When the Wenchuan earthquake struck ten years ago on May 12, 2008, in Wenchuan County, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, Zhou Yan, a Tibetan girl, was attending Caopo Primary School in Caopo Township, Wenchuan County.

"The school was fine and the children in the school were all right. This was especially lucky," Zhou Yan said. She and her younger sister, who had been in the third grade, spent nearly a month at the school before they were picked up by their uncle. The earthquake took away her parents and sister’s lives, but fortunately, Zhou Yan and her sister went to live at the Ankang Homeland, and they again had a big family.

Zhou Yan works in a tower crane that is tens of meters high.

The Ankang Homeland was jointly established by the China Children and Teenagers’ Fund (CCTF) and Rizhao Steel Group. Since its inception in May 2008, Ankong Homeland has become home to 712 orphaned children over the past 10 years.

So far, 48 young orphaned children are still living at Shuangliu Ankang Homeland, 282 have been admitted to university, and more than 300 have taken up jobs.

Zhou Yan, who has come out of Ankang Homeland for 10 years, is a mother of two sons.

Zhou Yan became a tower crane driver and had been working for six years. She had the job that would be selected only by a “tough girl” in the eyes of ordinary people.

Zhou Yan climbs the tower crane with a safety rope.

After obtaining a special operation certificate, Zhou Yan began to embark on a tower crane job. "I had slight acrophobia at the beginning and I was particularly uncomfortable when I was going to hang things. I gradually got used to it and I feel all right now," She said.

Hu Yuanzhong, the head of Ankang Homeland, visited Zhou Yan at a construction site. In the eyes of the children in Ankang Homeland, he was not only headmaster of the homeland but also their father.

Zhou Yan, who is at the far right of the picture, is celebrating the birthday of Wang Qian (middle), their “mother” at Ankang Homeland, with other girls.

Zhou Yan, recalled her mother in Ankang Homeland and said: “My mother in Ankang Homeland taught me a lot. What I learned most is how to live by myself when I left the homeland. I need to take my responsibility and do things I need to do by myself."