Excerpts from a field report by OCEF volunteer Hao Yang January 15, 2012; Wumiao Township, Jianyang City, Sichuan Province
Wumiao Township is an impoverished and underdeveloped area in the southwestern province of Sichuan. In the past, OCEF has donated a library to a local school. This coming school year, the foundation will provide financial assistance to 10 elementary school students in Wumiao.
Earlier this year, Hao Yang, an OCEF volunteer and coordinator of the foundation's Donor and Member Services team, conducted a field visit to Wumiao. During his trip, Hao visited the OCEF-funded library and the homes of the ten students to be supported by the OCEF. A few snapshots of the students and their families are presented in this issue of the Newsflash, while the full text of Hao's field report can be found at https://china.ocef.org/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=86405&extra=.
Xingyu is a smart boy, and earns excellent grades in school. His father is blind, and his mother has a rheumatic heart condition, which prevents her from strenuous physical work. His grandparents stay with them and help them care for the few fruit trees and pigs that the family has. Without an able-bodied worker, there is hardly any income for the family. Their home is an old adobe building, which contains the family's only assets: a TV set, a few simple pieces of furniture, and several piglets.
Yunfang has two older siblings, and her mother is illiterate. Originally from an ethnic minority area in western Sichuan, her family migrated to Jianyang in search of a better life. However, without a Hukou, the local residency permit, the family could not acquire proper farmland to cultivate, and has to farm on lands that nobody else wants. For the same reason, the family is not entitled to any government welfare. As a result, the family of five has to make do with a very meager income. They live in a shack-like adobe house that they rent from a relative, and have little furniture and no electric appliances.
Jianying’s father is almost 70 years old, and her mother suffers from mental illness. Someone has brought her brother, who is also mentally ill, to make a living away from home. The family lives in a dilapidated old house, and a lone goat is their only "major" asset.
Yuling’s mother left her shortly after she was born, and her father is a migrant worker who rarely visits home. Yuling lives on a paltry sum of RMB¥100-200 (approx. USD$16-32) that her father sends her each month. In addition to herself, she also has to support and take care of her mentally sick grandmother. Yet the sixth grader is doing well in school, and has received numerous certificates of excellence for her academic performance, which she proudly displays on the walls at home.
To protect their privacy, we did not include the students' full names in this newsflash. If you would like to pledge a donation to a particular student, please contact OCEF.
为保护受助学生的隐私，《捐赠人快讯》不公布学生全名。有意赞助某一特定学生的捐赠人请同OCEF联络。
Postscript (编后语)
While we, the editors of the Newsflash, were browsing through Hao's field report, we were most impressed not by the poverty that these children have to cope with, but by their desire and efforts to achieve a better future for themselves and their families. As this issue of the Newsflash draws to a close, we hope that you, too, will remember these children not only for their shabby surroundings, but also for the twinkles of hope in their eyes.
They have much to overcome in life. They can do it. We can help.
Located in the mountainous county of Zhijin, Guizhou Pronvince, Minghua Elementary School is a minban (non-government-sponsored) school with a total enrollment of 321. OCEF has recently launched a campaign to raise $6,500 for a new library at Minhua. For further information or to contribute to the campaign, see https://www.causes.com/causes/375784-ocef-overseas-china-education-foundation/actions/1629512.
