I have a younger brother who is also studying at the Taian Middle School, so there are only two people in my family who are working, my mother and my father. In addition, my mother is getting older and her health is deteriorating, so sometimes she can’t work. There have even been times when our income has not been enough to pay for her medicine. My father works long hours in the fields, but still there are years when we can’t afford to buy anything, since we have little land and low income. Our family has no income except what is earned from farming. Sometimes my family can’t afford to pay my living expenses, and this becomes a problem.
Even though their lives are so difficult, my parents have never said they don’t want my brother and me to go to school. They only continue to say that we only have one chance to do well in school, so we must do our best and not miss this opportunity. These words really touch my heart. Since the school is far from home and our parents have no car to bring us to school, many other students have cut class, but I’ve never done this. It is better to study well so I can one day leave our mountain village and see the rest of the world. My parents often say that the farmer’s life is very difficult and farmers work the hardest. They say they would even be willing to sell the house to ensure that we can continue to study. When I get good grades, they are very happy, even though they themselves never went to middle school. They tell me, “An open mind leads to improvement, but pride causes a person to fall behind.” This gives me the strength and confidence to continue to work hard.
With my teacher’s guidance and my classmates’ help, my grades have really improved, and I have become more and more engaged in my schoolwork. Even though I am not as well off as the other students, I feel that as long as I can live and study at this nice, quiet campus, I am satisfied. I won’t be upset because of material goods.
I am never going to forget my parents’ struggles. When I grow up, I will work hard to help the people of these mountain villages to change their fate. I will contribute to society to show my dedication to my family and my country.
Profile
Updates
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06 JUN 2010
Letter from Yaoqin: May 2010
Below is a recent update from Yaoqin. Givology apologizes for the delay in posting the translation. Please message Yaoqin back to show your continued support and encourage her to keep trying hard in her English and math classes! Dear Givology: Hello! I’m Yaoqin Yang from Yulong County Nationalities High School. I’m only writing to you this late because I got your letter late. So first, I want to apologize for this - I hope you don't mind. I was very pleased to receive your letter in this busy season. When I got this letter, we had just had a big test, and were about to have final exams. I felt lucky that I could hear from you when I was working so hard - it helped relieve some stress. When I saw the letter, I quickly became more alert, and I somehow became more motivated to study. At this moment, I just want to tell you that thank you for supporting and caring about me for such a long time. Thank you for your help and for making it possible for me to avoid dropping out. I won’t ... -
18 JAN 2010
Translation of Yaoqin's Letter
After a short delay, we now have a translation of our most recent update from Yang Yaoqin! Please message her to show your continued support. Thanks, The Givology Translation Team -- Dear Givology, How are you! How has your health been? I hope your work has been going smoothly! How is your studying going? I am very happy to have received your letters, and I am thankful for your selfless concern and care. At the blink of an eye, a year has slipped by, and with your help and support, I have been able to successfully complete the first year of high school with my classmates and friends. Here, I thank you for your continuous care and support, and thank you for continuously giving me monetary aid towards my living expenses, allowing me to live happily like the other students at my school. I do not have to worry about living expenses and do not have to worry about whether or not I would go hungry. Your help was able to alleviate many of my and my parents’ burdens. Because of this, please ... -
27 DEC 2009
Letter from Yaoqin: Dec 2009
UPDATE: We realized some of the pages of our most recent set of updates from the Peach Foundation got mixed up. Below is the corrected post. -- See below for an update from Yaoqin! She wishes all her Givology donors a Merry Christmas. Our translators will have an English version posted very soon! -- -
30 AUG 2009
Update from Yaoqin Yang!
Respected Uncles and Aunts at Givology, How are you? I am sorry to bother you during your busy work schedules, but I am sure that however busy you are, you will still read my letter. From this letter, understand everything about me; listen to what resonates from my heart. I am a student born in a poor, mountainous region. Here, transportation is difficult and the land distributed to farmers is also scarce, so the harvest at the end of every year is never good. As for my family, harvests are worse than most because of the early passing away of my grandfather and grandmother. My little brother and I both go to school – we are actually separated by one grade – so the burden at home is borne by just my mother and father. Although our family does not have very much land, the land we do have is very poor and planting is very difficult. We do not have farming machinery like other families, so for every single thing, we must rely on our hands. Outside of our hands, we cannot rely on anythin...
Donors
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Patrick Nikodem Pittsfield, MA
- $170 Pledged
- $170 Total Donated
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Huang Taoxuan
- $100 Pledged
- $50 Total Donated