Rural doctor runs 'Daddy Daycare'
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E-mail China Daily, January 27, 2012
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Lan Chengshan (right) and his twin brother Chengshui found and operate "Shanshui Home", a daycare kindergarten for children left in the hometown by their migrant parents in Lianhua, Guizhou province. [Provided to China Daily] |
In the past four years, Lan Chengshan has provided a "parents love" to more than 200 children.
The 34-year-old doctor operates a medical clinic in Lianhua, a remote village in Southwest China's Guizhou province. He's also the headmaster of a kindergarten, just like Eddie Murphy's role in the Hollywood film, Daddy Daycare.
The children, aged from 3 to 6, are part of a special group since the parents migrated away for jobs in other parts of the country. The 2,300 residents of the village are mainly members of the Miao ethnic group.
"Most can't enjoy care and love from a father or mother," says Lan. "The grandparents take care of them and they normally watch over more than three children."
Every day the grandparents send the children to the kindergarten and go farming. Lan teaches and takes care of them. He brings them home if the family is unable to pick them up.
Sometimes Lan is distracted by work from the clinic, but he should earn money to cover the costs.
Lan co-founded the daycare, "Shanshui Home", with his twin brother Lan Chengshui in 2007.
In 2000, Lan received a letter from his little brother, Chengshui, who worked in South China's Hainan province. He said many migrants at a watermelon farm must leave their children unattended at home. Consequently, one child drowned in a swimming pool.
The tragedy reminded the brothers that these special children may face similar dangers. Hence, they set up a kindergarten in their home.
They saved money for seven years. It cost more than 100,000 yuan ($15,826), to build the kindergarten.
"All family members, our mom and sisters-in-law, did their best to support us," says Lan Chengshan with tears in his eyes.
His mother once suffered from a pulmonary disease and was confined to bed. She refused to go to a hospital to save money. She urged Chengshan to watch the children instead.
"The grandparents have no qualms about sending their grandchildren here, since they have no time to teach and feed them," says Lan.
The families just pay 100 yuan each semester, while some impoverished families are not required to pay.
The brothers used up their entire savings in 2008 and had no money to support the kindergarten. To fund costs, Lan Chengshui, was compelled to find a job elsewhere to support the daycare financially. Lan Chengshan cooked for the children. He had insomnia worrying about their safety as well as their health, while fighting for the survival of the kindergarten.
"We had a very hard time," says Lan Chengshui. "But when you stand in front of the children, watching them greet you with happy hearts, you feel it's worth all the hardships."
As more charity groups heard of the brothers' story from news reports, the kindergarten received much-needed donations.
"Books, toys, food, chairs and desks ... kind-hearted people helped us to survive," says Lan Chengshan.
He hired two professionally trained preschool teachers from the county. "We paid part of their salaries, and the local government helps cover the rest."
Yuan Guangying, 35, one of the teachers, told the China Daily that she teaches eight courses, including math, English and music.
"I taught in two languages in Mandarin and the local Miao dialect," she says. "Most children don't communicate with others, as they rarely talk to parents like they would in normal families."
When four-year-old Wang Chang came to kindergarten, he was one of those kids.
"He started to cry when you talked to him. The teacher's patient encouragement made him more cheerful," Lan Chengshan says.
"You see the smiles on their faces, which comes from the bottom of their hearts," he says.
"Before the kindergarten was founded, we always heard kids got injuries or died due to lack of adult supervision, but we eased families' concerns," says Yuan. "I'll never leave as long as the kindergarten is running."
"I like the school so much since I'm happy here, but I wish my dad and mom could stay with me," says five-year-old Lan Xian.
A provincial conference held last September issued a report, saying Guizhou has more than 1.1 million children left in the hometown by their migrant parents.
"Although the kindergarten cannot offer better material circumstances, it plays an important role in educating these children and giving them a better nurturing environment," says Lan.
Lan says his father died when he was young and his mother raised him along with four siblings. The neighborhood helped the family a lot.
"My mother told us to study and work hard to give back to the neighbors when we grow up," says Lan.
"It's time for us to repay a kindness."
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