A teacher (in green uniform) explains the key procedures of picking vegetables to the students. [Photo by Yu Zhaoyu]

At the "Love Vegetable and Fruit Farming Therapy Base" of Xiaolan Bohua Special Education School, several students harvest vegetables with their teachers. Not only can they use tools skillfully, but they can also distinguish the varieties of vegetables. They are equally familiar to the fruits and vegetables they have grown by themselves.

Since the establishment of the base in June 2019, it has been a busy scene here every day. "The farming therapy base is about 300 square meters large. The kids like planting activities very much and have so far grown more than 70 varieties of vegetables and fruits," said Deng Miaohua, principal of Xiaolan Bohua Special Education School.

Recently, the Guangdong Bohua Charity Fund for the Disabled and Zhongshan Xiaolan Bohua Special School jointly launched the "Love Hand in Hand, Nurture Seedlings Together" campaign, thus calling on people of good will from all walks of life to take part in the adoption and nurturing of fruits and vegetables.

Deng Miaohua said that the farming therapy campaign mainly targets children with mental retardation, cerebral palsy and autism. Through participation in agricultural planting, they may gradually regain their labor skills, understand the types of fruits and vegetables, gain a sense of achievement and self-confidence in their work, and promote interpersonal communication and group cooperation, which can help them return to society.

"Farming therapy leads to significant results. The change in the children strengthens our confidence in continuing these activities," said Deng Miaohua, adding that, by practicing in the base for a time, students can basically master agricultural labor skills, and their illness has been relieved and cured, which lays a foundation for their future employment. "We plan to buy some potted plants, hoping to expose students to more differnet things."