Report_2005

On $253 of annual income, a farmer must pay $290 a year for high school tuition (the equivalent of asking a US high school student to pay $43,000 per year). The higher Kun-Ming reaches for education, the heaver the financial burden for his aged grandpa.
His story climaxed three days before the annual college entrance exam. The teacher demanded Kun-Ming pay his $80 debt. After Kun-Ming admitted that he was unable to pay off the debt, his teacher withheld his college entrance test permit as punishment.
Although a classmate volunteered to sell blood to raise money for Kun-Ming, the teacher made the day’s lesson clear: “No money, no test.” Shamed, Kun-Ming rushed out of school in anger and tears.
The tragedy of Kun-Ming concluded two hours later; Kun-Ming had thrown himself into an oncoming express train.
I read through the New York Times’ 1.5 page memorial of this tragedy. Along with Kun-Ming’s story were details of the huge financial gap between the rich and poor in China. To EEP volunteers the report was not surprising, and the tragedy not uncommon.
Bright minds quest for knowledge. The passion that fuels them comes from their dream that they might one day reach the world outside their poor hometowns. Without education, hope is exhausted in vain; a farmer’s son will be a farmer. To see the city would only be as a cheap laborer for hire. With a college degree however, a crucial and essential key to attaining a professional job is granted.
Kun-Ming died because his dream was shattered; his key to success was stolen.
I will not criticize the government’s priorities, or the school’s negligence, or the teacher’s foolishness. However, I can’t help wondering what had been on Kun-Ming’s mind those last two hours he wandered along the railway. Did he hesitate in his choice of life or death? Was he still expecting a miracle? Would someone rewrite his fate by extending a helping hand? He could have lived a farmer, and died a farmer. He chose to live as a student. He died as a victim.
I wonder if EEP volunteers haven’t gone far enough, deep enough into rural China. I wonder how many children like Kun-Ming are wandering just another corner ahead, waiting for that helping hand. I wonder if for all that we do, if we can do better. And if we do, will the powers that finally begin to take notice. Even now lots of EEP donors are on a waiting list to get schools or students assigned to them. Even now a tragedy like this can happen just off our EEP route; just around the corner. Why?
EEP has a tight inspection process. Each EEP-funded school is examined by EEP volunteers, and all financial aid is distributed directly to the student by EEP with no middleman. Consequently, our administrative cost has increased every year as we continue to build more schools and sponsor more students. In 2003, EEP spent $75,000 (out of a total $640,000 expenditure) on administration. Since 100% of donations went to the appropriate school or student, our only source of administration funding is money donated by EEP board members. We need more involvement - more volunteers - to make our enlightening journey go further and last longer.
On my way back to California, I can’t stop thinking of Kun-Ming. He had a newspaper clipping on his scrapbook of a retarded girl being raped by stranger, then dumped by her own relatives for shame. Kun-Ming wrote: “We should help the innocent underdog get a place in society.” A bright youth with such a big heart could have done great things for China, but society shut the door for him. It should be no surprise that under those conditions he would finally give up on himself as well.
I thought of his heartbroken grandpa holding his grandson’s backpack. His textbooks are the only things Kun-Ming left for his grandpa; things his grandpa can’t read nor understand the meaning of. I pity the poor old man, clutching onto the only remaining memory of his grandson, never comprehending the meaning that the texts had for him.
I understand though.
I understand what those textbooks, what education, mean to Kun-Ming, and to others like him. My peers at EEP understand too. And it is because of this, that we truly understand how much further we have to go. There are still many corners left to be checked.