| Viewing Blog Post #2128 Return to Top |
|
In southwest China there is a village in the mountains surrounded by mountains and water; the civilians here live a traditional hardworking life that’s begins with the sunrise each morning and ends with the sunset each night. In this place, aside from a few lights, there are virtually no electronic appliances in the households. Only a few families own black and white TV sets that make sounds of static upon use, yet which still attract many friends and relatives hoping to catch a glimpse of news from the outside world. The people here make their daily necessities with their own wrinkled hands and alternate between spending their days outside working on the farm, rain or shine, and carrying their produce to market to exchange for other goods.
I came to this village with Wokai, and I saw the honest, hardworking civilians living here, hope for development shining on their faces. They hope to be able to have the running water, household appliances, bright, spacious rooms and well-lit schoolrooms that they see on their black and white TV sets. We felt their hope, and it became our goal, our responsibility and task to allow the people in this village to be able to experience the change and development of the outside world. Wokai was specifically ready for this task of helping them achieve development and live the better life they deserve.
I have been here helping these people with development for the past few years. One woman I met during this time was YaJun Fu, whom I met in 2007 during a visit to her household of five people housed in a narrow three-room grass and tile structure. One of the three rooms was used as a kitchen, one used to store farm produce. At the time, I asked her, “Why don’t you start some other work? Your three children will be of school age soon and the money made from farm produce won’t be enough to support them.” She told me, “It’s not that my husband or I don’t want to. We actually know how to plan mushrooms, but I don’t have capital to buy the raw materials needed. My neighbors all barely have enough money for food and clothes and do not have any money to lend to me. I wish to borrow money, but the loan officers look at my poor household and think that I may not be able to repay the loan, hence they will not lend to me either.”
Through our discussion, I understand how much she wished to develop and improve the life of her family and allow her children to attend school. Finally, I told her that Wokai was willing to provide the capital to help her develop a business of planting mushrooms, and asked if she wished to work with Wokai under our microfinance policies. After hearing my words, she and her husband were almost moved to tears. I cannot express with words their state of happiness and gratitude at that time, it was as if two people dying of thirst in a desert had suddenly discovered a fountain of water.
Thereafter, Wokai engaged in multifaceted discussion with YaJun to ensure that she was a motivated person determined to triumph over the hardships of life, and finally, on November 7, 2007, approved of her first 3000 yuan microloan. When YaJun received the microloan, she used this sum of money to buy a small amount of raw materials needed for mushrooms and fungus herbs and some simple equipment. Then, she cleared out the family’s storage space previously used to hold foodstuffs, and began her first attempt at mushroom cultivation. After a month of hard work, the mushrooms began to grow and on December 21 of the same year, she was able to use the money made from selling mushrooms to make her first microloan repayment.
Watch Fu Yajun's interview that aired on CNN last week!
| Viewing Blog Post #2128 |
|
In the Media
