Profiles

Poor moms have a savior

By Cheng Yingqi (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-29 06:43

BEIJING - Some nine years ago, Gu Cailan, 35, had an unexpected visitor at her 5-square-meter thatch house in a remote Chinese village.

Yu Quanxing, who has devoted the past decade of his life helping poor mothers across the country, poses with a photo he took of a poor mother and her children. [Yu Bing/For China Daily]

She had no idea then that the visit would change her life.

Just last week, Gu's half-length photograph was sitting pretty on a wall of Beijing's busiest street, right next to a Nicole Kidman poster.

"How much do you earn a year knitting straw baskets," the stranger had asked Gu.

"About 100 yuan ($14.6)," she replied.

After lighting a cigarette, the stunned stranger asked: "Then how do you afford treatment for your chronic disease?"

"I haven't thought of seeing doctors," Gu said. "The Spring Festival is coming. I want to buy some meat for my children. They haven't eaten meat in months."

As the stranger was leaving, he told Gu: "If anyone helps you with money, don't spend it rebuilding your house. Instead, buy cattle and raise more cattle to make money."

A few weeks later, Gu received a 4,000-yuan donation, followed by another 24,000 yuan in successive years.

Four years later, Gu was the richest mother in her village.

Gu is only one of the 820 impoverished mothers who have managed to shake off poverty with the help of Yu Quanxing, the stranger.

Yu spent nearly 10 years cutting across 150,000 km to visit and photograph mothers in the poorest villages of Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces and autonomous regions.

"There was one thing common in all the mothers I photographed. All of them were poor, but had a very big heart. They only needed that initial push," said Yu, a 48-year-old former newspaper photographer, who now lives in North China's Tianjin municipality

After each of his visits, Yu wrote the women's stories, which were published in the newspaper, attracting donators from across the country.

The information of the women Yu profiled can be found on the website of the China Population Welfare Foundation (CPWF), where Yu is a volunteer for the last 10 years.

By the year 2009, poor mothers in 466 counties of 29 provinces and autonomous regions of China had received 660 million yuan in financial aid via the CPWF.

Usually, the women borrow 1,000 to 2,000 yuan to buy a horse or cattle, and return the money three years later when the animals have babies.

"What is really stunning is that almost all the mothers have returned the money on time," Yu said.

Till date, Yu has held 14 exhibitions to display the best of some 100,000 photographs he has clicked.

His latest exhibition at the national capital's Wangfujing Street, arguably the best-known commercial district of the city, ended on June 20.

A fraction of these photos and articles have been published in two books and a picture album, which are available in Xinhua book stores.

Yu is now on his way to Shanghai to launch another exhibition.

"Since I have grown older, I don't think I can walk for five hours on mountainous roads to get to the remotest of villages. But I will do whatever I can to continue helping poor mothers," Yu said, adding: "After all, the 820 mothers I have met and recorded are just the tip of an iceberg."

According to Yu, of the 40 million impoverished people in China, at least 11 million are mothers.

Some of the women he met include Zhu Xianmei, who sold her blood four times every year for 60 yuan each time to buy a chemical fertilizer, and Wei Xiao'ai, who could have a bath only when it rained.

Yu photographed 16 households living in a cave as big as a football field.

"In the past, when I clicked, it was only a simple action. But when I aimed my camera at these mothers, it felt different. It crushed my heart with each click. I felt the mothers were drying away their own lives to raise the children."

The first time Yu felt this was in January 2001, when he was still a journalist. He was sent to Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia to cover a poverty-relief program launched by CPWF for a year.

When Yu stepped on the plateau 4,700 meters above sea level, he regretted his decision to come. "I felt as if a needle was punching me in the head," he said.

Altitude sickness apart, the temperature fell to minus 20 C at night. Yu had to add cow dung to a small stove - the only heating device available - every thirty minutes to prevent it from extinguishing.

"I could not sleep at nights. I kept wondering why I left my wife and 8-year-old daughter, and my comfortable home to come here," Yu said.

But that was until he met Cairen Bamao, a young girl living with her mother in an earth-built low shack in Yushu, Qinghai province.

When Yu saw her, Cairen was clutching her stomach.

"Stomachache, no big deal," replied Cairen's mother when Yu inquired of the little girl's health.

"Why don't you take her to the doctor," Yu asked.

"I don't have money," the mother said.

Yu took Cairen to the hospital and left 150 yuan for her mother. The woman folded her hands and raised them over her head to thank Yu.

"At that moment, taking photographs and interviewing people seemed so insignificant. For the first time I got a chance to help someone in need," Yu said.

Since then, Yu has been traveling to the remotest corners of the country, many times donating all the money he is carrying.

"There were times when I had to borrow money to return home," he said.

He cannot remember how many Spring Festivals he has spent in empty county government offices, while all the officials were away on leave and he'd still be working.

"No matter where I was, I used to look in the direction of Tianjin. I'd miss my daughter."

In order to have more flexible time, Yu resigned from the newspaper after 20 years of service and became a university professor in 2004.

"I can travel and shoot poor mothers during the summer and winter vacations. Besides, I am training my students to carry forward or pass on this job when some day I can no longer do it," Yu said.

Yu was born in a poor family. His mother and the six siblings used to live merely on Yu's father's salary. And after his father died in 1980, his mother "did every job possible" to bring up the children.

"I helped these mothers partly because I saw my mother in them," Yu said.