CNYTrust

Dear Mr Xiao,

Greetings. First of all, please allow me to thank you on behalf of my whole family and project hope. I hope you and your family are all well.

Project hope is really a great project. It helped thousands of children to go back to school over the years, and established itself as a world-famous organisation. Project hope would never have been so successful as it is today without many kind-hearted people like yourself. I believe many more children in poverty will be given opportunities to go to school in the future with helps from people like you. "Tomorrow's sky will be brighter and tomorrow's China will be ever more beautiful!"

I am a boy from the countryside of Guang Xi Yao Xiang, 19 years old, studying in Beijing Institute of Technology, gained "Project-Hope Star' scholarship in 1998. There are 3 people in my family, My mother, my older brother and me. Mom is 50 years old, she is a kind and simple-minded farmer. My older bother dropped out of junior high school in 1998 because of financial difficulties and he had to help with farm work. My father passed away in 1996 because of cancer. My older sister married off to another village two years ago.

Ever since I could remember, my family has always been poor. There were no stable income, daily consumption and tuition fees of 3 of us all relied on borrowing money from others. In the beginning of 1990s, our village started growing oranges in large-scales and the economy improved gradually, my family was getting wealthier too. By 1995, we finally paid off all our debts. However, the happy days didn't last for long, in the same year, my dad started getting sick because of over-working and was finally hospitalized. All the farm work became the duties of mom who was not in great health either and the 3 of us who were still too young..... And the hard work did not pay off in the end, dad left us forever the next year in March. By then, we were over 10,000RMB in debts and still haven't paid everything back this day. The whole family was full of sadness, but we never lost confidence in life and we made a start on the long journey of debt-paying.

After that, my mom and sister started working in the farm, my brother and I studied hard in school. We were the best students in school and we never compared living quality with other students in terms of food, clothing and playing. My results were always the top in my class, and I gained awards in various challenges and competitions in school level, city level, province level and even national level. Unfortunately, in the high school entry exam, my brother missed the 'key high school' boundary by one mark. Because of that, and most importantly the financial difficulties of my family, he had to drop out of school. I then carried all of hope of the family, and after hard work, I finally entered the key high school as the Top First student in the city of Gui Lin. The three years in high school were also very tough, but with the helps from school, relatives and friends, I managed to finish high school successfully and was accepted by Beijing Institute of Technology with outstanding results.

Coming to study in Beijing was not easy. My family couldn't afford all my tuition, accommodation and living cost, which adds up to about 8000RMB, it was really a astronomical number to my family. I managed to come to Beijing in the end with great helps from relatives and friends. After getting into BIT, I received the 900RMB donated by you and applied for student loan of 6000RMB/yr. I am really grateful to everybody who helped me. I would have never been able to go to university without people like you. Again, I really appreciated it wholeheartedly.

I was under a lot of pressure in BIT. Coming all the way from the South to study in Beijing, it takes time to get used to the life style, student life and environment. BIT is one of the key universities in China, it is full of best students from all over the country, especially my faculty
- Automatics. The teaching standard in Guang Xi is not as high as many other provinces. Although I was outstanding in my high school, I don't feel like I have any advantages here, especially in subjects like computing and speaking/listening English, I am far worse than everyone else. I also totally messed up my maths mid-term exam not long ago. I don't know why, it is difficult to concentrate here.... although I am busy all day, I don't really feel like I have done anything at the end of it. The end-of-term exam is coming soon, I am quite worried and have little confidence. The older students tell me that this is just a period of adjustment. However, I need to get over it soon and get used to university life.

At the beginning of term, I lost the election to be a class prefect by 1 vote. I was kind of upset about it. I was a prefect for my entire secondary school, it always kept me busy and I learnt a great deal from it. It doesn't feel right now I have so much free time. Later, I joined the faculty student union and Communist student union and became a publicity officer. It made me feel a lot better although it's not that much work.

Because of my good performances in all areas, I was made a 'gearing up' member of the Communist Party during my last year in high school. I participated in many activities organised by the Party and learnt a great deal from it. I learnt to understand things subjectively from a higher level, especially national and international political issues. Joining the CCP is a milestone in my life and it is a sign of maturity. During the CCP sub-division conference on Dec.6th, my application was reviewed and passed, and I finally became a member of the CCP with pride. I must work hard to develop and perfect myself, live up to the expectations of a CCP member!

Uncle Xiao, studying and living in the US, you must have unusual experiences. I would very much like to know more about you and your experiences, but I am worried that I might disturb your studies and work.

Again, thank you very much for your concerns and help.

Hope your family well, your work successful, and your family happy!

Zhu Yuan Hai.
2002.12.13, night.