Rongrong Ling was born in 1999, and she is one of a family of 3 children. Her family speak Mandarin. They live in a house made of brick and tile. Local farmers make the bricks out of mud and grass. Rongrong's father farms the family plot of land. Her mother works on their land.
Rongrong lives in Hengxian County of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. Families here depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, mainly growing rice and maize. Harvests are poor due to frequent droughts, poor yielding crops, inadequate farming methods and lack of arable land. People do not own land; it is owned by the government and distributed according to family size (0.16 acre per person). Many families keep livestock such as cattle, pigs, ducks and chickens. Their diet mainly consists of rice, maize, sweet potato, soybean, potato leaves and cabbage.
Water is collected from mountain springs, wells and ponds, which provide relatively safe sources of water. Each village has a health clinic but they are poorly equipped and run by private doctors with limited skills. The main illnesses are colds and liver trematode (parasitic worm), caused by eating uncooked vegetables and fish.
98% of children in Hengxian County are enrolled in school but, due to poverty, the dropout rate is high. Although all villages have schools, they are poorly constructed and equipped and the standard of teaching is very low. Rongrong is fortunate and currently attends school. Both girls and boys help with household chores such as cooking, collecting firewood, feeding livestock and looking after younger siblings.
ActionAid China is working with the local government to help families like Rongrong's access their right to natural resources, basic social services, improved livelihoods, education and healthcare. With your support we can give children like Rongrong a better future. |
