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Breaking out of a Mindset of Poverty by MC
L ydia is an Yi lady from Yunnan who is a single mother of two
children. When we met her, she had been unable to make
ends meet.

Lydia’s daughter is always at the top of her class. She is a very bright and diligent girl. Since her exam scores are high, she was eligible to attend a better school at the county level. However, since her family could not afford the tuition, she still remains in the village school. Lydia hopes her daughter will go to a better school when the promotion comes next time.

That’s why Lydia and other ladies came to our livelihood project. Before we started this livelihood project, these villagers were earning only 200 to 300 RMB a year ($28 to $43 USD). My wife spent time with them, encouraging them and coaching them to save money every month. We taught Lydia that this livelihood project's first priority is to help widows and single mothers who are poor and needy. Now Lydia is working with eight ladies, like herself, who are also in poverty.

We encouraged Lydia to ask for wisdom. In April 2007, Lydia told us she would like to open a shop to sell minority dresses, bed sheets, and duvet covers. We were excited by her dream. For her, a minority lady, to think of opening a shop was already a victory over a poverty mindset.

In early November 2007, Lydia made the five-and-a-half hour journey from her village to our city to deliver her minority handicrafts to my wife. Just one week prior to that, a family friend told her that there was an empty shop for rent in a good location near a bank. The two of them decided to share the rent, which was below the market rate! They opened this shop much earlier than we expected.

We hope that Lydia's daughter will continue to be successful in her studies and that the family will have sufficient funds to pay her school fees. Our goal is for more minority people to gain victory over a mindset of poverty. We aim to find more people like Lydia that we could train to stand on their feet.