School bus driver picks up students in the mountain village

When many people are still in bed in the early morning, Kou Shudong, a 55-year-old school bus driver, has been driving on a winding mountain road to send village children to school.

A school bus on a mountain road in Huachangyu village, Hebei Province, October 18 2018. [Photo: VCG]

Kou from Huachangyu village in Hebei Province has been dedicated to picking up students living in the mountain to go to school for seven years.

To ensure all the students punctuality, Kou gets up at 5 a.m. and arrives at the bus station before 6 a.m.. He is in charge of students from seven schools in the town and township, the longest one-way journey to school takes him one and half hour.

Interior view of a school bus in Huachangyu village, Hebei Province, October 18 2018. [Photo: VCG]

Kou checks the vehicle twice a day before and after the shift and prepares first aid kit for children. Sometimes when the road is blocked due to bad weather, Kou has to clean the road by himself.

Kou's school bus has driven 200,000 kilometers in the small village and he has helped hundreds of students in the village get out of the mountain. It's not a merely a transport tool for the kids in Huachangyu village, but a hope.

A bus driver cleans a school bus in Huachangyu village, Hebei Province, October 18 2018. [Photo: VCG]

Many students in the village are left behind children. "My parents are divorced and I am living alone, sometimes I oversleep. I am very thankful that Kou will wait up for me," said a boy in the village.