During the flood, whole crops of fields which provide daily sustenance for many who already live way below the poverty line, remained submerged below water for days.  Among these extremely poor were the children we met and visited on my last trip to Yangshuo.  

I texted John and other Yangshuo contacts, asking how our little ones were doing after the disaster. Our clothing store was also submerged, but at least that could be fixed within days.  After recovering from his own material loss, John set out to see how the young ones were doing.  

The Tian family consisting of a mother whose husband abandoned the family one day, years ago, and never came back.  Mrs Tian was a nice looking woman, very sincere in her welcome toward us, took us a mile away to meet her 3 children at school.  They clearly had a loving relationship with each other. 

The government gives homes like these to those who are extremely poor, like the Tian family who live on the countryside and need some form of shelter.  During the flood this house and their field was submerged for days.  Mud blocked the doorway and they were unable to get in and out.

Before the flood, the family had no cabinet or closet to hang clothes, bathing is still problematic as there is no shower or water heater.  Now that the crop is gone, they had to eat a lot of bad food.  John wanted to buy them some rice, oil and daily necessities.

John and friends delivered the goods last week, along with some new clothes from our Carlfit clothing store.  They were thankful that this is the first time they had new clothes this year.  

Tian Siyuan 田思媛 (9 yrs old) will go into the 5th grade next fall.  Tian Zefu 田泽福  (6 yrs old) andTian Guodong 田国栋 (4 yrs old) are her younger brothers.  Because her school that is walking distance away does not offer education for the 5th grade and above, she will have to move to another district to go to school, a relatively common practice in these poor farming communities.  Living expenses for 6 months will total $225 USD.   Siyuan was the top of her class.  She scored a 96 in Chinese, 96 in math, and 90 in English.  She likes English very much.

田泽福 Tian Zefu (6), 田国栋  Tian Guodong (4) will stay at home and continue to study.  The cost for each boy’s living expense for 6 months is about $120.  

Below is  黄清镜 Huang QingJing, a fifth grader.  She lives at the public school because her mother is insane and her father is deaf.  Her parents’ home and crops were also destroyed in the flood so life will be much harder going forward.  She will needs school boarding fees and tuition, amounting to about $250 for the next 6 months.  

John delivered new clothes from our Carlfit clothing store to her as wel

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Huang Qingjing was a good sport in trying on all the new clothes to model for us.

John will visit the other kids we know to see how they are doing and to deliver clothes and basic needs to them.