It was the first Children's Day after the earthquake. Volunteers from a team called "One More Kilogram" set up the first "One More Kilogram Tent Library" for 800 children in Mianzhu Stadium, one of the resettling locations. They spent an unforgettable and special festival reading, drawing and playing games with kids here.
Kids reading and drawing in the One More Kilogram Tent Library.
After careful preparation, One More Kilogram left Chengdu for Mianzhu Stadium on May 30 with supplies to build a tent library. Work on the tent was completed on May 31. On June 1, Children's Day, the library formally opened. It consisted of four 9-square-meter awnings and two tents which could accommodate eight people each. Equipped with hardware facilities such as bookshelves, desks and chairs, it exhibited 2,000 children's books and provided ample painting supplies. Many volunteers from Chengdu participated in the activity the day it opened.
Kids drawing under the volunteers' instruction.
Kids admiring the beautiful children's books.
How concentrated this boy is on his drawing!
These excellent books will be available for children at this tent during the next two to three months. Volunteers from One More Kilogram will work at the tent in shifts to ensure its proper operation and to provide constant support and service.
A child drawing in One More Kilogram Tent Library
After returning to Chengdu, the volunteers put together everything they learned from establishing the library and began to write the Volunteers Operating Manual and Training Lesson Plans for Principals. In coming days, One More Kilogram Tent libraries will be set up one after another in resettling locations and tent schools, with the goal of promoting the healthy growth of students in disaster areas.
(Source: Volunteer's blog, translated by Wang Wei for China.org.cn, June 5, 2008)