See below for a letter from Guangen Shen. Givology apologizes that it has taken so much time to receive and translate these letters. Please message Guangen back to show your continued support!
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Dear Givology:
My name is Guangen Shen, I am very happy to receive your letter. I really like what you wrote me and thank you very much for your support and encouragement. I also would like to thank you for your financial support, because this is what gives me a chance to study and brings me the opportunity to change my life. Your support is like a lighthouse when I am lost in the sea, helping me find a way out and ensuring that I don’t need to worry about being lost again. I am from a family that isn’t financially secure mostly because my parents are illiterate. They never had a chance to make good money. My two sisters are in school; therefore we are cutting down our expenses trying to save as much money as possible. My parents even had to borrow money from our neighbors door to door in order to get us enough tuition. They also had to work really hard in order to provide us enough money. I can really see how hard they worked from wrinkles on their face and gray hair on their head. Their wrinkles and gray hairs showed me how hard they had worked. However as they get older, they have been getting angry more easily.
My school life is very good right now. My grades are pretty stable as well. I even get financial aid from my school because my grades are good. Even though it wasn’t a lot, it is enough for a week of my living expense. Also it can help my parents a little. The only thing that I feel regret about was that I haven’t got the 800 yuan tuition reduction from my school that I promised to my parents. But I will still keep working hard till my high school career is over. The thing I worry the most is that nowadays my sisters’ college tuition is way too expensive. Things are getting much more expensive but my village's economic situation hasn't improved at all. I also worry that my parents may have to find other jobs in other more dangerous areas in order to make enough money. They are already heavily in debt because of us.
However, I promise myself that I will clear those debts once I enter society because those debts were spent on my tuition.
I really envy you that you can have a harmonious family. My parents are both very stubborn so they fight frequently. It really depresses me. Why can’t they just compromise a little bit? There’s an old saying in Chinese, “When fighting begins, a step backwards will resolve everything." They never think about how we as children feel when they are fighting. Once they even mentioned divorce. That day my sisters and I were all there. Even though I know they are just stubborn and they’d be fine after just couple days, what they said really frightened me. The good thing is later that day they were peaceful again. From that day I told myself I need to be strong. But I also think fighting is excusable and sometimes unpreventable because you can’t really imagine how hard is it to make enough money for your children to get education in China.
I truly thank you, and my family is thankful as well.
And I also hope your parents are happy.
Best,
Feb 29, 2010
Guangen Shen
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Dear Givology:
My name is Guangen Shen, I am very happy to receive your letter. I really like what you wrote me and thank you very much for your support and encouragement. I also would like to thank you for your financial support, because this is what gives me a chance to study and brings me the opportunity to change my life. Your support is like a lighthouse when I am lost in the sea, helping me find a way out and ensuring that I don’t need to worry about being lost again. I am from a family that isn’t financially secure mostly because my parents are illiterate. They never had a chance to make good money. My two sisters are in school; therefore we are cutting down our expenses trying to save as much money as possible. My parents even had to borrow money from our neighbors door to door in order to get us enough tuition. They also had to work really hard in order to provide us enough money. I can really see how hard they worked from wrinkles on their face and gray hair on their head. Their wrinkles and gray hairs showed me how hard they had worked. However as they get older, they have been getting angry more easily.
My school life is very good right now. My grades are pretty stable as well. I even get financial aid from my school because my grades are good. Even though it wasn’t a lot, it is enough for a week of my living expense. Also it can help my parents a little. The only thing that I feel regret about was that I haven’t got the 800 yuan tuition reduction from my school that I promised to my parents. But I will still keep working hard till my high school career is over. The thing I worry the most is that nowadays my sisters’ college tuition is way too expensive. Things are getting much more expensive but my village's economic situation hasn't improved at all. I also worry that my parents may have to find other jobs in other more dangerous areas in order to make enough money. They are already heavily in debt because of us.
However, I promise myself that I will clear those debts once I enter society because those debts were spent on my tuition.
