My hometown Guangping is a small village bordering Shanxi, Gansu and Sichuan. Generations of people have spent their lives here, hoping one day to escape from these rocky mountains, to escape poverty. My family, consisting of my grandpa, father, mother and brother, is a poor but close-knit one. My father’s strict teaching disciplined my brother and me; my mother’s warm and hard-working hands brought home happiness and the strength to live. With our parents’ love and support, my brother and I thrived in school. At end of every semester, our good grades and our teachers’ positive comments always brought great happiness to our family. As we grew older and moved up grades, increasing tuition and living expenses put heavy burdens on our family. We depend on our poor land for our income. My father has a severe gastric disease due to overworking when he was younger, so he can’t do much physically demanding work. In order to support my brother and me in school, my mother boarded the train to Xi’an in order to find work there. Is it life that’s unfair, or fate that is cruel? Only one year after my mother left home, she got in a car accident that disabled her right leg. That year, I was in third grade and my brother was in fifth grade. That year, we were cold and deeply grieved, but our village neighbors extended their warm hands to us. Their encouraging words still ring in my ears. That year, my brother and I promised ourselves that we will work our hardest, to enrich ourselves with knowledge in order to become useful people and repay those who once helped us. Because of the kind help of our neighbors, I survived the saddest year of my life.
However, fate orchestrated another misfortune upon our family. A 5.12 level earthquake broke the peace of my hometown Ningqiang. Within a few seconds, our warm home was torn to pieces. Just like six years ago, we were crushed by this tragedy. Deeply grieved and torn, I hesitated and struggled. Should I give up school so my brother, who was one year away from entering college, can continue his academic career? Or should I keep working hard to realize my own dream? After a long struggle, my parents’ words gave me a renewing strength: “As long as you try your best, wherever you choose to go, we’ll give everything for you to be there.” I had nothing to say to their love but tears.
Profile
Updates
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18 OCT 2010
Update from Qin Wang - Fall 2010
We recently received an update from Qin Wang. Please feel free to message her back to show your continued support. -- To you, people with loving heart: Time goes very fast, with your support and concern; I have sat in my 12th grade classroom for quite some time now. Days pass like dripping water and time dances on my wrist with a never-ending ticking. September isn’t as hot as August was, but the sky is unbelievably beautiful right now and the clouds are very white and high. My dream is like one of my textbook essays about an eagle which can live in a cage but with extremely strong wings. At this moment I feel like I am an eagle; one day I will be able to fly into clouds. It seems like my generation is born in a lovely period, but I think we learn how to be strong. After recent natural disasters, depression and many small problems, I understand the harness of life. We always contradict ourselves. The world from our textbooks and my parent’s mouths is way too perfect. It has been hea... -
17 MAY 2010
Update from Qin Wang: April 2010
Below is a letter we recently received from Qin Wang. Please message her back to show your continued support! -- Uncles & Aunties: Hello! I received your help on a cold day and I felt so warm and moved. Please receive my thanks expressed in my clumsy words. I hope you have happy lives because you are so nice and kind. Kind-hearted people always have healthy and peaceful lives. Time flies. The first semester of my busy junior year has already passed. When the spring comes, we will start school again. We’re now studying in Ningqiang Tianjin High School which has been built by Tianjin Province. The classrooms are large and bright here. The campus is clean and comfortable. We really thank those kind people who gave help to the Ningqiang disaster district. We were so excited when Chairman Hu Jintao visited our school. I still remember his face and smile till now. The help and support he gave us was so moving. On May 31st, 2009, Chairman Hu visited our broken village and said that everyon... -
21 AUG 2009
Update from Qin Wang
Dear Uncles and Aunties, Hello! May 12, 2009, which is yesterday, is the one year anniversary of Wenchuan Earthquake. During the three minute silence tribute, I'm utterly grateful that I'm still alive, enjoying my life for the 17th year, still capable of seeing, touching and loving. I appreciate everything I have. My parents are both farmers, who work exceptionally hard to support my bother and me. They believe that knowledge can change our fate that my bother and I will not suffer poverty any more. I know what they have been through for the last 16 years-we are poor but we thrive on destitution. My parents take great pride in our excellent scores. I thank my parents for bringing me to this world and taking good care of me. I thank you, kindly uncles and aunties, and society. When we felt so despairing after losing our house in the Wenchuan Earthquake, so many people helped us. It's almost impossible for an impoverished family to support two kids going to high school. Bu...
Donors
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Lucy Wang Vancouver, BC, Canada
- $20 Pledged
- $20 Total Donated
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Petr Janský
- $50 Pledged
- $50 Total Donated
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Yuqing Fan San Francisco, Ca, United States
- $40 Pledged
- $40 Total Donated