This
Valentine’s Day, will you express your appreciation for the special
woman or girl in your life by helping us “Save a Girl” in China – a girl
like Xinjuan?
Xingjuan
was eleven months old when we found her. She is a rare third daughter
in her family. Rare, because even second daughters are at risk of being
aborted or abandoned under China’s Two Child Policy. Few third
daughters are allowed to see the light of day.
Life
is extremely hard for Xingjuan and her family. Her parents are
vegetable farmers. During the Covid-19 economic shutdown in China, no
trucks came to their remote village to buy vegetables. Much of their
crop simply rotted in the greenhouse. Not only did they make no money,
but they spent money, time and energy maintaining their farm. Now, they
are financially devastated.
Another
factor that makes life hard for this family is “daughter shaming.”
They are known in their village as “the family with daughters only.”
Xingjuan’s paternal grandmother feels particularly shamed by this,
because her son (Xingjuan’s father) is the only boy she had, and now she has no grandsons,
either. This grandmother found a family in a nearby village that has
two sons, and tried to pressure Xingjuan’s mom into giving Xingjuan away
to that family. Because there are so many more men living in China
than women, some parents resort to “adopting” a baby girl, to raise her
as the future wife of their son. Xingjuan’s mom fought against giving
away her daughter.
Fortunately
for Xingjuan and her family, our fieldworker heard about their plight
and approached them with an offer of encouragement and financial support
for one year. Our support turned the whole situation around: now
Xingjuan is viewed as a lucky girl by her family, and even the
grandmother has changed her mind. The grandmother said that for years
she prayed to God for a grandson, but now she sees that granddaughters
can be a big blessing from God, too. She admits she has never thought
of granddaughters this way before!
