State Grid Zhejiang volunteers illuminates Yi villages in Sichuan with solar energy and educational support

In July, the Little Grass Volunteer Service Team from State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power visited Ganluo county, Sichuan, for the seventh time in five years. This trip, part of the "Echo of Mountains and Seas" rural revitalization program, marked a shift from infrastructure development to providing educational support for underprivileged children in China's largest Yi community.

Since 2021, the team has installed more than 1,600 photovoltaic streetlamps in Ganluo, improving safety in remote mountain villages where 98 percent of the terrain is mountainous and power supply has long been limited. The new "Lighting the Lamp Within" initiative targets students from low-income families, renovating study spaces, rewiring unsafe rooms, and providing desks, bookshelves, eye-care lamps, and books as volunteers also pledged one-on-one mentorship to offer ongoing support.

In Eboluo village, eight-year-old Luo Yaxin—who lost her mother as a baby and lives with her disabled father and elderly great-grandmother—received a new lamp and bookcase. "The light is as bright as the stars," she said. "I will study hard and leave these mountains one day".

The trip also included cultural exchanges. As gratitude to the team, local Yi embroidery master Axi Wuzhimuo presented hand-stitched vests with traditional patterns to each volunteer.

Ganluo County Deputy Chief Wang Yiheng praised the project for "lighting both the village and the children's hearts". Founded in 1990, the Little Grass Volunteer Service Team has grown from a small local squad into a nationwide network, combining technical expertise with long-term community engagement to support rural revitalization across China.