Qiannan Prefecture: Determined to Call Back the Sunshine (3)

In 2002, Jiang Shaoying and her husband were both laid off from the railway sector, and started working in this Taiwan-funded sports equipment company. In just a few years, Jiang Shaoying stood out by virtue of her hard work and ingenuity, and became the general manager of the company.

But something that greatly distressed Jiang Shaoying happened. Her brother was expelled from his company because of drug addiction and was later given heavy sentences due to trading, keeping, and using drugs. Her young nephew was unattended and often ran away from school. Her parents were in tears day after day.

It greatly shocked Jiang Shaoying that her brother, once an employee in the state-owned enterprise, could step by step become a criminal. At the same time of regret and frustration, she also noticed that all the 20 or more addicts that she knew always lingered in the vicious circle of “addiction — compulsory treatment — relapse — compulsory treatment again”. She thought: if a company is willing to accept drug addicts such as his brother for employment, coupled with management and supervision of the company and the affection of family, there is great hope for their rehabilitation.

The same aspiration brought Hu Xiaojian and Jiang Shaoying together. After repeated consultation, the two sides decided to establish a Baseball Processing Plant in the mode of “government guidance and enterprise participation” specifically for the job placement of drug addicts. During the preliminary preparation stage, the municipal finance department invested supportive funds of 220,000 yuan for factory buildings, workshop decoration, employees’ living allowance, etc., while Jiang Shaoying’s company provided worktables and technical equipment worth more than 60,000 yuan.

On April 28, 2006, the “Duyun City Love Baseball Processing Plant” was established at Shengli Road, Duyun City. The plant occupied land area of 310 square meters, was equipped with six work tables, and could accommodate more than 50 drug addicts for employment.

Neither Hu Xiaojian nor Jiang Shaoying realized at that time that they were rewriting history. By then, Guizhou Province did not yet have one such drug rehab place that integrates labor recovery, drug detoxification, skill training, and soul purification. Their initiative had milestone significance.

On the day of the groundbreaking ceremony of the factory, the sky was blue and without a cloud. Hu Xiaojian said in his speech: “I hope our factory will always be like today’s weather and the life of the employees and trainees here will always be bathed in the warm sunshine!”