“Human relationships”, “self-protection” and “public etiquette”… These were the themes of a beautiful show held in local communities on December 14th, 2014 at the Youth Space of Wuhou District, Chengdu. Supported by the venture philanthropy of Chengdu’s Civil Affairs Bureau, this New Year screening of parent-child show was organized by the Chengdu-based social work service center at AEA China. It involved the participation of a total of about 120 children and their parents from various communities from Dongjie, Hualin and Juanzishu.
Early at 9 o’clock in the morning, guided by AEA volunteers, the parents in the community along with their children arrived at the mini-theatre of Youth Space through public transportation. At 10:30 am, the parent-child event began with a series of wonderful shows by Bianlian Troupe of Sichuan Opera, including Bianlian (or “Face-changing”), dancing, classic Sichuan Opera, and magic.
The audience was completely fascinated by the exotic and delightful shows presented. Both parents and children attending the event were fully drawn in the whole process.In its closure, AEA presented an awarding ceremony as an encouragement and recognition for all children participating in activities, in addition to an expression of thanks for the parents actively involved in the event.
Together, changing destinies through education
This event held for parents and their children was the closing event of the growth of character curriculums designed for children aged 3 to 8 years old in the programs of Children’s Garden. AEA China adopted the form of real-time tasks in an attempt to comprehensively review the taught contents of curriculums. In the past three months, AEA China has developed a total of more than 20 sessions for more than 300 people. This program was highly popular and well-received by the residents in the communities.
It focuses on Early Childhood Care and Education as 0-6 years of age are crucial for a child’s physical growth and brain development, which is very important for a child’s future perception and emotion development. This community-based unofficial preschool education program provides psychological care and aid and targets directly 100 children and indirectly more than 550 people. Children of migrant workers, lay-off workers, floating-population, and other groups, lacking of good family and school education, might be disadvantaged in perception, emotion grows, and social interactions, which are negative for their long-term development.
In short, AEA and its partners intensify efforts to help all children to grow up healthily and to develop sustainably, and change the destiny of those from poverty and are socially vulnerable. “We owe our great thanks to the community venture philanthropy program of Chengdu Bureau of Civil Affairs, Chengdu Jinjiang District Social Organization Development Foundation for their huge support to our programs of AEA Aid and Care!,” said Zhang Xuemei, AEA China Programme Coordinator.