Fund 1000 Scholarships in Rural China for a Year

     I was born in a family with four boys. Even though my parents worked hard to feed and raise us healthily, school tuition and a variety of other costs of living for four children was a very heavy burden on my family, and simply living frugally was not a viable solution. Our family lived in the mountains with no stable source of income. What little we did came from my father, who spent off-farming seasons excavating and selling Chinese herbs from the mountain. I still remember my Mom standing at the intersection every night, waiting for him to return from the remote mountains dozens of kilometers away where he had gone to dig for herbs.

     As an effort to give us a better education, my father sent our four brothers to attend schools in the city. My grandparents strongly opposed this idea, and even tried to convince him to let my elder brother drop out of school and take up an apprenticeship in town. The neighbors also did not understand my parents: why put so much effort into keeping all four boys in school? But my father was adamant in giving us as much education as possible.
Life was even more difficult in the city. We had no land, no house, and four growing boys with appetites to feed, making the cost of living even higher than before. Despite the nine-year compulsory education laws, junior high school came with a host of fees that my family could not afford. At that time, life was extremely onerous for my parents: they lost sleep every night and my father’s hair was whitening quickly.

     But the good fortune of the Luck Goddess finally fell upon my family. One day in 9th grade, my father returned from school to happily inform the family that a SOAR education foundation had granted me a RMB 600 Yuan scholarship (about $100) a year, an incredible addition to the $2 my mother was making each day! Father flushed with excitement, holding together my application and a newsletter, which gave us our first introduction to the generous people of SOAR. For a few days my home was filled with great relief and joy, and everyone was very happy. Since then I have been truly grateful to SOAR.

     After graduating from junior high, I was admitted to the only focus high school in the county. At the same time, however, my Grandfather was diagnosed with late stage liver cancer and passed away after a month of hospitalization. The extra medical expenses undoubtedly thrust our family further into poverty and weighed down on my parents. With my two older brothers also in high school, and a younger brother still in junior high, we all faced a real possibility of dropping out. Finally, my father took a loan to pay for my high school enrollment. Soon afterwards I received a letter from SOAR, informing me that I was eligible to apply for another SOAR scholarship. This provided an immediate solution to the crises, and dropping out was no longer necessary. Father was very careful about my application, he helped me neatly fill out the forms and had me write drafts of essays. I remember once in junior year, I was not careful and stained the application form with ink. Father was so frustrated and angry that he scolded me, afraid this might affect my application. Fortunately SOAR sent the financial aid on time.

     When I went to college, my family faced even more expenses than before with two older brothers also attending college, my Mom in poor health, and my Grandmother needing financial support. But with the aid of SOAR college scholarships, which paid for most of my college tuition and living expenses, I pressed on with higher education. Luckily, my college was close to Beijing, and in 2012 I met with other SOAR alumni and staff for the first time, and witnessed the establishment of the SOAR Alumni Association there. Over the next three years I met with this lovely group of people several times a year, led by Teacher Zhu. I listened to our shared experiences and learned many valuable lessons, feeling inspired by so much talent in this big SOAR family. Eventually, I started to actively participate in the SOAR Alumni Association: organizing annual alumni gathering, participating in the application review process, and serving as a mentor to junior high scholarship winners. I understood that it was time for me to do my part and repay the kindness of SOAR.

    Now, I am a graduate student studying Geophysics with a famous professor. My mother accredits the possibility of my success to SOAR. When my family could not afford to keep me in school, it was SOAR who provided me with many years of scholarships. After I enrolled in college, it was SOAR that provided a supporting group near my college and continued opportunities for growth. I feel lucky and happy with SOAR’s love and support. I give thanks to SOAR and wish the foundation best luck in the future.

     In the past 22 years, SOAR has supported more than 1,000 students like Lun every year, all over China, many with multi-year scholarships until they graduated from high school or college, to the grand total of more than 9,000 students. Many of these SOAR Scholarship winners attended or are about to attend colleges, have become productive members and leaders of the society, and are ready to give back to SOAR to help the next generation of scholarship recipients.