Donated to:
Longfeng Ran (冉龙凤)
$250 of $250 donated
Sichuan, China
My family has endured many unforeseen obstacles. My sister passed away when I was six years old. In the past decade, I have been through many misfortunes that others seldom experience. My father’s leg was injured in an accident recently, but even before the accident, my family had barely enough income. My mother’s physical condition is failing, and my family has reached a point of destitution. We live on farming and raising pigs, and our main source of income was my father’s job. I cannot continue my education because my family does not have enough money right now. My brother has already dropped out of school. I never complained when I was doing housework and farmwork for the family, but when my parents told me that they could no longer afford my tuition fee, I felt distressed and depressed. I wish I can support my family, but I feel that I would not be able to shoulder much weight as a young woman in the family. My parents had been saving money for me to study, and learning w...
Pengfang Zhang (张鹏芳)
$250 of $250 donated
Sichuan, China
My family has struggled with economic hardships my entire life. Since my father passed away when I was only six months old, I never had the chance to utter the words “daddy”. After the death of my father, my mother shouldered the responsibilities of raising two children. At times when the crop harvest was poor, I would often suffer hunger pains from not having enough to eat. Coming from a single-parent family, my older brother and I would often be made fun of by other children in the village for not having a father. However, I learned to bear these hardships without complaint because I know that my mother has to be even stronger to support the family. I used to contemplate the option of ending my education in order to support my older brother’s schooling. I know this would also lessen my mother’s burdens by reducing the cost of two tuition bills. However, with the help of past donors, I am again seeing hope in my future. (Translated from Pengfang’s autobiographical sketch)
Li Zheng (郑丽)
$250 of $250 donated
Sichuan, China
My family relies on our annual harvest to support all of our expenses. However, due to recent droughts, my parents have had to spend money to buy water for our crops. Due to this new cost in crop harvesting, my brother and I borrowed money from relatives in order to pay for tuition. Sometimes when my parents fall sick, they choose not to receive medical treatment in order to afford our tuition. They normally wait out the illness and hope that they will recover soon, instead of spending the family’s resources that they have reserved to pay for our tuition. But since my older brother and I both have excellent grades at school, my parents deem the sacrifices to be worth it. I recall one instance at school that made my poverty all the more apparent in comparison to my fellow students. When I first entered middle school, my teacher told me that I could not receive any of the new textbooks because my tuition had not been paid in full. Although unwilling and embarrassed, I passed the new...
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