The villagers gathered on a sad day in March to bid farewell. They stood at the entrance of their village in tears, sorrowfully bidding farewell to their “living Lei Feng,” who came from far away to help lift them from poverty.
Rose Acok, a British woman, arrived in 1997 in Sichuan Province’s Hanyuan County, one of the poorest in this rural southwest China region.
Acok came to China in 1992 after graduating from university and worked at the Southwest Communications University in Chengdu and the Chengdu Wenjiang Ecological Institute. She then returned to Britain to continue her study in Leeds University, focusing on Chinese rural development and project management as her research topics.
After graduation, she decided to research Chinese rural development close up by living in Sichuan.
In August of 1996, Rose entered the Sichuan Provincial Aid-the-Poor Office with a plan and received approval to carry out some aiding experiments in a poor county.
Raising money by herself, Acok started her “Sichuan Rural Development Organization” in January 1997. Her parents and two of her former classmates were the first volunteers for her organization.
The program first investigated the conditions of the poverty-stricken areas and decided on aid projects, then raised funds by contacting chambers of commerce, charitable organizations, friends and international foundations.
For example, Acok determined that farmers in two villages have long had trouble securing drinking water. More than 2,000 people and livestock got their drinking water from a muddy ditch.
With the help from technical staff at the county’s water and electricity bureau, Rose made a feasibility report and then rushed about for money. Her efforts paid off: She landed 112,400 yuan (US$13,500) from the British Embassy. Three months later, the farmers were able to drink clean water.
In the past four years, Rose left her footprints on almost every corner of the poor villages and townships in Hanyuan County. She has implemented 35 programs and raised more than 1.6 million yuan (US$193,200) in aid.
Local villagers call her the “living Lei Feng,” a household name for Chinese people who is known for serving people selflessly.
Acok left the Sugu Village last month and continued her aiding program in Sichuan.
(China Daily 04/06/2001)
