Feature: New start for a quake orphan

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Source: CCTV.com | 01-29-2009 14:23

The May earthquake has changed the lives of many people. Each has a different story to tell. In the past eight months, our reporter Wang Mangmang has been following a high school student orphaned in the quake. This is her story.

Zhao Ran is writing her final exam. She's in her first year at a university in Beijing. The first time we met her was right after the May earthquake, in her hometown in Sichuan Province. She was a high school senior who had just lost her parents and didn't know what to do.

Zhao Ran is a high school student orphaned in the Sichuan quake.  She is now studying at a university in Beijing.

When summer came, she left home and entered university. She says she's become different,“My attitude towards life has changed. I think differently. Something has to be over. I've learned to accept it and face my life as it is.”

The school has not only waived the yearly tuition of twenty thousand yuan, but also gives her a monthly subsidy of eight hundred yuan during her course of study.

Zhao Ran is doing well in her major and ranked second in her class on a recent test.

President of century college Li Jie said “We offer financial and psychological help to students from the quake affected area. We want them recover from the trauma and have a good future. This is a social responsibility our school wants to take on. We want to make the school their home.”

Away from home and those painful memories, Zhao Ran feels happy and safe in this campus in Beijing. With a chance to learn and care from people around her, she's become more confident about her future. But as the Chinese New Year approaches, the girl gets a little homesick.

The road home has never been easy after the earthquake. We had to travel two hours on foot on ground like this. But Zhao Ran and her brother have been looking forward to this moment for a long time.

This is their first Spring Festival without their parents. They send their wishes to heaven along with some belongings and an offering. To our surprise, there were neither tears nor many words in front of the grave.

The brother and sister are definitely not alone. They have a busy schedule going from place to place at their relatives’ to celebrate the new year.

Their grandmother's old house has no electricity, but they want to spend the night to catch up with her stories after the earthquake.

In their uncle's make-shift house, the family eagerly watches Zhao Ran's video of school.

“I think it's very important to have relatives around. I feel warm. No matter how far I am from home, I still need their care. And this is what I call home.” said Zhao Ran.

CCTV reporter Wang Mangmang

After the holiday break, Zhao Ran will return to school. She tells us she doesn't have a new year wish. The Spring Festival itself is enough for a new start.

Editor:Beauty