'Family' Help

Tien Ching, founder of EGRC, speaking of her decadelong commitment to helping girls in rural China.[Photo provided to China Daily]

She says women's independence has two aspects, the economic and the spiritual. The latter can be reached by widening one's knowledge and deepening one's insights.

Concerned that the women might suffer from self-abasement, a sense of frustration or other negative feelings toward city life, EGRC has an emotional support team of 10 teachers that helps the young women deal with daily life and work.

"We spare no effort in ensuring their growth and building up their confidence," says Tien. "We have turned to experts from Academy of Psychology and Behavior in Tianjing Normal University for professional help."

Over the past three years, volunteers who were born or have studied overseas have also joined Tien's group to provide free English lessons in Gansu and Guizhou provinces.

Liu Xiaochun, a graduate of the University of Queensland, has spent eight days in Yuzhong county, Gansu province, as part of an English program co-organized by EGRC and the Australia-China Youth Association.

"I told the girls how I made the life-changing decision to go to study in Australia, how I struggled to understand people when I first arrived in Australia, how I visited Vietnam, Thailand, the US and made friends with locals ... Every time when I shared the emotional moments in my life, I could tell from the girls' eyes that they were empowered, or inspired, and so was I," Liu wrote in a post on the group's WeChat official account about her experience in Gansu.

"Far beyond English teaching and learning, we went through a journey of discovering ourselves."