Shanxi vocational school helps villagers leave poverty behind

For 54-year-old Cao Guohua who comes from Wangjiayan village of Tianzhen county, one of the hardest poverty-stricken areas in Shanxi province, going to Beijing and becoming a homecare provider was a life-changing choice for both her and her family.

"I couldn't believe doing housework and taking care for elderly people -- simple tasks that I used to do for my family for free -- could help me earn about 50,000 yuan a year in Beijing," Cao said.

"In the past not only did I do those tasks on daily bases, I also had to do farm work to raise a family," She added. As Cao's husband is physically challenged and not capable of labor work, Cao has been responsible for the whole family's expenses and spent decades working in a farm field with bare hands and simple tools.

"Working in a farm was very hard and tiring. But our family only earned about 10,000 yuan per year including my sons' income, which was not enough for a family's total expense," Cao said.

Cao made the life-changing choice in 2017, when she heard a local job training school was offering homecare training and related job opportunities for free. "I registered without any hesitation. Some of my peers were reluctant because they feared going outside of the village in their 50s, but I didn't think that way."

"I think it was a great opportunity for people at my age to go outside, earn more and learn more. The school gave us the opportunities," Cao said.

Cao was talking about Tianzhen Sunshine Vocational Training School. In 2017, Cao studied housekeeping and senior care, and a month later, she took a train to Beijing.

"My first client was a grandma in Dongcheng district of Beijing who was diagnosed with lung cancer. I took care of her for over three months, and then I switched to a family in Haidian. I earned about 50,000 yuan to 60,000 yuan per year in the past three years, and used the money to pay off our family debts and decorated our new apartment," Cao said.

Cao was not the only one who benefited from the Tianzhen Sunshine Vocational Training School. Founded in 2011 with an investment of 50 million yuan, the job training school now has 45 teaching staff, has trained over 30,000 people in homecare services, and helped over 10,000 people get rid of poverty, according to the school.

The school said most of their students are now working in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and some other places. A total of 12 students in homecare services are now working in the United States and Canada, with salary ranging from 11,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan.

"We offer students trainings for free for entry- and middle- level classes, and we do not charge clients for introduction fees. We receive a lot of financial support from government," said Li Chun, headmaster of the Tianzhen Sunshine Vocational Training School.

"We are now working to enhance our training qualities and aiming to build the school into a national level job skill training base," Li said.