Li Zheng (郑丽)

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My family relies on our annual harvest to support all of our expenses. However, due to recent droughts, my parents have had to spend money to buy water for our crops. Due to this new cost in crop harvesting, my brother and I borrowed money from relatives in order to pay for tuition. Sometimes when my parents fall sick, they choose not to receive medical treatment in order to afford our tuition. They normally wait out the illness and hope that they will recover soon, instead of spending the family’s resources that they have reserved to pay for our tuition. But since my older brother and I both have excellent grades at school, my parents deem the sacrifices to be worth it.

I recall one instance at school that made my poverty all the more apparent in comparison to my fellow students. When I first entered middle school, my teacher told me that I could not receive any of the new textbooks because my tuition had not been paid in full. Although unwilling and embarrassed, I passed the new books back to my teacher. When I went home, I found out that the money meant for my tuition was sent to my grandmother to pay for medicine. Although I was teased by my classmates because my family could not afford to pay for my tuition, I empathized with my parents and understood their difficult position. The jeering of my classmates motivated me to promise myself that I will go onto college to be able to make enough money to help my parents have an easier life.

(Translated from Li’s autobiographical sketch)