Saturday, 14 July 2007 | The Straits Times
THEY SAVED 14 ABANDONED GIRLS
By Theresa Tan
CHENGMAI COUNTY, HAINAN, CHINA - MADAM Sun Qingrong was on her way to a market 19 years ago when a chance encounter changed her life forever. Her family would never be the same again either.
A hospital worker carrying an infant came up, thrust 20 yuan (S$4 at current rates) at her and told her to find a way to get rid of the day-old baby girl.
Madam Sun, now 56, recalls the incident like it happened yesterday.
'The woman told me the baby's parents didn't want her because she was their second daughter. She said I could adopt the baby if I wanted to, give her away to someone else or throw her away,' she said.
'I was horrified. A baby is not a chicken or a dog, how can we just throw it away?'
She turned down the money, but took the baby home.
It did not matter that she already had five children of her own - two sons and three daughters. Nor did she care that life was a struggle, as the family lived from hand-to-mouth on her husband's meagre income as a rag-and-bone man.
Mr Yao Yide, 54, earns just 800 to 1,000 yuan a month from collecting and selling discarded items and taking on odd jobs.
The couple named the baby Mingli, which means bright and beautiful. She was to be the first of many more abandoned girls the couple would take in - 14 in all - since that day in 1988.
Mr Yao remembers everything he felt on the day Mingli arrived.
'When my wife brought our first baby girl home, I thought to myself, even if we had to eat less, we would raise her,' he said. 'Even if we had to beg, we would find money to send her to school.'
Mingli is now 19 and working in a Shenzhen factory. The younger ones are aged between two and 17.
Most were abandoned at birth, left behind in hospital. Others were found in various places, including the toilet at the local bus station and a rubbish dump.
After the couple took Mingli home, hospital workers kept turning to them when other baby girls were abandoned. Neighbours would also alert them if they knew of a dumped infant.
Once, a fairly well-off couple asked them to adopt their third daughter, because they wanted to try for a son. The Yaos took the girl.
Over the years, their expanding brood of adopted girls proved a strain on the couple. Money was always tight, they had to be frugal, and new clothes were a rare luxury.
Sometimes, the adults would get by on two meals a day, usually plain noodles or buns, but the girls would get three meals of rice and other cooked dishes. Fish and meat appeared only on special occasions.
Once, one of the older girls wanted to quit school to work and boost the family finances, but Mr Yao said no.
'My wife and I are illiterate, so our lives are hard,' he said. 'Our children must be educated.'
Along the way, the couple had their share of heartbreak and crises.
Three of the girls died of heart problems before their first birthdays. One of them, found with 50 yuan attached to her birth certificate, died on the first day of the Chinese New Year.
Another almost did not make it. She fell gravely ill at seven months and was warded in hospital for 10 days.
Said Madam Sun: 'My neighbours told me I should give her away because she was so sickly, but I couldn't bear to do that.'
The baby recovered and Mr Yao found himself in debt, settling the medical bills. Over the years, he and his wife have had to borrow over 20,000 yuan from relatives and friends to tide over tough times.
The Yaos now live with five of their adopted daughters in a small town in Chengmai county, about an hour's drive from Haikou, Hainan's capital.
To ease their financial burden, some friends and relatives have either adopted or are helping to take care of six of the girls.
Home is a rented dilapidated two-room brick house strewn with wooden planks, plastic bottles and other junk.
Madam Sun cooks using firewood in soot-blackened pots, and there is neither toilet nor tap in their house.
The couple's own children, now aged between 23 and 30, live in the family's ancestral village in the central Chinese province of Henan.
They can barely make ends meet raising their own families, let alone help support their parents, said Mr Yao.
In their small community, the Yaos are well known for their open hearts and home and how they have valued daughters in a society where sons are prized.
'Boys and girls are the same. Both are lives,' said Mr Yao. 'And if families don't want their daughters, there will be no wives for their sons in the future.'
After the couple's story was reported in the local newspapers last year, the county government decided to build them a new two-storey house. Some people sent them money.
During their three-hour interview with The Straits Times, the couple's bond with their girls shone through clearly.
Baby No. 12, four-year-old Mingyu, kept going to kiss and play with Mr Yao. Mingyu was found in a rubbish dump and Mr Yao's neighbours alerted the police to the abandoned baby.
'The policeman asked me to care for Mingyu since there is no orphanage in town,' said Mr Yao.
Mingyang, 17, who topped her mid-year examinations, said she would never be able to thank her mum and dad enough for rescuing and loving her.
'I regard them as my real parents. And I feel that my adopted sisters and I are bound by the same fate,' she said, breaking down in tears.
Mr Yao became emotional himself when he described the day he left Mingli in Shenzhen last year.
He had taken her to the city to find work, and when it was time for him to return home, it was wrenching for both.
Trying to hold back his tears, he said: 'Mingli was crying and crying when I got on the bus headed back to Hainan. She had never been away from me for even one day in her life.
'I was crying on the bus as I missed her too, but she has better job prospects in Shenzhen.'
He let on proudly that Mingli offered them 1,000 yuan to celebrate Chinese New Year this year, but he refused to take it.
He said: 'We didn't bring up our children so that they can earn money for us. We just hope they are happy.'
