Ray of hope
Poverty and a lack of education go hand in hand.
According to the 2000 census, the average Dongxiang person only had one year
of education. Their 57 per cent illiteracy rate was the highest of all
ethnicities in China.
That's where China Daily and its readers and sponsors have made a difference.
Starting from 1999, China Daily has funneled a total of 3.5 million yuan
(US$438,000) into the county, building or rebuilding six primary schools and one
middle school.
The China Daily Reader First Hope School, one of the seven schools, was built
in Pingzhuang Village, where there was no school before 2003. Children had to
walk 3 to 10 kilometres to reach the nearest school.
Now the new 12-classroom school serves 137 students, 46 of whom are girls,
coming from several nearby villages. And these villages have an annual
per-capita income of only 651 yuan (US$80) and an average grain possession of
243 kilograms.
Another new school, the China Daily Hope School, opened in 1999.
On a recent Sunday, students assembled to greet a visiting delegation led by
Editor-in-Chief Zhu Ling.
Browsing the computer room where three students shared one computer, Zhu
pledged to fund a 380-square-metre addition to the existing building.
To bring children into school is the first step, and equally important is to
help them learn.
Of the 25 towns and town-level villages, 21 are inhabited exclusively by
ethnic Dongxiang people, who usually don't know much Chinese. In the 7-14 age
group, fewer than 10 per cent understand Chinese, according to a Yunnan
University survey.
This presents a unique problem.
If children are taught in Chinese, as they are now, many students are unable
to absorb much of their lessons. Feeling hopeless, many drop out.
If taught in their own language, students will not be linguistically prepared
to seek employment outside the county. The export of labour is a major source of
revenue.
In 2002, pilot bilingual education programmes were launched at the Nalesi
Elementary School. Within three years, bilingual instruction raised the passing
rate from a range of 7 to 20 per cent to a whopping 60 per cent, said Chen
Yuanlong.
Chen is a scholar and education official who compiled the first Dongxiang
dictionary and experimented with new texts spelt out in standard Chinese, pinyin
and Romanized Dongxiang language.
This programme was made possible by a grant from the US-based Ford
Foundation.
By 2003, the countywide illiteracy rate had dropped to 40 per cent.
"Every year, we have a dozen charity organizations coming to help us," Ma
said with a tinge of gratitude.
Zhu Yinghuang, China Daily editor-in-chief emeritus, said: "When I first came
here in 1999, it was so poor that some families dug out holes for their children
to sleep in."
"Dongxiang is ridding itself of the shackles of poverty.
The progress it has made in the last few years is astounding," he said as he
handed out "red envelopes" of donations to the poorest families on a recent
visit.
