I was supposed to start school at age 7, but I didn’t because we had no money. My older sister was in 3rd grade then, and words can’t describe how much I wanted to go to school with her.
I decided to find herbs in the woods to sell, so that I could help with my tuition. This was a big challenge because I was very much afraid of snakes, but my desire to go to school was stronger than my fear of snakes. A year later, we were still short of 20rmb. My mother borrowed the money from our neighbor in order for me to attend school. Next semester came, and we only had enough money for one child to go to school. So, my mother decided to keep me at home. I was so sad and I cried non-stop the first day of the school. Finally, my mother went out and borrowed my tuition again. This went on many years and we owed more and more money.
I remember one time, the person who loaned us money had a family member in the hospital and they needed the money urgently. When the man came to our home and asked my father to pay him back, my father was so apologetic because we had no money to pay and asked for an extension. He gave us one week and told us that he would tear our home down if we could not pay him. My poor parents tried everything during that week, but they were unable to collect the money needed.
The due day came and the man returned. We gave him all the food and oil we had, because we had nothing else to offer. We had very little to eat in the following weeks.
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