A true story happened in a Heifer project site in Dabie Mountain in Anhui, China

Dialog Between Two Kids

This is an ordinary

village located in

the depth of Dabie

Mountain in

Huoshan County of

Anhui , where the

annual income of a

family is roughly

between RMB

2000-3000 and

living here mainly

depends on tea

growing and raising

of pigs and chicken.

On the afternoon of

Jul 2, 2011, a

visiting group 

organized by

Shanghai Haihui

poverty alleviation

program broke the

tranquility of this

remote village,

because this village

had just applied for

aid from Heifer

poverty alleviation

program.

After meeting each

other, some

visitors handed

over some gifts

they prepared for

the villagers,

including some

children books,

which were soon

distributed.

People barely

noticed that a boy

at about 6 or 7

didn’t go home

after receiving his

gift. Instead he

became wholly

enraptured with the

book, crouched by

the side of the road

with his nose in it!

Another little boy at

the age of 4 from the

visiting group came

to his side. The two

boys started to chat.

The younger boy:

What are you

reading?

The elder boy: “The

chick smiled

contently”...

The younger boy: No,

it should be, “the

chicken smiled

contentedly”…

The elder boy

concurred: Mmm…

The younger boy: Do you like this grass?

The elder boy: No,.

The younger boy: I have this book too. I also have “bunny’s trip”, “A little tadpole’s trip to look for her mother…”

The elder boy: I have them too…

The younger boy: The chick’s mom has got a scarf. My mom’s got one too…

The elder boy: My mom has one too…

“A-Qiang, other

kids all have

moms. Where’s

yours?”

a local woman said

when passing by

the boys.

After the woman

left, the elder boy

turned around and

made no more

responses to the

younger boy’s

endless noises.

Is A-Qiang an

orphan?

Yes. And no.

His mother left the

family soon after his

birth. His father had

moved to a big city

and was said to be

married again. Now

A-Qiang is living with

his grand parents,

who were old and

sick..

So A-Qiang’s parents

are both still alive.

But A-Qiang is an

orphan.

What kind of force is so powerful, that can break love and bond between mother and child?

Is it poverty? Or deficiency?

I do not think so.

I think only ultimate desperateness for life and future can do.

Let us think:

What can we realistically do?

Donate books? He has them. Donate money? It'll run out sooner or

later.Get him out off the mountain and set him

up with a good life in the city? Yes, we can. But how many?

Support him to go to university until his fate is fundamentally changed? Yes, we can. But how can you erase the scars of a broken childhood?

Let the thinking continue…

By providing livestock and invaluable skills; we are providing a living instead of temporary supply. As the saying goes: If you give a man a fish he'll eat for a day, but if you teach a man to fish, he'll never go hungry.

Living means hope. So that the mothers do not have to fear for life or future.

Living means dignity. So that the fathers do not have to leave the families for big cities.

Heifer Projects Can Help

We wish every kid a childhood they deserve.

P.S.: The aid that

the village

applies for  is to

receive pig

offspring from

the neighboring

Heifer-aided

communities as

a business to

grow by

themselves,

instead of

additional

material or

monetary

donations.

Not a Cup But a Cow to End PovertyHeifer China- Haihui

www.HeiferChina.org

Join us as a Volunteer to help the needed.Phone ： 021- 33130859 （ Shanghai ） 028- 85373997 （ Chengdu ）E-mail ： info@hpichina.org