Left-behind children longing for parental love
- By Fan Junmei
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E-mail China.org.cn, June 14, 2016
"Hi, I'm Wen Fazhi,"a little girl introduces herself to a Xinhua reporter in a soft, low voice.
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Wen Fazhi's grandparents have to take care of her, her younger sisterand her cousin. [Xinhua] |
"I'm nine years old," she adds.
"Come on, show me your home," the reporter asks after exchanging greetings, noticing the girl's long eyelashes.
A little shy, Wen leads the way to her home - a brick house built on a hilltop in mountainous Anlong County in Guizhou Province's Qianxinan Prefecture.
"We built this house with the money my parents earned while working away," she says.
Wen's parents have been working in cities for over a decade but haven'tsaved much. This house cost all the money they madeand they stillhad to borrow tens of thousands of yuan from friends and relatives.
"We miss our children very much, but it is hard to make money back in thepoor village, so we hadto find jobs in the cities," Wen's father told the reporter via a phone interview.
Severe desertification has left limited soil for rice planting. To make ends meet, many villagers choose to work away, leaving their children'sgrandparents to take care of them.
In addition totheir three grandchildren, Wen's grandparents also have to do the farm workand take care of their poultry and livestock.Wen oftenlendsa hand.
"I want to go to a heavenly place," Wen says.
"Whereis that?" the reporter asks.
"A place where I can be with my papa and mama, and don't have to do farm work," she explains.
"Do you understand why your parents leftyou here forwork in the city?"
"No, I don't," she says, and turns around.
There are many left-behind children in the primary school where Wen studies. They are happy almost all the time, except on the occasion when a parents' meeting is called.
Around noon, they rush to the dining hall after class and enjoy a free and tasty lunch, which is far better than the food they have at home.
On Feb. 14, 2016, China's State Council released a guideline on the protection of left-behind children, calling for the establishment of a work system, with families, governments, schools and social groups taking part.
A rescue mechanism that includes intervention measures such as mandatory reporting, crisis management and assistance evaluation will prevent infringements on the rights of these children.
It is expected that, by 2020, China will improve laws and regulations regarding child protection, and create a safer environment for children to grow up in. In this way, the number of left-behind children will be reduced from the current total of 61 million.
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