A picture appeared on my social media feed a few weeks ago, part of a post from nearly ten years ago. In it, I’m surrounded by a small group of primary school children eagerly looking over my shoulder while I read them a book. I remember these children with fondness and wonder where they are now.

When a friend and I first met them, the children lived in a remote and economically depressed village. Their school had ten students and three teachers. Most of the people in the village had moved to larger cities with better opportunities including for their children’s education. The students still at the school were “留守儿童¹,” “left-behind children,” entrusted to the care of grandparents while their parents worked in bigger cities, sometimes hundreds of kilometers away.

Since I first met these children, government projects have sparked a transformation in rural areas. At that time, however, being “left behind” in a dying village meant that they were likely to 落后², fall behind. By the time they began to board at a district school in 5^th or 6^th grade, they lagged far behind many of their peers.

A school like theirs struggled to recruit skilled teachers because they too preferred better jobs in bigger cities. Many village schools had partially trained teachers (graduates of a teacher training high school) who might pour their hearts into teaching math and Chinese. However, recruiting English teachers who were in high demand everywhere was impossible. Since English is a required subject starting in grade 3, by the time these children moved to the district school, they were already two or three years behind their peers. Were they able to catch up?

Their grandparent caregivers may have been unable to help them with homework, too ill or too busy keeping the family fields planted and harvested without modern equipment. Moreover, possibly never having been to school themselves, their grandparents may have lacked the skills and experience, not to mention value for education, to offer much encouragement. Were the children behind in math and Chinese too?

In the primitive surroundings of their village, they were accustomed to hole-in-the-ground toilets and bucket baths with water hauled from a communal well. Staying clean was also challenging because rooms at home and school were blackened in winter by coal-burning stoves, then dusted by spring sandstorms. When they moved to the district school which had both running water and piped-in heat, were they embarrassed to learn different rules for personal hygiene?

The move to the district school may also have afforded their first real exposure to the internet. Even if a family member had a cell phone, their village was outside cell tower range, and Wi-Fi wasn’t available. In the last ten years, the shift from internet usage to reliance on AI tools has been huge for the average student. In that same period, how hard was the transition for these children from no internet to cell phones to AI tools?

If these children managed to persist, they would be in high school now, requiring a second move, this time to the county seat. Prior to high school, they may have had few city experiences with its crowds of people and a public transportation system, shops and restaurants lining its many streets. How long did they feel like country bumpkins before they settled in? Have they settled in?

If they didn’t manage to persist, they’re likely working jobs with long hours, ten to twelve hours a day, seven days a week, with one or possibly two days off a month. Do they have hope? A sense of purpose? Do they know that they are loved?

Before the rural transformation, these children were in many ways left behind by society and the education system. Moreover, their parents, although with love, left them behind in their grandparents’ care while supporting the family in faraway places. As a result, they may still lag behind their peers in various ways.

Yet, they are not forgotten.

After a number of visits to their village school, a friend and I still hold these students in our hearts. Even more, the Advocate, who has always welcomed children into the circle of His arms, loves them fiercely. They are the apple of His eye and have a safe place in the shadow of His wings. Wherever they are now, whoever they are becoming, may they run into His arms!

And woe to anyone who denies them access!

1. liu shou er tong ↩︎
2. luo hou ↩︎