Spring Bud helping poor girls blossom
Thanks to the Spring Bud project, Lan Zhilin became the first female doctor in her hometown, something that would have been unthinkable a few years back.
She was among the first group of 49 girls to go to school in Rongshui, southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. For centuries, the local Red Yao ethnic people there believed it was unnecessary for girls to receive education.
About 100 kilometers north of Rongshui sits Baiyun Township, where Lan was born. Tucked away deep in the mountains, Baiyun was one of the poorest areas in China. Food was scarce, and life was hard. Girls were usually married before 16. So the consensus was why bother sending them to school?
To eradicate poverty and modernize people’s lives, the local government earmarked funds despite a tight budget to open a class for girls in 1988.
But bigger challenges were in store. Teachers had to pay home visits again and again to persuade parents. Over half of the students skipped school in the first year.
“I see them as my own children. I hope to change their minds with my love and patience,” said Wu Ruiping, a teacher.
In 1992, Spring Bud included the Red Yao girls’ classes into its first batch of projects and 10 classes have since graduated.
Spring Bud was launched in 1989 by the China Children and Teenagers’ Fund under the leadership of the All-China Women’s Federation, to boost education attendance in rural areas where gender bias runs deep.
Unlike her mother, who married at a very young age, Lan took a completely different life path. In 1997, she was admitted to a medical school in the regional capital of Nanning.
Using the skills she gained in school, she delivered a healthy baby girl. Two years later, she became a gynecologist and obstetrician at the hospital in her hometown and has since delivered more than 2,000 babies.
According to the statistics, Spring Bud has helped 3.69 million financially strapped girls go to school, funded 1,811 rural schools and circulated millions of pamphlets helping young girls identify and evade sexual harassment.
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