Senior volunteers depart Shanghai to help out in Xinjiang

Twenty volunteers left Shanghai for northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Wednesday to assist in local development.

The Shanghai volunteers, with an average age of 63, are skilled in medical treatment, education and psychological consultation, according to the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.

They will stay at 10 working units in Kashgar, Yecheng, Shache and Bachu counties, as well as Karamay City, for more than two months, providing assistance for local hospitals, disease control and prevention centers, child welfare institutes and schools, the bureau said.

A ceremony was held on Wednesday morning for family and friends before they embarked on their journey to Xinjiang.

"I feel a strong sense of responsibility and honor to contribute to the development of Xinjiang, and I will do my best there," volunteer Yang Kejun said.

Shanghai has sent 351 senior volunteers to the autonomous region over the past 15 years since the "senior campaign" program was launched in 2003.