She herself acquired a hardy character and even the nickname of "strong woman" through two years of the "cultural revolution" spent in a rural area. From 1974 to 1976, she worked with medical services after a six-month training period. She still spoke highly of her teacher, who was "a great doctor," she said. If she remembered that period fondly, it was because the experience had a positive influence on her. "After tasting all forms of misery, I had nothing else to fear." When her daughters were little, both lived with their mother in a le mot mud house; she had to find water at 100 m, with a shoulder pole supporting two buckets.
Dalia was very happy with her teaching job. The biggest problem was educating undisciplined children who were not compliant and whose parents were very demanding. Dalia is capable of much love, and "love is what the young people need," she claimed. "I had a physically disabled student whom I chose as a class leader. You can't imagine her gratitude," she recalled. When Dalia's name was mentioned in her presence, the girl would smile radiantly: she knew she was loved. "Here, boys are still preferred to girls. At home, girls must serve their brothers and give them their all. I try to make the parents understand that the same importance and the same attention should be given to both sexes, and when they understand that, the girls are happy. I also have been loved less than my brothers."
Pushed by her mother, Yira chose English as her major. She was a good student who, like Dalia, always liked to learn. In the presence of my company during this documentation tour, she never missed a chance to ask how to say this or that in Uyghur, Mongolian, Kazak, and most of all, she remembered, while I didn't. In her last year of high school, she was in a special class for talented students. She was also excellent at ping-pong, swimming, skiing, and skating. She liked to dance and sing, play the accordion and guitar, and has studied drawing. She said: "As you return to Beijing, I will start to paint again." She also wishes to master the Russian language, and for the time being studies it on her own.
After she retired, Dalia became a tutor in the Chinese language for Kazak students. Their school requires a minimum number of students to hold a Kazak language class; if the minimum number is not filled, children have to attend the Chinese class and may have problems following mathematics, as the teacher speaks too quickly for them. Uyghur students, on the other hand, were numerous, and presently have their own school.
How happy the teacher was to hear recently that two of her three students had attained the grade of 80 this year! The third, who got 60, continued his lessons during the summer holidays but at a relaxed pace. Dalia charges 200 yuan a month from each child, while her colleagues ask for 230 or 250. "I tell the parents, if their child studies well and progresses, I am satisfied."
As soon as Dalia returns home, she listens to the radio and plays a CD. "I love to listen to music." She keeps herself in good shape with long sessions of bicycle riding every morning, skipping rope, and skating in the winter. "She swims like a fish," Yira added.
That day, she prepared baozi stuffed with eggplant, carrot, piaz (onion) and mutton meat. Excellent! I filled up and asked for more at dinner. The next day, she arose early, and, without making a sound, prepared all kinds of pastries as well as pancakes, which she served with a variety of homemade jams: peach, strawberry, apricot, and even blueberry, a fruit that I had not seen anywhere else in China. There were also fresh butter and clover-scented honey.
Dalia is also a good cook. She knows her nutrition and the nutrient value of each vegetable, fruit, meat, and fish. In May, she was invited on a CCTV-2 program for a cooking demonstration. For her, everything that can be eaten is prefaced with a "did you know that?" such as "Did you know that eggplant, especially the peel, can awaken the auto-immune healing power; that this fruit activates blood circulation and this other one delays the aging process?" This is the kind of book Dalia enjoys reading, and she has become the guardian of a treasure trove of knowledge. At 18:00, when the blazing sun died down, we strolled in Hua Lin Gongyuan, the Birch Forest. Following Xinjiang time – two hours behind Beijing – it was still light at 22:00. In the little Altay city, all 200,000 habitants seemed to know each other, which made taking a walk very pleasant.
Among this woman's accomplishments, what she does even better is to love her fellow humans. Her personality displays generosity, empathy, understanding, and a genuine desire to help. From her I keep, besides a deep impression of her character, a bracelet in "desert jade" with a Pixiu, a Chinese mythical creature who feeds itself with gold and silver and thus protects one’s fortune.
(Source: Foreign Languages Press)
