The birth of a mission
In August 2013, during a visit to serve in rural China, I encountered a large number of the phenomenon known as "Left-behind Children" . A look at the data reveals that as China's society develops and the economy rapidly accelerates, more and more of the country's farming population have ventured into urban cities to make their living. These migrants leave behind their children in their home villages, resulting in a group categorized as "Left-behind Children" . This has become an issue of great social concern for China.
Being inspired by the "Left-behind Children" and burdened by the desire to understand the needs of them, we have visited China's remote and impoverished areas. We have encountered many tragic stories: aging grand-parents who were sad and ashamed of not being able to take care of their "Left-behind Grand-Children" ; "Left-behind Children" troubled and paranoid because the families' only breadwinners died in traffic accidents; and parents separated or divorced due to long term physical separation. China has never experienced a problem of similar nature, like the one being discussed in its past thousands of years! In the past, no matter how difficult the situation was and how hard life had become, the children always stayed and endured the ups and downs of life with their parents. However, in this era, large groups of parents have left their children in their home villages in order to work in the cities for their livelihoods. They have no choice but to rely on the grandparents or neighbors to take care of their children and return to visit only once per year or even over a span of several years.
In the absence of parental guidance, "Left-behind Children" often wander around in groups and many encounter accidents. Every year, tens of thousands of children die in drowning, traffic accidents and accidental poisoning in China. A great majority of them are "Left-behind Children" . In addition, because of loneliness and isolation, their personalities often become eccentric, with low self-esteem, and they easily plunge into negative emotions such as grief, anxiety, and resentment. Their self-value and outlook on life become depressed, and it is easy for them to go astray. This group of growing "Left-behind Children" , in the long absence of parental guidance and discipline, lose their sense of direction in life. In terms of personality, moral character, learning, mentality, and family values, or even the meaning of life, they are easily led astray by societ's negative influences, which could potentially lead to a widespread social crisis, or epidemic, of wayward youth.
