Most of the target children live in families with domestic problems. Some have divorced, disabled or drug-using parents, while others suffer from domestic violence. Such disadvantages in their family lives make many of these children unsociable, irritable, or loathe to study. Some run away from home and take to lives of crime.

Xie Yun, 83, is a volunteer teacher with the team. She vividly remembers when she first visited the household of Ma Wei (pseudonym) about 10 years ago. "I knocked on the door several times, and it opened. But I couldn't see anyone. Suddenly a voice came from below: "Hello, please come in." "A middle-aged disabled man was sitting on a mat beside the door. He couldn't walk, and shuffled his way inch by inch across the floor," Xie recalled. Ma moved over and poured a small cup of hot water for Xie, expressing his gratitude for the volunteer's concerns for his child. "He told me: 'I want to help my child, but I can't do it all by myself.' My eyes welled with tears," Xie told an interviewer from CCTV. That moment steeled her resolve to devote her retirement to helping children in need.

Before joining the volunteer team, Yu Shuhua tutored a boy with divorced parents free of charge. "To improve his writing, I asked him to jot down what he wanted to say in a notebook, and wrote style comments below his writings. One day I found he had written: 'I don't know whether I should live or die' when writing about his parents' relationship," Yu said. The inner sorrow conveyed by the words astounded Yu, and reminded her of a study by an American psychologist finding that the harm imposed on a child by divorce is second only to death.

"Some children need help, so people need to extend helping hands," Yu said.

No Child Left Behind

With more volunteer teachers trickling in, the team has expanded to nine members. In 11 years of service, they've tutored and guided 68 disadvantaged children through difficult years. Most of those they have helped have entered colleges or vocational schools. The team's guiding principle is that no child should be left behind in receiving an all-important education.

They usually tutor at the children's homes to save the children time and ensure effective communication with parents. Sometimes they take children to their own apartments for tutoring if the living environment in the children's homes is not conducive to study.

Apart from providing academic guidance, the volunteer teachers also try their best to instill in children a healthy and optimistic attitude towards life.

Ten years ago, Zhang Li (pseudonym) was a shy and introverted girl. Her parents divorced and her family lived on the government subsistence allowance. Zhang began to stammer when she was in primary school, which made her even more reluctant to participate in class discussions for fear of becoming a laughingstock. Xie helped her by teaching her to read texts sentence by sentence, sometimes with the help of interesting games.

When Zhang made a little progress, Xie would lavish her with compliments and encouragement. Zhang's willingness to speak was greatly enhanced. After months of exercises, Zhang lost her stammer. Whenever there was a gathering or party held by the volunteer team for its students, Xie always encouraged Zhang to give a speech or a performance. Gradually Zhang became more active. Today, 17-year-old Zhang is a confident leader at the Beijing Foreign Trade School student union.

Spreading the Spirit

"Their volunteer work ethic has exerted great influence on nearby communities," said Zhang Yanling, director of the education and culture section of the Laoshan Sub-district Office. More and more retired residents have begun to show an interest in joining the volunteer team. "One 90-year-old resident who can't join in the team's activities for health reasons has been donating money to the team for years. He makes contributions in his own way," Zhang said.

Due to media coverage of the team, some students from colleges and high schools around Beijing began to contact the team, hoping to join.

"But it's not easy to find suitable and qualified volunteers. Many people join but soon quit, exhausted by the tiring and demanding workload," said Shao Yupei, head of the team. His team has high requirements for volunteer teachers, and looks for passionate, optimistic candidates with rich teaching experience.

As of now, the average age of teachers in the team is 70. It's imperative to recruit new members, and they are busy finding and training volunteer students from the North China University of Technology, the nearest university to the community.

Inspired by the volunteer team in Laoshan community, many communities in Shijingshan District have followed suit and established volunteer teams of their own. The local government has even introduced a program called "big hands holding small hands," which tries to build an education bridge between schools and communities. Schools provide lists of students in need, and community service centers are responsible for finding volunteers to offer tutoring help. Shao and her volunteer team are modest about their achievements. "We're greatly honored by accolades, approvals and support from the government and people from all walks of life. Recognition of our efforts encourages us to carry the volunteer spirit forward. We're really happy that we can be useful and valuable to the society in our old age."