Children from Ghana have successfully gone through a free flights and services training-both in the air and on the ground- in sino-african kids camp program in China.

The  philanthropic program, "Love in the Sunshine - the 2016 China-Africa Children Summer Camp", started on July 29 and  brought in Eighty children from African countries and southern China together to promote the healthy development of children and adolescents in Africa and  China, was hosed by  China's national flag carrier, Air China

The children, mostly from AIDS-affected areas like South Africa, Ghana and Zimbabwe, as well as the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Hunan and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, arrived in the Chinese capital for the first time in their lives for the program.

Aside from routine guides, the children also honed challenging skills such as how to accomplish an emergency evacuation and safely organize passengers to leave an aircraft when it lands on water.

Addressing the children at the Palace Museum, or Forbidden City, in Beijing, in the opening ceremony of the camp, Peng Liyuan, wife of President Xi Jinping and the World Health Organization's goodwill ambassador for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, said:

"Like the healthy, children suffering or affected by AIDS are the world's future, and regardless of their HIV status, nationality and color, they deserve care, support and a happy childhood,"

The national flight company opened its Beijing base to the children for a whole day, with pilots and flight attendants giving them beginners' training on board advanced planes regarding how to fly a big aircraft and best serve passengers

The annual summer camp program was initiated in 2010 by the Chinese Association of STD and AIDS Prevention and Control. This year's tour was reportedly the first with children from Africa taking part.

By Abdul Malik/ghanaguardian.com