Tingting* (left), 10, lives in Liutai Village, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with her grandparents and her three siblings.
©UNICEF/China/2017/Xia Yong

The children’s parents left their hometown to find work in Foshan, Guangdong Province, when Tingting was 3 years old, as they couldn’t make any money in the village. They come back to spend a week with the family during the Chinese New Year and occasionally visit the family on some important festivals, like Tomb Sweeping Day or Mid-Autumn Day.
©UNICEF/China/2017/Xia Yong

From the age of 6, Tingting has been helping out her grandparents on the farm. In the harvest season, she helps to collect rice stalks and peanuts.
©UNICEF/China/2017/Xia Yong

She also helps to cook the family dinner, and care for three younger siblings.
©UNICEF/China/2017/Xia Yong

Led by Tingting, the two younger girls, aged 8 and 6, also learn to help with family chores. Near dusk, the three of them sweep the grains into a pile and cover them with a plastic sheet, which prevents moisture from getting in.
©UNICEF/China/2017/Xia Yong

Tingting is a precocious child. The absence of her parents and shouldering housework at an early age have made her more sensitive than her peers. When other girls happily play together, she sits aside quietly as if deep in thought.
©UNICEF/China/2017/Xia Yong

Tingting is most attached to her grandmother, who is raising her. Her grandmother says the girl doesn’t talk much and seldom mentions her parents.
©UNICEF/China/2017/Xia Yong

When nervous, she always keeps her head down, and it’s not easy for her to open up to others.
©UNICEF/China/2017/Xia Yong

All children love to play. Tingting is no exception. She is cheered up by the traditional Chinese game of shuttlecock kicking.
©UNICEF/China/2017/Xia Yong

Her favourite place in the village is the child-friendly space (CFS), which provides recreation, non-formal education, psychosocial support and referral services for children and their families in the village. The CFS model was first introduced to China by UNICEF as an emergency response to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. It was later adopted as good practice by the Government of China, leading to massive replication in non-emergency areas nationwide.
©UNICEF/China/2017/Xia Yong

The CFS in Liutai Village is among the 30 receiving support from the Guangxi provincial Technical Support Hub (TSH). With support from IKEA foundation, UNICEF has worked closely with the National Working Committee on Children and Women under the State Council and set up four provincial Technical Support Hubs in Guangxi, Hunan, Shaanxi and Chongqing, with the aim to ensure CFS deliver sustainable, effective and quality child protection and welfare services to the most vulnerable children and their families. Launched in November 2016, the Guangxi TSH has a pool of provincial experts in fields of psychology, law, health and social work.
©UNICEF/China/2017/Xia Yong

Equipped with strengthened skills through training and on-site guidance from experts, volunteers now are able to organise various activities for children and their families, and provide psychosocial support to those in need. These include sex education for girls, training sessions on how to prevent child injuries and drowning as well as art workshops. Tingting’s grandmother says she has never skipped a single activity.
©UNICEF/China/2017/Xia Yong

At a painting class, Tingting, along with more than a dozen girls and boys, learns to make traditional masks used in Chinese operas. She paints a colourful mask, and constantly exchanges opinions with her friends, and they giggle.
©UNICEF/China/2017/Xia Yong

Wei Xueming, the volunteer overseeing the CFS in Liutai Village, encourages Tingting on her work. “I remember when she first came here, Tingting seldom spoke to anyone, and she always kept her head down,” says Wei. “But now she’s much happier and more confident through her interactions with other children and volunteers. She even volunteered to join the Children’s Committee, helping to manage the CFS and the activities.”
©UNICEF/China/2017/Xia Yong

“When I grow up, I want to be a volunteer [to help other children] just like you do,” Tingting tells Wei.
©UNICEF/China/2017/Xia Yong