Jinhua Shen (申金华 )

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I come from a poor village. My family has no income besides a couple acres of sterile farmland. The output of our fields couldn’t even support our basic daily expenses. Because we couldn’t afford the tuition fee, I dropped out of school for one year when I was in elementary school. In order to continue my education, I did some labor, and my father borrowed a little money from his relatives and neighbors.

My elementary school was three hours away from my home, and the bus ride took two hours. I had little money for other expenses like food. I usually skipped meals at school and stayed hungry. Day by day, I went hungry until I graduated from elementary school.

Eventually, I got accepted by the County Middle School. Holding the admission letter, I was so happy, but only for a while. My father told me that he couldn’t afford to pay for my tuition fees. I worked hard during that summer and tried to earn enough money to be able to attend. Unfortunately, I still didn’t have enough money to pay for the County Middle School.

As a result, I had no choice but to attend my local middle school. Even so, I feel lucky because some children in other families of my village couldn’t even attend middle school. My parents are both illiterate, so they have trouble running a business to make more money. Five people live in my household, and we all labor in the fields. The medical expenses of my mother take up the majority of our income.

My younger sister and brother will attend elementary school in the near future, which means that we will have two more tuition bills to pay for. My family has to borrow money repeatedly from every possible source to pay for daily and weekly expenses. Even though my academic performance is excellent, my family has limited money for me to receive more education. I aspire to study and learn as long as I can. However, my economic condition doesn’t allow me to do so.

The opportunity of being financially aided by the Peach Foundation gives me hope. I wish to get accepted into college and be able to study college level lessons to fulfill my dream. With my aspirations in mind, I will study even harder than before. I want to become "a useful person" who can repay my country and my family. I believe poverty will not stop me from being an outstanding person.

(Translated from Jinhua’s autobiographical sketch)