Society

Mom hits the streets with her begging bowl

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-01-24 07:54

Fu Yuxian looks at her log of the money she has received.[Photo/Qilu Evening News]

A woman in Ji'an, Jilin province, has clocked up 25,000 kilometers begging on the streets on behalf of her daughter, who suffers from kidney failure and needs ongoing medical treatment.

Fu Yuxian started begging in 2006 after her eldest daughter, Ai Hongyan, was diagnosed with the condition and the family was unable to cover her medical expenses.

Ai currently receives dialysis twice a week, which costs more than 60,000 yuan ($9,107) a year. By begging, Fu manages to provide more than half the amount, while the rest is largely covered by the New Rural Cooperative Medical Care System.

The 59-year-old mother lives in a rented room with her daughter near the hospital where she receives treatment in Linyi, Shandong province. She leaves home early in the morning to beg on the streets and returns in the evening, often at midnight, to spend time with her daughter.

Fu has kept a log of all the money she has received, which runs to five volumes.

Her own health has now begun to suffer as a result of the mental strain she has been under and the grueling hours she puts in on the streets, but she is determined to see to it that her daughter keeps living.

(Qilu Evening News)