I really envy you that you can have a harmonious family. My parents are both very stubborn so they fight frequently. It really depresses me. Why can’t they just compromise a little bit? There’s an old saying in Chinese, “When fighting begins, a step backwards will resolve everything." They never think about how we as children feel when they are fighting. Once they even mentioned divorce. That day my sisters and I were all there. Even though I know they are just stubborn and they’d be fine after just couple days, what they said really frightened me. The good thing is later that day they were peaceful again. From that day I told myself I need to be strong. But I also think fighting is excusable and sometimes unpreventable because you can’t really imagine how hard is it to make enough money for your children to get education in China.
I truly thank you, and my family is thankful as well.
And I also hope your parents are happy.
Best,
Feb 29, 2010
Guangen Shen
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Dear Givology friends,
Thank you very much for your kind sponsorship. It was your help that gave me the opportunity to go back to the school; it was your help that changed my future. Because of your help, I do not have to be bound by the small land owned by my family anymore. Your help brought a whole new world to my life.
Some time ago, my father accidentally broke his leg and had to be hospitalized. Thanks to the socialist system, half of the hospital expense was covered by the medical insurance provided by the village. This relieved our family from heavy financial burdens. However, since then, the heavy burden of the family fell on my mother’s shoulder. I would like to thank you all for your thoughtfulness and good wishes, and I sincerely wish you all health and happiness.
Last year, my father went out to do part time jobs. No one expected that he came back being very sick. In the hospital, after a series of medical checks, the doctor told him that he had contracted Pneumonia. He was then hospitalized for a long time and that cost him a large amount of money. Perhaps God is fair indeed –my father recovered. But the financial burden on the family increased. Last year, my elder sister went to college in Chengdu. College is such an expensive place! Every time she leaves home for school, she takes a lot of money. My high school education is also costly, but you sponsored 3 months of my living expenses. This is a great comfort for both me and my parents. I am really grateful for your help.
Life here in high school is hectic and hard, but as I have already chosen to come here, I will never give in to the hardship of life. I believe that I will follow what I am pursuing, and I will be able to reach my goals, for I do not want to live a life like my parents. Their fate was determined by the weather and nature, they were not in any power to control their own fate. I don’t want my life to be like that for another generation. But life in high school is beautiful, too. My schoolmates all prove themselves by their hard work. I am just the same; children from the mountains are not inferior to those from the city.
Perhaps because I grew up in the mountains, the mountains mean a lot to me than to most other people. Perhaps I just love the mountains too much; I just love looking at how they extend to places far, far away. In the last geography exam, I was the first in my school. At the beginning I used to think that geography would be a hard subject. However, as time passes, I started to fall in love with this amazing subject –geography. The knowledge presented on the textbook is as exciting to me as fiction, and everything that we talked about in class actually happens right here in my everyday life. I was enchanted by geography. Our country is still poor and underdeveloped nowadays, but all the treasures hidden in the mountains will enable our country to develop and to prosper. Where to find coal, where to find iron, where to build cities… aren’t all of these closely related to geography? Oil is the running blood of our mother nation. I want to find new oil reserves in the country on day, and to help my mother nation prosper. I aspire to become a geologist in the future. I want to be a geologist as useful as LI Siguang.
I also like History and Politics a lot. There are so many stories in history that I can learn from. How interesting it is to read about Napoleon’s great life stories! How exciting it is to learn about the wise men’s life experiences! All the basic economic principles are related to our everyday life. I like Physics and Chemistry too, but since I have already chosen the humanity track, I must give up those subjects. There are a lot of things in life that one has no choice but to give up, and one needs to learn to prioritize. The world of science should be built upon social and economic basis.
Everything is going on well in the school. The teachers are very nice to me, the schoolmates are nice to me, and you too. I love my school, my schoolmates, my teachers, and all of you. In middle school, I used to like arts too - I used to be in charge of the blackboard arts of my class. But in order to prepare for the entrance exam for high schools, I didn’t have much time for arts anymore. In high school, I was even busier and there was no time for me to paint. Now, I guess I can only appreciate others’ arts for the rest of my life.
