Trip to LongChuan County,
DeHong State, Yunan Province
By Jill Ji
Visit from March 9 to March 15

Where is LongChuan County
LongChuan County (陇川) is situated in the west of Yunnan Province, borders on Burma. It takes 3 hours by flight from Shanghai to Kunming, 45 minutes by flight from Kunming to MangShi and then 3 hours by bus from MangShi to LongChuan.

About LongChuan County
LongChuan is a small county in Dehong State, Yunan Province. It covers an area of 1,931 square kilometers and has a population of 110,000 half of which are minorities like Dai (傣), JingPo (景颇), A'Chang (阿昌), LiSu (傈僳) and De'Ang (德昂).

Due to different culture, language and customs, many minority villagers are not used to staying in where is far away from home, their families depend on the farmland. According to the official statistics, the per capital income in the rural areas of LongChuan is about RMB800 per year, 96,899 residents live in the poor conditions.

Because LongChuan is located near "Golden Triangle" region, many residents have been addicted to drugs. Many drug users share one syringe to inject vein, causing wide spread of HIV. Now there are about 1,400 HIV victims in LongChuan, 70% are transmitted due to drugs.

Like what happened in Henan AIDS villages, usually when the husband dies, the wife will remarry, leaving the children with the grandparents, which has made the living conditions even worse for the children. There are about 1,200 orphans in LongChuan, 140 of which are AIDS orphans.

Bumpy Road to Villages
Shabby Villages
Anti-drugs slogans everywhere	Birth control slogans on the walls

How Drugs Can Ruin A Family

The husband of this family is addicted to drug, he has sold out what he could in the family, so now there is almost nothing left in the house.

These Children Need Our Help

The two little LiSu (傈僳族) girls on the left picture are sisters. Ma MaLi (right), 15, is studying in grade 8. Ma MuEr (left), 12, is studying in grade 6. Their youngest sister Ma MuSan, 8, is now studying in the orphan school sponsored by United Moms Association.

After their father's death, the sisters are supported by their mother to continue their studies and daily life. Ma MaLi spends about RMB25 per week for her 3 meals and other costs in the school. In their free time, they also help their mother to work in their farmland.

The boy on the left picture is Xiao Pa (小帕) , Dai (傣) nationality, the girl is his younger sister Xiao Mie (小咩). XiaoPa is 14 years old and is now studying in grade 7. Xiao Mie is 11 years old and is now studying in grade 5.

Their father is a drug addict and has left them. They do not know where he is now. Their mother has also left them together with their eldest sister. They are now living with their grandmother.

Shi MuTu (石木图), JingPo (景颇) nationality, 16 years old, is now studying in grade 8.

Both her parents are found to be HIV positive. She has a younger sister, 7 years old, who is now studying in grade 1.

Shi MuTu had discontinued her studies for almost half a year before coming back to school again after much persuasion from her teacher. Her family is too poor to support her living expenses in the school which is about RMB120 per month. However, it is still difficult for her parents now to support her studies.

Their Grandparents are too Old to Support their Studies



The old lady on the left is 66 years old, her daughter has left home and never appeared for 7 years after her son-in-law's death, leaving a grandson alone with her.

The lady is too old to do any farm work. She rent her farmland is rent to the others to get some income. However, after buying rice for daily life, there is little left. She also grows and sells some vegetables to get some additional income.

Her grandson Peng LeWeng (彭勒翁), 16 years old, is now studying in grade 7. He has RMB5-15 per week for his daily 3 meals in the school. In weekends, he walks more than 10km from and to the school and home.

Their Parents are too ill to Support their Studies


"… My sister and I are now studying in the high school and my brother is in the primary school. We only have 5 Mu farmland which cannot afford our tuition and living costs at all.
In order to solve the problems, my father went to city to make more money and my mother stays in the farmland to work day and night.

… finally, my mother is down with illness. We spent all our savings. My sister said she was not willing to continue her study. We all know it is not true. My mother insisted that no matter how hard it is, they will support us to study.

… My father is back, but he is also ill. … What shall I do? Shall I discontinue my study?..."

--- abstract of the the letter of the girl on the left picture, Zhao HuanDi

Helping More Students in LongChuan County
I have delivered RMB10,100 to 101 students in Longchuan County (i.e. RMB100 per student) in this trip. 7 of which are recommended by the teachers, and the others are considered after the family-visits. The areas I have visited are not the worst in LongChuan County. The conditions of the families living in the mountains are even worse. However, for families living in the mountainous areas, I can visit no more than 3 families per day due of the bad road conditions and the long journey from one family to the other. In order to provide support to more students with the short period of my trip, giving them more hope to continue their studies, I did not visit families in mountainous areas this time. However, I hope that this will be possible in my next trip.

The annual costs for staying in school dormitory of a middle school student is RMB2,000, while it costs RMB4,000 for a high school student. The high cost makes it difficult for the orphans families or the families who have 2-3 middle school students to support their children to continue their studies. This is make worse if one family member is addicted to drugs.

LongChuan Education Bureau has provided me with a new name list of 176 poor middle school students that were recommended by teachers for support. LongChuan No. 1 High School could also provide a list of at least 40 students who need help. Many students in LongChuan need the help to continue their studies. I hope to visit these students in my next trip.

How to Manage the Donations to Students
In LongChuan County, it is easy to get drugs. It is said that drugs can be obtained for as cheap as RMB1. Thus, it is not good to give money to the students or their parents directly.

We cooperate with the schools where the students are studying in this program. The donations will be kept by the school financial departments. The students can approach their teachers for help when necessary. The teachers will give them money if the request made are reasonable, and will record where, when and how much the students has taken.

If there are money left when the student completes or discontinue their study, the money will be kept in the school to help other needy students. If the middle school students could continue their study, the money will be transferred to the new schools that they are studying in. If the high school students are admitted to universities, the money will be given to them.

Our Cooperators
United Moms Association (http://njumca.org/)
Yunnan Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese
LongChuan Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese
LongChuan Education Bureau
LongChuan No.1 High School
LongChuan No.2 Middle School
LongChuan No.3 Middle School
LongChuan JingHan Middle School

Reported by:
Jill Ji
HuaQiao Foundation
www.huaqiaofoundation.org

Tel: (8621) 3209- 5514
Fax: (8621) 3209- 1534
Email: hellojihui@gmail.com

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