Change Your Future with Knowledge and Aspiration
Text by Sheng Wenlian
Five years ago, together with members of my university’s Association of Exploring Western China, I went to a remote elementary school in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, to work as a volunteer teacher during summer vacation. After getting off the train, we spent three hours trekking over mountains before arriving at our destination. On the way, we saw black pigs idly graze on meadows in the valleys, forming a beautiful picture of emerald vegetation against the backdrop of high mountains with dark green pines and cypresses. What a gift from nature for mankind! However it also deprived the place of its right to become rich. High mountains, relatively inaccessible information, and poor traffic conditions make this remote place a national-level poverty-stricken county for a long time.
There is an ancient Chinese saying: “Wealthy families usually cannot keep wealthy for three generations.” However, history had never proved this: “Poor families will not remain poor for three generations.” It seems that poverty was deep in local people’s genes and had been passed on from generation to generation. The poor became poorer, and the rich richer. The widening gap between rich and poor meant decreased social mobility, indicating that “humble families can no longer produce great men.”
In our school, a kid who lived farthest had to spend two hours each day on the rugged mountain path from home to school. Of all kinds of poverty, I believe that the lack of education and impoverished children are the most pathetic. When children living in poverty looked at me, I saw aspirations in their eyes. I believe these aspirations should give hope to China’s poverty alleviation measures: If it is too late to change the fate of the older generation, at least we should change the future of the kids.
The image of the place in Liangshan Mountain has remained in my mind for a long time after I returned to the university. I tried to think of what we, as ordinary people, could do for poverty alleviation. Later, I went to work as an intern for the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, where I met like-minded people, saw more cases of poverty, and learned more about what we could do. If each of us pays attention to one poverty relief project, or supports one public welfare program, we can achieve a lot. For people in impoverished areas, any attention or support would give them impetus and assistance to change their present situation.
As a girl also from countryside, I strongly believe that knowledge and aspiration can eventually change one’s future. Only when you long for something in your heart, will you do your best. When you have aspirations, you will not easily give up in the face of adversity. You will know your own limit and fight harder for opportunity. You will know, no matter how good you are, that there is always someone out there who is better and that you too can become better.