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On 31st January 2010, 233 farmers, who used to work in the farm land, put down their hoes and turned themselves into athletes. What happened? It turned out that the first volunteer sports meeting was held in Chun Hua County Stadium that day. 233 volunteers from 128 villages of Chun Hua County and Plan China staff together participated into the sports meeting. Look here! Secretary Ren, over 50 years old now, dribbled the ball in a very skillful and adept way. While his excellent performance gained him thunderous applauses, few people knew that he used to be the school basketball team leader 30 years ago. Over there, Ms. Zhang played rope skipping as light as a swallow, which drew a lot attention from many passer-bys. One of the activities was called “Teamwork”. In this section, the working staff had two volunteers bound together; they are mother and daughter. On seeing them, the audience couldn’t help burst into laughers. Then, the volunteers competed with each other in the bowling contest, in which the bowling ball was replaced by a basketball and the wooden tracks were replaced by plastic bottles. To best demonstrate team spirit, all participants were divided into 6 teams according to different townships. Finally, the team from Run Township, where the mother and daughter volunteers belonged, worked together and got the third prize. The other five teams from other townships also reaped the first prize, the second prize and the organizational prize. Mr. Han from Zhang Jia Ling Village, who used to be a teacher, said, “What we volunteers need is not only material incentive but also spiritual care! I have been a volunteer for 6 years and this is the first time that Plan China has held a sports meeting for us. It not only allows us to display our talents and abilities, to take exercise for improving our physical health, but also helps us to build up a closer relationship. I consider it as an event of great significance. ” Attendants at the opening ceremony of the sports meeting included Luo Lixia, Chairwoman of Chun Hua County Women's Federation, Zhu Youhai, the Programme Unit Manager, directors from different Township Programme Office (TPO), mangers from other PU and some other Plan China staff. On that evening, a special “get-together” party was also held for volunteers in Chun Hua Programme Unit (PU). The volunteers designed and presented various wonderful and splendid programmes, including chorus, vocal solo, poem reading, opera, painting, solo dance, instrument playing, and knowledge quiz. Child protection was also one theme of the volunteer activities. On 30th January, Plan China staff delivered systematic child protection training for all the volunteers and TPO staff. Basing the number of the townships, the training was divided into 5 parallel sessions. This activity aims at strengthening the links between volunteers and Plan China, establishing a communication platform for volunteers, and in addition further deepening volunteers’ awareness of child protection.
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