Registered volunteer fifth and sixth graders at Shenzhen Hongling Primary School, led by parent volunteers from the school’s parents’ committee, prepared hand-made soaps for their teachers ahead of International Women’s Day. This year’s March 5 marked the 14th Shenzhen Volunteer Day. When the bell rang at 4 p.m. that day, the young volunteers could hardly wait to go to the school’s volunteer station to learn soap-making. They started to make soaps by themselves after class the next day and carefully followed the instructions step by step. The students first melted a bag of soap base with hot water into a viscid state, then added 100 milliliters of clear water as well as a few drops of fragrant oils and essences. “Every time you add oil and essence, it’s about five to 10 drops, and then you stir it until it’s evenly distributed,” the instructor reminded the children during the process. Afterwards, the students chose molds in such shapes as leaves, dog paws and flowers according to their preferences. The goopy soap mixture was poured into the molds and took shape after standing for a while. The young volunteers brought their hand-made soaps that were created with love and creativity to their teachers the next mornig on Women’s Day. “The students were very excited and happy and when they were making the soaps. It meant a lot to them to be able to show their gratitude to teachers with their hand-made works,” said Zeng Yingzhi, monitor of Class 2, Grade 6 of Hongling Primary School. (Zhang Yu) | 