A team led by Li Zhongming, Secretary-General of the China Children and Teenagers' Fund (CCTF), and Sui Yani, project supervisor of the Shiping Foundation, conducted an inspection tour of the implementation of a charitable program titled "Building Bridges for Love" in Southwest China's Yunnan Province on March 26.

The charitable project was jointly launched by the CCTF and the Shiping Foundation in 2023 to help disadvantaged children from border areas continue with their education and to finance the building as well as renovation of infrastructure facilities in their schools.

The first leg of their inspection tour was Bingzhongluo Middle School, at Bingzhongluo Town in Gongshan County of Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture.

The middle school is close to the Nujiang River and is about 46 kilometers away from the downtown of Gongshan. It covers an area of 36,255 square meters and is home to 441 students, about 97 percent of whom are from ethnic minorities. 

In 2023, the charitable project provided the middle school with financial aid which helped in the renovation of dormitories. The project also provided scholarships to 100 students, and sent girl students parcels filled with hygienic products and study materials.

A girl student of the Nu ethnic group received a scholarship from the project. She said that she was deeply grateful to all charity-minded individuals for their efforts in renovating their dormitories, and she will do her utmost to overcome all obstacles on the journey ahead and turn her dream into reality.

Cha Xiaozhong, principal of the middle school, said that assistance from the charitable project has fundamentally solved pressing difficulties of high concern for the school and its students from families in need and has become valuable spiritual wealth for students.

He Wenbao, deputy secretary of Gongshan County Party Committee, said that the charitable project has provided local children with both material assistance and spiritual encouragement and further firmed up their will to pursue their personal dreams.

The inspection tour also brought the team to Lajiamudi Primary School, in Lajiamudi, a village in Fugong County. With a history of over three decades, the school has 2,602 students in 55 classrooms. A majority of them are from ethnic minorities in nearby villages and residential communities.

It is a conventional practice for rural primary and middle schools in Yunnan to provide their students with dormitories because of long distance and inconvenient transportation. Therefore, people from all social sectors have paid attention to the improvement of such infrastructure facilities as canteens, shower rooms and dormitories that are closely related to the wellbeing of boarding school students. 

With financial support from the charitable project, the boarding school has renovated its canteen and shower rooms, accomplished the construction of a cold storage with fresh vegetables and foods, streamlined operating procedures of the canteen to ensure students' nutritional health and meet their basic demand for taking a shower on campus. 

The inspection team also extended scholarships to 100 students in need.

A fifth-grade girl said that the scholarship has enabled her and other beneficiaries to better appreciate the love of the society and provided them with more courage to pursue their personal dreams for a better life.

Yu Li, deputy secretary of Fugong County Party Committee, said that the county has received a large number of social assistance in the improvement of its school facilities and the enhancement of the well-being of in-need students over the past years, adding that the county will accelerate efforts to achieve high-quality development in education.

During their stay in Yunnan, the team held a meeting with local officials about the implementation of the charitable project. 

Nongbu Yangzong, President of Yunnan Women's Federation, said that the charitable project has injected vitality into the development of local education and gave hope to disadvantaged children.

Li said that the charitable project has delivered numerous gains to beneficiary children through the organization of multiple activities and timely assistance. He went on to say that the CCTF will continue with its mission and strengthen its cooperation with the Shiping Foundation over the implementation of the project.

Sui said that with the support of people from all social sectors, the Shiping Foundation has taken concrete efforts to help mountain-dwelling children in Yunnan to further improve their well-being and will strive to bring love and warmth to more children there in the years ahead. 

Statistics show that the charitable project has invested about 6 million yuan (US $845,070) to help 6,200 students from 10 rural primary and middle schools and 10 higher education institutions in 10 counties of nine prefectures complete their education since its inauguration in 2023.

The project is scheduled to make investments of 30 million yuan (US $4.22 million) in a span of five years to support rural schools in economically underdeveloped areas of Yunnan in the improvement of their infrastructure facilities, assist disadvantaged children in the completion of their education, offer care services for adolescent girls, and help girl students in vocational institutions to improve vocational skills.