Winter Plum
Winter Plum is a 10-year-old girl who entered fourth grade in September 2006. She is mild-mannered, very attractive and an A student. She also has a beautiful singing voice. She has always lived in extreme poverty in a village near Beijing.
When Winter Plum was very young, her grandfather contracted cancer, which put an even greater financial burden on their family. Winter Plum's father began selling blood to help relieve his family's debt.
Soon the family began hearing that people died from selling blood, but the father continued nonetheless. Out of extreme fear, Winter Plum's mother fled with her to live with her grandparents and divorced her husband. One day, after drinking heavily, the distraught father came to retrieve his little girl from his estranged wife. Winter Plum's mother refused to release her daughter to him, and in front of the family, including Winter Plum, he stabbed his former wife. He grabbed his daughter and returned to his own home. That night, her father confessed to his own family what he had done and, before the night was over, committed suicide.
Between 2003 and 2006, Winter Plum had witnessed the deaths of her grandfather to cancer, her grandmother a year later, and her mother and her father. She had only one remaining living relative, an aunt, who took her in against the wishes of her husband and his family. Winter Plum's aunt feels beholden to her husband and his family for allowing her to keep her niece in their home and in school, so the aunt quietly endures considerable abuse in order to thank him.
Winter Plum's aunt tends a small farm and her uncle operates a small motorcycle repair shop with his family. Winter Plum herself works diligently at home and tries to become invisible. She wakes up at 4:30 to help her aunt with the farm chores, goes to school and eats the meager lunch her aunt has prepared for her, then hurries home after school to work in the fields again.
When asked about her singing, Winter Plum says she hopes to be able to sing again some day, but she doesn't sing in her home now. She explains that she is just trying not to make any mistakes in the eyes of her uncle and his family.
Winter Plum and her family are receiving One-on-One Help from Golden Courage. This assistance includes tuition and money for Winter Plum's school lunches. We are also guiding the family through the process of getting small business aid from the government.