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The Sunshine Family Education Centre, based in Luoshui (an earthquake-affected community visited many times by Chengdu Sports Aid), develops parenting skills and improves children’s quality of life in disadvantaged rural areas. Sunshine instills the importance of children’s education, health care, living conditions and healthy child-parent interaction in parents through seminars and workshops to create more harmonious family environments.
Sunshine runs family education seminars for parents twice a month. Seminars address all aspects of family life, but consistently focus on shifting over-emphasis on school grades and academic achievement, to better balance with their physical and emotional welfare. The seminars utilise practical, hands-on demonstrations to emphasise the benefits of their family lessons. At weekends, the centre also facilitates self-help groups and outdoor activities to further instill parenting lessons by putting classroom theory into practice with the children’s participation.
Since Sunshine’s founding in November 2008, the centre has developed a team with strong expertise in family education and development. The staff is composed of two members of the high-level family education guidance division, two members of the mental health division, three social workers and one teacher. This team currently collaborates with the Chengdu branch of Non-Profit Incubator (NPI), whose incubation services will continue until November 2010. The team has also worked with the Trafigura Foundation, which built the community centre in which Sunshine operates.
In addition to providing direct family services, Sunshine is developing a detailed five-year model for the replication of its community centre development and services. Sunshine is looking for a long-term partner (two-three years) to provide funding assistance as well as to collaborate on future expansion. While Luoshui is just one of the disadvantaged areas in need of family development, Sunshine has had enormous success to date and has been well-received by its participants. Sunshine hopes that the implementation of this model in neighboring areas will continue the improvement of children’s welfare in rural Sichuan.