“When the tide comes in, ALL the boats rise” – Job Creation Changing Village Life

Yang Lao Hai is 47 years of age, unmarried and lives in Daxi Village. Yang Lao Hai had never had a job because he has an intellectual disability which has left him with limited skills. He lives at his brother’s home and usually helps with simple farm work. His family is poor and he had no savings money. This meant that Yang Lao Hai’s future was projected to be difficult and he would be dependent on his brother for survival.

The CAPTIVATING Village Sustainability Project (in partnership with Heifer China) came to his village and through training of the villagers as well as those that participated in the passing-on-the-gift project, living conditions in the village have greatly improved over the past few years. Many old habits have changed. One such habit was throwing garbage anywhere. The village built a rubbish dump to manage the garbage. This has resulted in a cleaner environment as well as job creation for the village.

Yang Lao Hai was elected by the village committee to manage the garbage tank and to keep the village clean. It has been two years since he started this work (a story reported by Captivating in one of our previous issues) and we have recently learned that Yang Lao Hai has been very dedicated to his job. He now has a stable salary and is able to have food (and meat) on the table, new clothes to wear and the overall quality of his life has greatly improved. He said that as long as his health is ok, he will continue to serve the community and make a good and clean environment for the village. He is very appreciative to have this opportunity to be self-reliant and no longer be a burden for his brother.

Although this village based program is helping 450 families over a 5 year period, there are still those who can’t join the pass-on-the-gift project due to physical or mental disability. However, we are thrilled to see the village community, which is beginning to prosper through this program, start to proactively look for ways to improve the living conditions of everyone. As the old saying goes, “When the tide comes in, ALL the boats rise”. Yang Lao Hai is one of many who have, either directly or indirectly, had their lives changed as a result of the Captivating Village Development Project. We continue to thank our dedicated project sponsors and supporters. Thanks for your commitment over this 5 year program. Hundreds of families and their many children are living with such hope of a better tomorrow.