Young volunteer spreads knowledge, love to rural students

Unwilling to idle away her spare time sitting around in her dorm, 24-year-old Yin Shaman has been committed to public welfare since junior middle school.

After entering college, she used free time to teach in more than 20 mountain primary schools, and visited more than 30 remote villages. 

A childhood experience inspired her to help others.

Yin was in poor health when she was a little girl. Once when she was at the hospital, she saw how a volunteer cared for a patient, which made a great impression on her. Then the spirit of volunteerism took root in her heart.

After entering junior middle school, the then-12-year-old joined the school's volunteers' association and started her journey with public welfare.

During the six years of middle school, she organized and participate in various voluntary services in her free time - more than 120 times, despite her busy study schedule.

After enrolling in Jishou University in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture in Central China's Hunan province, Yin joined the university's volunteer association. That was when she started to turn her attention to elementary education in remote areas.

"I'm from a national-level poor county. Every time when I go back and see the backwardness of my hometown, I want to do something," she said. 

During her four years at college, she led her team to eight counties and cities in Xiangxi, visited more than 30 poverty-stricken Miao villages and surveyed 170 families. She found that children in poor mountainous areas were in urgent need of spiritual care, so she set up courses in music, art and sports.

In addition to voluntary teaching, she also launched initiatives and public welfare projects to help students, and raised 50,000 yuan-worth of necessities for those in need.

On the road of public welfare, Yin is not alone. She has been gradually gathering a group of like-minded friends to join her.

"At the very beginning, no one was willing to spend half of a day to teach students voluntarily. To get more support, I share my stories with the kids on social media," Yin said.

A growing number of people joined her team. "At that time I strongly felt the warmth and love between people. I've found that the world we live in is so beautiful," she said.

Under her leadership, over 1,000 people at the university have joined her, and social organizations also lend a hand to the students through donations and one-to-one funding.

"To change the world is difficult. What I can do is to change little things around me. Maybe it's just a child or a family, but it's enough for me," Yin said.