How a shepherd boy became a Chang’an Avenue Police Officer
My name is An Gu Sha. I am a senior at the People’s Public Security University of China in Beijing. Like so many lucky Liangshan students who have benefitted from Fu Hui, I have received your loving support since 2014. Your help has been so much more than financial and school supplies – I have been encouraged and counselled so that I can focus on my studies.
My parents farmed a small piece of land and scraped by to support our family of five. When our father died probably from exhaustion I was about 10, my brother was almost 8 and little sister was just over 4. Friends and family urged Mother to keep us home from school so we could help her on the farm but she insisted we stay in school. We were the luckiest children in our village.
Every day we would rush to finish our homework at school, and run home to give mother a hand with the farm work. She worried that we wasted precious studying time but we reassured her that all our school work as already done.
We studied so hard that we were winning all kinds of school awards which soon covered a wall in our house. Our Mother sold our New Year pig (a significant asset of the family) to pay for my tuition when I went to junior high school. When my brother finished elementary school, he knew there would not be enough money to send him to high school and ran away to get a job. For this my mother blamed herself for a long time.
That same year, Fu Hui came into my life. I got the education fund from Fu Hui and was told to concentrate on my studies and not to worry about expenses. It was such a warm feeling – I felt so lucky and encouraged by these uncles and aunts whom I had never even met!
I only started to learn English in junior high school so I struggled to keep up – it was extremely tough for me. I also struggled with math and was starting to fail it. The teacher made me do extra work every day before I could go for lunch. Through her tutelage I finished high school in the top 5 of my year!
In my freshman year of university, I was selected from over 600 students for special training to become campus police. In second year I was hand picked to become a training instructor. My proficiency in English helped me win several awards. The highlight of my university life was that I have been trained for over a month and was selected as the Chang’an Avenue Police officer, to march in the military parade in Tiananmen Square on October 1 this year for the celebration of 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. In addition I have passed the civil servant exam – as long as I graduate next year, I will become a police officer!
I am very grateful to have encountered Fu Hui. When I first arrived in Beijing to start university and met Uncle Lee, Auntie Wu and Uncle Ma for the first time, they were concerned that I was adjusting to my new life and urged me to let them know as soon as I have any problem.
On my journey from watching cattle in Liangshan to being a police officer in Beijing, I have found the life I want to live. I have grown as a person because of the opportunities Fu Hui’s support has provided me. I am so grateful that we have been able to realize our potential thanks to Fu Hui. Fu Hui’s love and support for me will always be there for me. I will continue to work hard and continue to learn and grow in order to forge a better life for me and for a better Liangshan.
An Gu Sha October 2019