Givology - give to learn, learn to give

My name is Li Pu Ba and I am a sixteen year old girl. I am in my junior year of high school. I have seven people in my family, four kids. My parents are often out working, so only my grandparents are home most of the time. My siblings and I all are in school.

I was born in an underdeveloped area near the mountain border. Although the World Vision has funded a concrete road through the village, the people in the village don't have the capability to continue to build. Our village has very poor hygienic conditions. We don't have the ability to construct facilities like pig pens, so people can leave around their pigs and chickens. You can see pig waste at the side of the road.

Two years ago, my family started to build a house, but our family ran into economic problems, so the house remains unfinished. Because this condition has persisted, we use bamboo sheets to cover the windows to block the wind and sand from blowing in. It's because of reasons like this why it is imperative that my dad leave the town, relying on work to maintain the family life. This year, my father's worries were increased because my younger sister graduated from elementary school and got into Xian Middle School. Once my sister goes there to study, our expenses will automatically increase, and the pressure on my dad to provide will increase as well.

According to my family, before I turned one, my dad had already left town to work. Once I grew old enough, my mother also went with my father to work for one or two years. I have forgotten how long exactly, but in this time period, I was very unhappy. After my parents had left for work, I started school. I went through first and second grade without my parents, only my grandparents. They also tended to my family's farm, so I learned how to cook when I was seven or eight. After school, I would go home home to do the housework and cook for my grandparents. Sometimes, my teacher would ask us to invite our parents to school, but since my parents were not home, I could only ask my grandparents to go. Even though it was like this, I never gave up because I knew learning was the way out. Before I persevered, now I persevere and in the future I will continue to persevere. Because of my attitude, in junior high last school term, I was "Province 3's Best Student." I will persist and persist and eventually become the best.

My dream is to become a teacher. I think this idea developed through the people that surround me. Our town has too many young people that have never received an education, so they don't have much culture. What's more unfortunate and sad is our town's school and students. Our town has a school but because there aren't enough teachers; only first and second grade are offered. The third and fourth graders have to walk a long way to another town to go study. Thinking of these things makes me study even harder to make my dream come true. I will spread knowledge through my town, allowing my impoverished and underdeveloped town to follow the pace of modernization and continue to grow.