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| Ding Haiyan (L) visits Yang Youquan''s family, once an officially registered household in poverty, in Hejiayuan Village of Xihaigu in northwest China''s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Oct. 28, 2020. Xihaigu, a largely mountainous region in northwest Ningxia, was once inflicted by deep poverty and labeled the "most unfit place for human settlement" by the United Nations in the 1970s due to land reclamation, drought, and a fragile ecological environment. On Nov. 16, 2020, Xihaigu historically bid farewell to absolute poverty, during which "she power" played an indispensable role. Ding Haiyan, 55, is chairwoman of the trade union of water supplies bureau of Wuzhong City in Ningxia. She transferred to Hejiayuan Village in Yuwang Township of draught-haunted county of Tongxin in central Ningxia in 2015 starting her new career as a poverty alleviation cadre. To Ding''s great disappointment, most villagers there were seniors or the disabled who had no access to paved roads and electric power for industrial purposes, and little confidence in her will and power. Despite these, Ding insisted on making door-to-door visits to get her head around the basic situation there. She came up with a two-pillar strategy to simultaneously improve villagers'' income and infrastructure in the village. She also tailored individual poverty-alleviation plans for each household in the village. Started with livestock breeding, villagers had more and more confidence in Ding as they saw steadily increasing income. Ding also managed to multiply the villagers'' sources of income by encouraging production of specialty grains like millet and buckwheat. Thanks to her efforts, a paved road was also accomplished to bring output of the village to wider markets. Looking at an almost ready canteen for senior citizens, the last one of her promises to the villagers in Hejiayuan, Ding admitted that she occasionally shed tears due to the difficulties she had to confront, but she would never forget the villagers'' eyes with expectation and her responsibility for them. (Xinhua/Yang Zhisen) |
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