Transparent Fish Fund
  • Home
  • Projects
  • Track
  • Blog
  • How It Works
    • About Us
    • Annual Reports
    • Get Involved
    • Grant Application
    • Media
    • FAQs
    • Contact Us
  • Donate

Little Red Scarf Care: Yufeng

4/28/2015

 
Picture
Little Red Scarf is in Lanzhou, Gansu province and provides financial support and encouragement to children suffering from congenital heart disease. In addition, they provide families with post-operative care and help the children sustain a healthy lifestyle.

15-year-old Yufeng was a sickly child. He was unfit and often caught colds and had diarrhea. The villager doctor believed that Yufeng’s heart had an unhealthy sound. Because their family is poor, Yufeng’s parents did not take him to a larger hospital for a checkup until late 2014, when Yufeng had constant headaches and chest aches. His weak body can no longer hold the serious illness at bay. Upon seeing Yufeng’s struggle with the painful disease, his father vowed to take Yufeng to Lanzhou. After looking at Yufeng’s various checkup reports, the doctor recommended immediate surgery. Because of their poor economic condition, Yufeng’s parents cannot afford the high price of surgery. With Little Red Scarf’s help, Yufeng now has a healthy heart. Half a year after surgery, Yufeng feels healthier. He used to have a hard time walking on sloped roads and would experience tightness in his chest and shortness of breath. Now he can climb sloped roads just fine.  

Yufeng’s family consists of 4 people. His mother can no longer do physical labor because of health problems. Yufeng is a sophomore in Yanguan Second High School. His per-semester tuition is 2500 yuan. The old school building does not provide food or board, so he needed to rent a house outside of school and cook for himself. This year, the school moved to a new building and provides free board and has a cafeteria. The daily meal cost is around 15 yuan, or 72 yuan a week. His living cost per year is around 3500 yuan. Yufeng also has a little brother. Because there are no middle schools near Yufeng’s home, his little brother needs to be a eighth grader at Qishan Middle School 10 kilometers away. Qishan does not provide dormitories, so Yufeng’s brother had to rent a house with his classmates for 700 yuan a year. After finishing a day’s worth of homework, they need to immediately return to the house and cook for themselves. They bring rice, flour, and cooking oil from home. Even in the economically prosperous town, Yufeng’s brother still uses a petroleum stove to cook. Compared with middle school students in the city, Yufeng’s brother is a lot more mature and responsible because of poverty. Yufeng’s brother’s living costs each year is only 640 yuan. Calculated this way, the two brothers’ expenses alone amount to over 10000 yuan a year.

Yufeng’s mother had a stroke ten years ago. Her condition visibly improved after two months of treatment, but the treatment cost 2000 yuan. Unfortunately, the good fortune did not last. Five years ago, when getting water on a snowy day, she broke her kneecap. After treatment, although she can walk normally, she cannot do hard physical labor and can only do some household chores. The occurrence of multiple family emergencies forced Yufeng’s father to work locally doing miscellaneous tasks. Working as a construction worker moving concrete earns him .60 yuan per bag of concrete. This hard work can only earn him 6000 yuan a year.

Picture
Yufeng's house
Picture
Yufeng's parents
PictureYufeng’s father hopes to get some technical guidance on how to cultivate the apples.
The other villagers all moved to the new village site in the mountain and built new houses. Now they are the only family left in the village. Yufeng’s mother tells us that this house was built using money she saved after her marriage. In this house that is no larger than 15 square meters, the most valuable object is the television. Aside from when the children return from school over the weekends, they do not watch TV to save satellite costs. 

Yufeng’s parents’ room does not have a ceiling. Instead, they used some rudimentary plastic stripes to shield them against the dirt and rain. Watermarks, however, are clearly visible, and the plastic stripes are bending from the weight of a purlin made from pieces of rotten wood and straw. A mud brick house this run down is rare even in rural areas. 

PictureYufeng is a good student and studies hard
Yufeng’s family has over ten mu of mountainous land. 3 mu has a new variety of apples that Yufeng’s father planted this year; 3 mu has some rapeseed; over 4 mu has some potatoes. Last year, the earnings from cultivating apples were over 900 yuan, but the investment in the tree seedlings, pesticide, and fertilizer is 1400 yuan. The rest of the crops yield just enough for the family’s daily living costs. The family is clearing falling into debt. The village is also new to planting apple trees. Yufeng’s father hopes to get some technical guidance on how to cultivate the plants.  

As for the rapeseed, Yufeng’s father can’t help but tell us that the seeds this year were not good, so the rapeseed plants are few and far between.  

Yufeng’s school has a cafeteria. There is an 8 yuan window and a 6 yuan window. Most students choose to go to the 6 yuan window and buy from the 8 yuan window. Yufeng studies very hard. Because he missed a lot of school during his hospitalization and surgery, he uses every minute of his spare time to study on his own. 

The two children know how difficult it is for their parents, so they are responsible and understanding and work hard in school. They never ask for more from their parents in terms of living conditions. The parents have high expectations for their children. Although life is difficult, the parents’ delicate care of the children has given them happy lives.