Time flies. Now I learnt how to cherish time too, as well as how to use my time wisely. As time passes, I would like to sincerely send my best wishes to my friends at Givology: wish you all health and happiness. It’s the Year of Ox in China this year, so let me wish you, in a Chinese way, “??????”! (Best wishes for everything in the Year of Ox!)
Yours sincerely,
Guangen Shen
Thank you very much for your kind sponsorship. It was your help that gave me the opportunity to go back to the school; it was your help that changed my future. Because of your help, I do not have to be bound by the small land owned by my family anymore. Your help brought a whole new world to my life.
Some time ago, my father accidentally broke his leg and had to be hospitalized. Thanks to the socialist system, half of the hospital expense was covered by the medical insurance provided by the village. This relieved our family from heavy financial burdens. However, since then, the heavy burden of the family fell on my mother’s shoulder. I would like to thank you all for your thoughtfulness and good wishes, and I sincerely wish you all health and happiness.
Last year, my father went out to do part time jobs. No one expected that he came back being very sick. In the hospital, after a series of medical checks, the doctor told him that he had contracted Pneumonia. He was then hospitalized for a long time and that cost him a large amount of money. Perhaps God is fair indeed –my father recovered. But the financial burden on the family increased. Last year, my elder sister went to college in Chengdu. College is such an expensive place! Every time she leaves home for school, she takes a lot of money. My high school education is also costly, but you sponsored 3 months of my living expenses. This is a great comfort for both me and my parents. I am really grateful for your help.
Life here in high school is hectic and hard, but as I have already chosen to come here, I will never give in to the hardship of life. I believe that I will follow what I am pursuing, and I will be able to reach my goals, for I do not want to live a life like my parents. Their fate was determined by the weather and nature, they were not in any power to control their own fate. I don’t want my life to be like that for another generation. But life in high school is beautiful, too. My schoolmates all prove themselves by their hard work. I am just the same; children from the mountains are not inferior to those from the city.
Perhaps because I grew up in the mountains, the mountains mean a lot to me than to most other people. Perhaps I just love the mountains too much; I just love looking at how they extend to places far, far away. In the last geography exam, I was the first in my school. At the beginning I used to think that geography would be a hard subject. However, as time passes, I started to fall in love with this amazing subject –geography. The knowledge presented on the textbook is as exciting to me as fiction, and everything that we talked about in class actually happens right here in my everyday life. I was enchanted by geography. Our country is still poor and underdeveloped nowadays, but all the treasures hidden in the mountains will enable our country to develop and to prosper. Where to find coal, where to find iron, where to build cities… aren’t all of these closely related to geography? Oil is the running blood of our mother nation. I want to find new oil reserves in the country on day, and to help my mother nation prosper. I aspire to become a geologist in the future. I want to be a geologist as useful as LI Siguang.
I also like History and Politics a lot. There are so many stories in history that I can learn from. How interesting it is to read about Napoleon’s great life stories! How exciting it is to learn about the wise men’s life experiences! All the basic economic principles are related to our everyday life. I like Physics and Chemistry too, but since I have already chosen the humanity track, I must give up those subjects. There are a lot of things in life that one has no choice but to give up, and one needs to learn to prioritize. The world of science should be built upon social and economic basis.
Everything is going on well in the school. The teachers are very nice to me, the schoolmates are nice to me, and you too. I love my school, my schoolmates, my teachers, and all of you. In middle school, I used to like arts too - I used to be in charge of the blackboard arts of my class. But in order to prepare for the entrance exam for high schools, I didn’t have much time for arts anymore. In high school, I was even busier and there was no time for me to paint. Now, I guess I can only appreciate others’ arts for the rest of my life.
Time flies. Now I learnt how to cherish time too, as well as how to use my time wisely. As time passes, I would like to sincerely send my best wishes to my friends at Givology: wish you all health and happiness. It’s the Year of Ox in China this year, so let me wish you, in a Chinese way, “??????”! (Best wishes for everything in the Year of Ox!)
Yours sincerely,
Guangen Shen
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| Add a Comment
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© 2008 Givology. Givology does not guarantee any repayment or return on your grant of any kind.