Read her full letter (in Chinese) translated
Her father went door to door collecting money to keep her in school after she told him she wanted to quit school due to costs. To this day, her memory of the shadow of his back as he walked through the doors to lock in her future keeps her going.
Stories about the pure perseverance of children and parents in the rural villages in Sichuan and Yun Nan in China bring tears to my eyes when I translate them. The students from Peach Foundation all come from families that make $25 a month. Living in New York City, I spent $25 on dinner without a blink of the eye. Not to mention how astronomical my rent must seem… Each word that middle schoolers like Lu Yu Fang write symbolizes a dose of reality for me. It grounds me and reminds me of the power of the human spirit in conquering obstacles. I feel a sense of appreciation for what I have here and admiration for the Peach students’ ability to transcend above their physical hardships.
Themes that come up in the letters I translate are sacrifice, duty, and desire. Here’s a passage by Yang Wen Hua , a 9th grader in Yun Nan (South China) :
I deeply believe that though there will always be tough times, I will always fight against the difficulties and continue. No matter how dark it gets at night, the morning sun will always rise; no matter how strong the cold wind, warm spring winds will always return. Now, I am standing at the starting line of high school.
Surprisingly, he describes his envy and resentment towards others more fortunate than him and even his own parents in the paragraph right before this one. He is hurting from the inequality he sees but learns to channel it to an insatiable desire to do well at school and prove that he can bring his family and himself to a better future.
You can read his letter here
When I finished translating the letters, I felt duty and desire as well, perhaps borrowed from the students whose lives I just transcribed. My hours of work translating the Peach students’ letters could be seen to some as “sacrifice” (especially at 1am at night!), but they fuel me in building Givology so it can continue to serve the students who depend so much on us to dream and live each day with more ambition.