Misfortune and Fortune

SHICAOGOU, China—Zhang Jiaxing is a smart 15-year-old boy and dreams of going to university. But an accident six years ago almost deprived him of his dream. It was Heifer that helped out.

Jiaxing’s father worked in the city as a migrant worker, and his mother planted corn at home. The poor income could hardly feed the whole family. It always brought the parents headache to raise enough money for Jiaxing’s tuition before every semester. One day in 2003, Jiaxing’s mother was injured in a traffic accident, and then his father was unable to work. Jiaxing knew what this meant to him: the family could not afford his tuition anymore. Even though he’s good student, what could he do?

In December 2006, Heifer came to Shicaogou. Jiaxing’s family was chosen as one of the project participants, and Jiaxing had great hope of relieving the burden of his family. Everyday, when coming back from school, the first thing he did was to cut grass and feed the cattle. Now the family has three cows with an income of more than $1,450 from selling another three cows last year.

“Since Heifer came to my family, our life has got better and better,” Jiaxing said. “I appreciate that Heifer gave me the chance to study again. I will study even harder to be a useful person. We will pass our cattle to another needy family and help more people out of poverty.”