyes.

“I think we found out not only what the children wanted, but also what they didn’t realize they might need,” said Xie. “For example, Duji needs psychological help because her disability makes her feel inferior.”

The messages the volunteers posted on social media sites touched the hearts of netizens.  People began to brainstorm online on what steps they might take to help the children fulfill their dreams.

A housewife, who identified herself only as Sandy, said she planned to contact former classmates at an arms-manufacturing school she graduated from to see if they can invite Zhao to Shanghai to have a look at a submarine.

Some people said they are willing to invite Yang to Shanghai, giving him a soccer ball as a present and organizing a soccer match for him. Others are trying to contact hospitals to treat to Duji and Luo.

“The kindness and sincerity of these people give us confidence that our project can really do good,” said Xie. “For the next two years, we will visit many other provinces and talk with children from all 56 ethnic groups in China.”

The visit to Shangri-la was the project’s third. The first was last June, when the volunteers accompanied 300 Xinjiang students studying in Minhang on a rail trip home for summer holiday.

‘Leftover’ children

The second trip involved spending the Chinese New Year holiday in rural Jiangxi Province, visiting 18 “leftover” children at Dachong High School. The children’s parents work in cities far away and come home only once or twice a year. Usually grandparents or other relatives take care of the children, and teachers often become surrogate parents.Most of the children and their families live under the poverty line. They don’t have decent furniture or home electrical appliances, and their meals are spartan except for the annual Chinese New Year feasts.

Schools in this area of Jiangxi are also ill-equipped, and some teachers have set up libraries in their own homes. Apart from teaching, the teachers also do farmwork on the weekends to provide food for students.

“Although the children struggle with hard living conditions and loneliness, we saw that they wanted to study no matter what,” said Zhang Jing, a teacher from Minhang. “Their families are proud of them. They hang all their certificates and awards on the wall. The certificates shine against the shabby, crumbling walls.”

Volunteers were able to fulfill some of the children’s wishes while in Jiangxi. Many of the students said they had never been outside their hometowns. So a trip to the Jinggangshan Scenic Area, two hours’ drive away, was arranged.

“I saw how happy they were when they were able to visit a place that they had only known from textbooks,” said Zhang. “And I was happy, too.”

Impressive trips

Looking back on past journeys, team leader Xie said the project not only fulfills the dreams of the children, but also her own dreams. She said seven years ago, she participated in a summer camp in Shanghai for children from poor rural areas, mostly in Yunnan. A detail of the experience sticks in her mind.

“The visiting children brought small presents for Shanghai children in the camp, but we neglected to think about organizing any gifts for our visitors,” said Xie. “One of the children came to me and said, ‘Miss, I distributed many presents, but I didn’t receive any.’ I felt so badly, and I have always wanted to make up for it.”

For the next seven years, however, Xie didn’t have a chance to see the rural children again. The project fulfilled her wish when the team went to Yunnan this year.

The volunteers in future, she said, will film parts of their trips and upload the video online  to try to recruit most volunteers.

She said developing relationships with schools in China’s needy areas will make the project stronger.

This summer, for example, the headmasters of three primary schools in Shangri-la will come to Shanghai for a training session, while Minhang teachers will take their educational skills to Yunnan.

Volunteers are individually pairing with the students they meet on the trips. The volunteers keep in touch with their “pen pals” to help dispel their loneliness and monitor their needs. They also plan to invite the children to Shanghai during the summer and winter holidays.

“Every semester, we will donate books, clothes, school supplies and other necessities,” Xie said. “Generally speaking, we hope the project never ends.”