"May I draw the Great Wall?" asked a 10-year-old girl.

"I want to draw the Tian'anmen," said another boy.

This is an art lesson in a hospital in southwest China's Chongqing, and the "students" are all children being treated for blood diseases, mostly leukemia.

Since early September, the Beijing-based New Sunshine Charity Foundation has collaborated with Xinqiao Hospital, affiliated with the Army Medical University, to set up a special classroom for these children.

"It usually takes one to three years for the children to recover from the disease. Our main purpose is to help them better integrate into school life and society after they complete the treatment," Jiang Dan, who is in charge of the program, told CGTN.

Language, science, art and health are among the subjects taught by Jiang and other volunteers in a room next to the children's ward. Four classes are held each week.

"We design the courses mainly based on the children's interests, which have to be suitable for children of different ages," explained Jiang.

The classroom has been welcomed by the children since it launched.

"I've learned a lot here. In a class earlier, I got to know different countries and regions, and the seven continents and four oceans using a globe. That's interesting," said a 12-year-old boy.

"I often felt bored and lonely without any friends to play with this past year. I'm not used to this kind of life. But I feel very happy spending time with other children here," another 10-year-old girl told CGTN.

The National Health Commission says 15,000 children are diagnosed each year with leukemia, and some 80 percent of the cases are curable. However, the long and painful treatment process poses a big challenge for the families involved.

"There are many do's and don'ts for children with blood diseases who are confined in the hospital. This is not just a platform to learn some knowledge. The activities in class can relieve them physically and psychologically. I really appreciate the foundation and the volunteers," said Chen Hongfu, father of a patient.

The hospital shows strong support for this initiative, with many of the medical staff expressing willingness to volunteer.

"In recent years, we have been making efforts to provide more humanized service to patients while working hard to improve our medical and nursing standards. I think this is a good attempt in this regard," said Song Caiping, vice president of the hospital.

Song added that such care from people of different walks of life is different from that from medical staff, which will bring the children joy and relaxation, thus empowering them with more confidence.

Jiang says a challenge for the program is how to enroll more volunteers with different expertise who would like to serve long-term.

(Cover photo: Jiang Dan, an employee of the New Sunshine Charity Foundation, teaches a child to paint. /CGTN Photo)