"When I first arrived, the children at Mingtian Primary School were very shy. They were reserved in music classes and could not express their thoughts confidently. They seemed shy in everything they did," Ms Hei said, recalling her first impression of the students.

Most of the 157 students at the school had parents who worked in distant places for extended periods. As a result, the children had to be independent from an early age, and some students became shy and introverted because of the long-term absence of their parents.

Ms Hei is in charge of teaching music at the school to all grades from one to six. Her first challenge was encouraging these typically shy children to sing. She clearly remembers asking a boy to sing in class, and how his face turned bright red as he stood up. "He looked as if he wanted the ground to swallow him up. I felt so embarrassed for him that I asked him to sit down."

After that, Ms Hei paid special attention to this boy, encouraging and praising him in class. He gradually became more confident, and he even sang on stage at the graduation ceremony for his primary school.

When Ms Hei recalled this, her face shone with pride and satisfaction. "Perhaps his academic performance wasn't the best, but I believe all students have their own strengths. By giving them more encouragement, they can discover a different side of themselves, and feel noticed by their teachers," she said.

Ms Luo Le is Ms Hei's mentor in teaching. She had contact with the students of Mingtian Primary School before Ms Hei. In 2020, Ms Luo, as a representative inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of the Yi ethnic yueqin, was invited to the school to teach the Yi yueqin.

Although the yueqin has a long tradition in Yi culture, learning the instrument has not been easily accessible for every Yi student. For parents who are busy barely making a living, it has been difficult to support their children in completing compulsory education and obtaining a university education. Consequently, some parents have questioned the usefulness of learning the yueqin.

During the past five years, Ms Luo has witnessed how aesthetic education has changed the children. "The children can now communicate confidently, and stand gracefully and beautifully on a larger stage. They dare to show themselves, perform, and enjoy the stage and the spotlight. I believe this is a real change," she said.

In recent years, during important festivals such as the Yi New Year and Children's Day, the school has invited parents to watch their children's performances on campus or recorded videos of the performances and shared them with the parents. This approach has gradually dispelled parental prejudices about studying the yueqin.

"Parents might never have imagined their children sitting on stage, dressed in beautiful Yi ethnic clothing, holding a yueqin, and performing confidently. They might even feel that these children are not the same ones they know at home. Through this process, the school and the parents have developed trust and understanding," Ms Luo said.

Among Ms Luo's students, some have successfully been admitted to universities to pursue music majors, while others have graduated and returned to Liangshan to work as music teachers.

In addition, a group of families from YWIES Guangzhou spent several days in Liangshan during their 2024 summer holiday. They interviewed the volunteer teachers at Mingtian Primary School and engaged in in-depth exchanges with the students about their life aspirations. They even organised a small summer concert together.

The most memorable aspect of that exchange for Ms Luo was the friendships the children formed. "During the several days of activities, we taught the students from YWIES Guangzhou to sing Yi ethnic nursery rhymes and to play simple traditional tunes on the yueqin, and they taught us to play the accordion. In a friendly and relaxed atmosphere, the students from Mingtian Primary School got a glimpse of the outside world and what the older students from outside were like. These experiences could inspire the directions that our students might wish to pursue," she said.

Dr Betty Chan Po-king, CEO and School Supervisor of YCYW, has always emphasised that what we give to the children is not limited to material things. Faith, hope, and love are the most important gifts we can offer. Through the Seeds of Hope programme, YCYW hopes to nurture the students to become people of exemplary character, who have compassion, empathy, and a belief in the power of education to transform lives.

Next week, Ms Hei and Ms Luo will accompany 12 students from Mingtian Primary School to Guangzhou to participate in the preliminary rehearsals for the Seeds of Hope Concert. On 1 March, these students will take the stage to perform traditional Yi ethnic yueqin music and sing a Yi language song with the students from YCYW.