The recent lockdowns in Changsha have caused a lot of stress on our staff. After finishing a 14-day shift at the care centre, our vocational training project manager, Karen Lee, was required to return home immediately for self-quarantine.

We spoke with Karen to find out the latest news on our vocational training project at the Lighthouse:

“The Lighthouse is located in Tian Xin District. We offer vocational training classes for young people over 18 years old. These students come from ICC’s community group homes in our Changsha Care Centre, and families in our community.”

Karen and the Changsha team have been working closely with local organisations to connect with families around the neighbourhood. “The community helped us to promote our programme. We also contacted some older children who were involved in FPP. Because FPP serves children who are under 18, we hope that they will join our vocational training programme when they graduate from our FPP programmes.”

The modules include crafts, music, cooking, sign language, personal development and life skills to suit various needs and abilities. A weekly class schedule has been designed with the young people’s needs in mind, and they are encouraged and guided to select their own choice of modules.

The vocational trainers meet with the parents regularly to discuss the young people’s progress. Since the programme began, the young people have found benefits in the classes, and they have been coming almost everyday. They love to learn and spend time with their classmates.

At the beginning of the programme, there were three trainers, including Karen herself. But recently there has been a staff shortage, and Karen also has to look after the Little Ark, another one of ICC’s vocational projects in Changsha. “We only have one vocational trainer available to teach at the Lighthouse. While Xun, our trainer, gives a small class, the rest of the group are supervised by ICC’s young adults, Gui and Dongxiu, to make crafts,” Karen commented.

Due to a surge of Covid cases in the nearby provinces, the local government has recently imposed lockdown restrictions in Changsha. With students no longer able to attend in-person classes, attendance dropped significantly as students found the transition to online learning difficult.

“During the lockdown at the Lighthouse, the young people attended the online classes conducted by Xun and our social workers. Initially, it was tough because it was a matter of getting used to doing classes virtually. Then, difficulties came when there was a drop in attendance. Xun took the initiative to do a cooking class on a social media platform, Tik Tok. She taught them simple ways to prepare dishes. We asked the young people to cook and take photos of what they cooked. In this way, we were sure that the young people could cook by themselves when alone at home. The families were very supportive, as our programme helped bring some comfort and relief to the parents.”
— Karen Lee, ICC Volunteer and Vocational Training Project Manager

As the Covid situation settles, in-person classes will be reestablished. We look forward to having eager young people back at the Lighthouse, as well as new entrants as we expand the programme.