Help a village care for its left-behind children

Thank you for your support! We are happy to share an update that we received about Yinmeng, one of the children enrolled in our village programs.

Five year-old Yinmeng showed up alone at our new preschool every day. She was dirty. Her hair was uncombed. And she never participated in class activities or said a word in class.

When summer came and the teachers finally had a chance to make home visits, they were understandably eager to meet with Yinmeng’s family.

I was dumbfounded when we entered her home. I never expected it to be so shabby. Her grandparents, who are in their seventies and in poor health, told us that because their children work in distant cities, they have to take care of nine grandchildren as well as look after the fields in order to sustain life.

To make things worse, Yinmeng's grandma has bad legs and her grandpa broke ten ribs and collapsed his lungs while picking up one of his grandchildren last year. At the time, everybody thought he wouldn’t survive, but with so many grandchildren to look after, he somehow held onto life. Still, he cannot help in the fields and not much at home, which leaves Yinmeng's lame grandma with most of the housework and all of the fieldwork.

Talking with Yinmeng, I learned that she is aching to be with her parents — when she talked about her mom, she had tears in her eyes. So that night, I secretly called her mother in Shanghai, told her how much her little girl missed her and told her that it would help Yinmeng if she could come home for at least a short time. Yinmeng's mother said she would try to come back soon, but I didn’t know if it could be true.

Just three days later, Yinmeng burst into the preschool, full of joy, and announced that her mother had come back. Soon she had a new haircut and clean clothes and smiled all the time.

The teachers met with Yinmeng's mother and explained the great impact a mother has on her child’s life and how important these early years are. Yinmeng's mother said she and her husband had been working in Shanghai since her daughter was three years old and hadn’t been back for a visit in two years. She said they have to keep working in the auto parts factory for at least two more years to pay for vocational school for their older son. Though they can’t afford to bring Yinmeng to Shanghai, she promised to visit whenever possible and to call her daughter often.

No one knows how long Yinmeng's mother can stay home without losing her job in Shanghai. Yinmeng is afraid her mother will leave in the middle of the night so she clings to her mother’s arms while she sleeps.