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A Tibetan Mother's Weekend
It was a Saturday, a red-letter day for Zhoi'ma, head of the neighborhood committee in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, because her two children were coming home from boarding school.
Zhoi'ma is not the biological mother of Jigme Namgyai and Cering Zhoigar, the two orphans she adopted eight years ago, when she had just become a member of the Chinese Communist Party.
Namgyai, the boy, is now studying at an agricultural professional school in Lhasa, and Zhoigar, the girl, is only in her second year at primary school.
Zhoi'ma started her day's work by sorting out some papers on what has been going on in the neighborhood during the past week. Across the desk, her teenage son was helping his little sister with her schoolwork.
"We're building a new house at home. It's such a mess there that they have to manage their schoolwork here in my office," said Zhoi'ma, with an expression of uneasiness on her face.
Fifty-year-old Zhoi'ma's voice was filled with love, as she talked about the two orphans.
"Namgyai lost his father when he was just a baby. His mother died when he was eight years old. I took him to my house as I didn 't want him to stay with his tough stepfather," said Zhoi'ma.
Zhoigar lost both parents when she was a little girl. The couple had been poor throughout their lives, and Zhoi'ma used to help them a lot.
"As she was dying, Zhoigar's mother took my hand and said with tears in her eyes 'take care of my girl, and there's nothing in this world for me to worry about'. The two kids have been like real brother and sister ever since," Zhoi'ma recalled.
"My own three children are all in college. I know that children need care and discipline. I just cannot afford to see these two youngsters idling about. They are just like my own kids, and I have to make sure that they grow up to be decent people. Only then will I have a clear conscience," she said.
Zhoi'ma took out several bankbooks from a drawer. "These are from their dead parents and relatives," she said, "And I have been saving some money for little Zhoigar," she picked out one bankbook with some 6,000 yuan (about 720 U.S. dollars) in it. "This will be her dowry when she gets married."
When the children finished their schoolwork, Zhoi'ma told Namgyai to take his sister out for a walk. Zhoi'ma herself has started a routine patrol in the neighborhood.
The neighborhood committee is in charge of some 2,700 residents in the area, a mixture of Tibetans, Mongols, Muslims and Han nationals.
Zhoi'ma never forgets to call on Zhalha and Cering Como, an elderly couple with no children.
Como, 69, is always delighted to see Zhoi'ma. She held Zhoi'ma by the hand and thanked her for her medicine, which has helped lower Como's blood pressure.
"Zhoi'ma is kind and considerate. She has done so much for the neighborhood and everyone loves her," said Nyi'ma Cering, another official with the committee.
"The residents used to live in old houses, with several generations of a family crowded under one roof," she said. "The neighborhood committee, led by Zhoi'ma, worked very hard to improve the people's living conditions."
Today, 97 percent of the residents have become well off and moved into new houses, said Cering.
As Zhoi'ma went around the neighborhood, greetings came out from every courtyard. A little Tibetan girl even hid behind Zhoi' ma and stealthily followed her for quite a distance.
It was lunch time when Zhoi'ma went back to her office, time for her to go home with the children. Her husband and her 80-year- old father were waiting for them.
"Family reunions are rare for us. I want to take them out for lunch today," said Zhoi'ma with a smile.
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