THEY SAVED 14 ABANDONED GIRLS
By Theresa Tan
CHENGMAI COUNTY, HAINAN, CHINA - MADAM Sun Qingrong was on her way to a market 19 years ago when a chance encounter changed her life forever. Her family would never be the same again either.
A hospital worker carrying an infant came up, thrust 20 yuan (S$4 at current rates) at her and told her to find a way to get rid of the day-old baby girl.
Madam Sun, now 56, recalls the incident like it happened yesterday.
'The woman told me the baby's parents didn't want her because she was their second daughter. She said I could adopt the baby if I wanted to, give her away to someone else or throw her away,' she said.
'I was horrified. A baby is not a chicken or a dog, how can we just throw it away?'
She turned down the money, but took the baby home.
It did not matter that she already had five children of her own - two sons and three daughters. Nor did she care that life was a struggle, as the family lived from hand-to-mouth on her husband's meagre income as a rag-and-bone man.
Mr Yao Yide, 54, earns just 800 to 1,000 yuan a month from collecting and selling discarded items and taking on odd jobs.
The couple named the baby Mingli, which means bright and beautiful. She was to be the first of many more abandoned girls the couple would take in - 14 in all - since that day in 1988.
Mr Yao remembers everything he felt on the day Mingli arrived.
'When my wife brought our first baby girl home, I thought to myself, even if we had to eat less, we would raise her,' he said. 'Even if we had to beg, we would find money to send her to school.'
Mingli is now 19 and working in a Shenzhen factory. The younger ones are aged between two and 17.
Most were abandoned at birth, left behind in hospital. Others were found in various places, including the toilet at the local bus station and a rubbish dump.
After the couple took Mingli home, hospital workers kept turning to them when other baby girls were abandoned. Neighbours would also alert them if they knew of a dumped infant.
Once, a fairly well-off couple asked them to adopt their third daughter, because they wanted to try for a son. The Yaos took the girl.
Over the years, their expanding brood of adopted girls proved a strain on the couple. Money was always tight, they had to be frugal, and new clothes were a rare luxury.
Sometimes, the adults would get by on two meals a day, usually plain noodles or buns, but the girls would get three meals of rice and other cooked dishes. Fish and meat appeared only on special occasions.
Once, one of the older girls wanted to quit school to work and boost the family finances, but Mr Yao said no.
'My wife and I are illiterate, so our lives are hard,' he said. 'Our children must be educated.'
Along the way, the couple had their share of heartbreak and crises.
Three of the girls died of heart problems before their first birthdays. One of them, found with 50 yuan attached to her birth certificate, died on the first day of the Chinese New Year.
Another almost did not make it. She fell gravely ill at seven months and was warded in hospital for 10 days.
Said Madam Sun: 'My neighbours told me I should give her away because she was so sickly, but I couldn't bear to do that.'
The baby recovered and Mr Yao found himself in debt, settling the medical bills. Over the years, he and his wife have had to borrow over 20,000 yuan from relatives and friends to tide over tough times.
The Yaos now live with five of their adopted daughters in a small town in Chengmai county, about an hour's drive from Haikou, Hainan's capital.
To ease their financial burden, some friends and relatives have either adopted or are helping to take care of six of the girls.
Home is a rented dilapidated two-room brick house strewn with wooden planks, plastic bottles and other junk.
Madam Sun cooks using firewood in soot-blackened pots, and there is neither toilet nor tap in their house.
The couple's own children, now aged between 23 and 30, live in the family's ancestral village in the central Chinese province of Henan.
They can barely make ends meet raising their own families, let alone help support their parents, said Mr Yao.
In their small community, the Yaos are well known for their open hearts and home and how they have valued daughters in a society where sons are prized.
'Boys and girls are the same. Both are lives,' said Mr Yao. 'And if families don't want their daughters, there will be no wives for their sons in the future.'
After the couple's story was reported in the local newspapers last year, the county government decided to build them a new two-storey house. Some people sent them money.
During their three-hour interview with The Straits Times, the couple's bond with their girls shone through clearly.
Baby No. 12, four-year-old Mingyu, kept going to kiss and play with Mr Yao. Mingyu was found in a rubbish dump and Mr Yao's neighbours alerted the police to the abandoned baby.
'The policeman asked me to care for Mingyu since there is no orphanage in town,' said Mr Yao.
Mingyang, 17, who topped her mid-year examinations, said she would never be able to thank her mum and dad enough for rescuing and loving her.
'I regard them as my real parents. And I feel that my adopted sisters and I are bound by the same fate,' she said, breaking down in tears.
Mr Yao became emotional himself when he described the day he left Mingli in Shenzhen last year.
He had taken her to the city to find work, and when it was time for him to return home, it was wrenching for both.
Trying to hold back his tears, he said: 'Mingli was crying and crying when I got on the bus headed back to Hainan. She had never been away from me for even one day in her life.
'I was crying on the bus as I missed her too, but she has better job prospects in Shenzhen.'
He let on proudly that Mingli offered them 1,000 yuan to celebrate Chinese New Year this year, but he refused to take it.
He said: 'We didn't bring up our children so that they can earn money for us. We just hope they are happy.'
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