Original blog written by Li Wang, translated by Allison Zhang and edited by Yanyan Zhang


Comments are closed.

    TFISH FUND BLOG

    We update news and reports directly from the field written by our NGO partners 

    DONATE NOW

    Top Posts

    1. Winter Coats Distribution in Gansu
    2. Water Reservoir at Zhengjia Elementary
    3. Adonai Child Rehabilitation Mid-Year Grant Report
    4. Water Wells Project in Vietnam
    5. LRS Follow Up with Caiping

    PHOTOS & VIDEOS

    Picture

    IN THE NEWS

    • Little Red Scarf, Stanford Journal of Public Health
    • TFish Lab, China Weekly

    Categories

    All
    1001 Fontaines
    ACR
    Albinism Home
    Albinism Home
    Allianz Mission
    Anhui Farmers Cooperative
    Annual Report
    Awareness Event
    Bayshore
    Behcet Association
    Bird Home
    Bird Home
    BJ Behcet
    Blog Topic
    Blue Sky
    Bo'Ai Humanitarian Team
    Boya
    Burma Humanitarian Mission
    Caidie
    Changing Young Lives
    Changzhou Volunteers
    Chao Foundation
    Chengdu University Public Welfare Association
    Chengdu Volunteers
    Children On The Edge
    China Cal
    Clover Youth
    Daba Council
    Dandelion
    Design That Matters
    Dingxi Loving
    Disaster Relief
    DloHaiti
    D-Starine
    Du'an
    Due Diligence Visit
    East Villagers
    Event Recap
    Events
    Everydayheroes
    Fall Campaign 2014
    Fangzhou
    Field Visit
    Fundraiser
    Gansu Care
    Gansu Micro Loans
    Grant Report
    Green Olive
    Green Wind
    Heart To Heart Center
    Hefei Happy Childhood
    Helping Orphans Worldwide
    Hemophilia Home
    Henan Volunteers
    Heyue Free Library
    HIS Foundation
    HIS Foundation
    Home Of Chivalrous People
    Hongshan Street Disable Service Center
    Hope Volunteer Association
    ICC
    Intern Updates
    In The Community
    ISeek
    Jian’ai Art
    Jiaozuo Education Aid Association
    Jinshui Service Center
    Lanzhou Greenland
    Lianhu Thousands Love
    Light Of Love
    Little Bee
    Little Sapling
    Longwan Caring Home
    Longwan Home
    Longxing Public Welfare Association
    Loving Public Welfare Association
    LRS
    Lrs Care
    Lrs Summer Camp
    Lrs Surgery
    Magnolia
    Mianyang Public Welfare Forum
    Mianzhu Family
    Mianzhu Heart To Heart Charity Team
    Migrant Art School
    Migrant Art School
    Migrant School
    Mingda School
    Miscellaneous
    Mrs. Zhou
    Mulan Community Activity Center
    Myasthenia Gravis Care Association
    Nanjing Foster Service Center For Disabled People
    Nayong Loving
    Nayong Loving
    New Project Partnership
    Newsletter
    Okeefe
    One Heart World Wide
    Organizing Capacity Building Center
    Orphan Impact
    Overseas Volunteer Team Of Beijing University
    Panda Care
    Pok Oi Team
    Press
    Press Release
    Project Updates
    Rainbow Village
    Rcef
    Rural Experts
    Sahaya
    Sarta Volunteer Association
    SEAPC
    Senior Center
    Shanquan Youth Public Welfare Development Center
    Shenzhen Friendship Community Services Center
    Shenzhen Pengbo
    Simple Scholarships
    Soul Of Life
    Spine China
    Spring Center
    Star Hope Special Education
    Stepping Stones
    Taiwan Labor Concern
    Taiwan Prison Ministry
    Taiwan Root
    Testimonial
    Tfish China
    Tfish Events
    Tfish Fund
    Tfish Volunteers
    Thank You Letter
    Tianlai Speech Therapy Center
    Tribal Poverty Relief
    Vietnamese Christian Rehabilitation Ministry
    Vietnamese Laborers Ministry
    Vietnam Missions
    Volunteer Association Of Tai’an City
    Warm Love Home
    Wild Lily
    WTO
    Xi’an Heart To Heart Community Service Center
    Xi'an Volunteers
    Yangling Environment Protection Association
    Yichang Civil Public Students
    Yinfeng Loving Service Team
    Yongning Students
    Youth Social Responsibility Center
    Yu Disability
    Yunmeng Volunteers Association
    Yunnan
    Yunnan Care
    Yunnan Leprosy Village
    Yurun Micro Public Good Alliance
    ZOE

    Archives

    September 2024
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    June 2011

    RSS Feed

© Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.
171 Main St. #658 , Los Altos, CA 94022  | [email protected] | 501(c)(3) Tax ID: 45-2885139
  • Home
  • Projects
  • Track
  • Blog
  • How It Works
    • About Us
    • Annual Reports
    • Get Involved
    • Grant Application
    • Media
    • FAQs
    • Contact Us
  • Donate