A Way to Keep Children from Being Left Behind
13-year-old Wen Na, just like other teenagers, has many secrets and worries. But she feels happy as her father can always accompany with her. Wen Na said, “Every weekend when I come back from school, my father has already prepared a lot of delicious food for me. He often takes me to do farm work with him, and he would sit next to me when I do my homework. Compared with other children whose parents work outside the village all year long, I indeed feel very contented.”
Wen Na lives in a remote village of Duan County. She should have been a junior high school student but she attended school very late because of the poor transportation in her village, so she just entered the fifth grade this year. Being lack of resources, most of young villagers have to work as migrant workers in developed cities instead of staying in the village. Therefore, their children were left behind and watched over by grandparents. It is learned that 70 percent of the children in Wen Na’s village are left behind children. The experts said it was no doubt to have bad effects to the development of left behind children, especially in the fields of safety, health, education and psychology.
A few years ago, Wen Na’s father also worked outside to raise the family like other villagers. But he kept missing his kids left behind in the village, so he had been thinking a way to come back and develop his career in the village so that he could accompany his kids.
Wen Na’s father shared, “Several years ago, as soon as I heard that World Vision planned to help our village to build a road, I returned to the village immediately and organized some other villagers to build the road leading our village to the outside world. Then I took part in a training event on ecological agriculture held by World Vision. At the beginning of 2018, I raised 8 pigs without feeding fodder and started to raise bees. By the end of the year, the number of the pigs raised by our ecological breeding group was up to 22. We tried to sell the organic pork at a better price, at least 6 yuan higher than the ordinary ones per kilogram, which made me more confident to keep on the way of developing ecological agriculture.”
Wen Na and her father is feeding the pigs. What they feed the pigs is made of corn, soybean planted by themselves in an ecological way, and produced by the processor donated by World Vision.
World Vision responds to the needs of vulnerable children in conjunction with the projects launched in the community. The ecological agriculture advocates a green and healthy lifestyle, so that children may enjoy nourishing food and households may get proper income and keep their kids from being left in the village.
Wen Na and her father cutting grass for feeding the pigs.
Wen Na likes helping her father cut grass and feed pigs.
Wen Na’s father said, “Now I realize that it was truly a wise choice for me to return to the village. Without chemical fertilizer, pesticide, and antibiotic, the ecological agriculture products are absolutely good for health. We currently have what we plant by ourselves as our major food. What’s more, I sell the rest of the products. In this case, not only can I earn some money to support my family, but also I can stay with my kids at home. It is really perfect. A healthy body, a chance to accompany my kids, and a way to provide the kids with appropriate education, these are all the most precious things I always pursuits, aren’t they?”
Wen Na really enjoys helping her father cut grass and feed pigs as well as observing bees collecting nectar. She said in a secret way, “The honey is super sweet. My dad is going to raise another 8 boxes of bees. So I can have honey every day by that time.”
After reflecting on the raising experience of last year, Wen Na’s father increased the number of pigs and bees this year. He also planned to work with another 3 households to purchase raw materials and expand market together. Hopefully their way of developing ecological agriculture will become wider and wider. (Written by Lu Zhenyan)