Life skills
Zhang: Hopeful for the Future
CBN.com – Her radiant smile, amiable personality, and optimistic view of life make it hard for others to imagine that Zhang Wenjing comes from a family of extreme poverty.
Zhang’s family lives on the top of a mountain, which is more than 5 km away from her school. Her family lives off 12 acres of farmland. Zhang’s mother handles all the chores and the farm work. The small harvest from the fields barely feeds the family. Zhang’s father works in the city as a construction worker throughout the year for additional income.
The Wenjing house is very rundown. The ceiling and the walls inside of the house have turned black due to coal and firewood burning indoors in the winter. There are two rooms in the house; one bedroom for the family and another which is used as a kitchen.
Zhang says she sleeps in the kitchen in summer, but when it is winter, everyone sleeps together in the other room. The windows in the house do not close properly. There is a large gap around the house where the walls meet the ceiling and the main door also has a wide gap at the bottom that allows the cold draft it.
Despite their circumstances, Zhang and her family stay hopeful. Zhang’s mother shared that CBN China’s assistance with her daughter’s education has relieved a lot of stress on the family. She is grateful that her daughter will be able to graduate from junior high school.
Wenjing is a thoughtful girl and helps her mother with chores and farm work when she returns from school. Knowing that her mother carries the family’s financial burden, Zhang is happy to help her mom.
Zhang is doing well in her studies, and she was very active in school. Every time CBN China comes to her school and organizes interactive activities or has discussions with the other sponsored children, Zhang always participates with enthusiasm. She says whenever CBN China talks to the students, the schoolmates become more hopeful about the future.
Zhang says she wants to be a volunteer, so she can help the needy.
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