The Mother or the Muse?

Some writing seems to drive its own destiny. Had this sensitive journalist never crossed the path of this devoted mother, this story might never have been told.

Last night I heard an interview with French journalist, Pierre Haski, who is responsible for bringing to light the ambitions, hopes and frustrations of a young Chinese girl living in stark poverty in Zhangjiashu, a Muslim village in northwest China. Zhangjiashu is in a region of China that has been ravaged by drought and declared uninhabitable by the government, yet more than three million people still live there. Pierre Haski visited this region in 2001 and upon leaving Zhangjiashu was approached by a woman who put three small notebooks into his hands. The notebooks turned out to be a diary written by Ma Yan, the woman’s 13-year-old daughter.

When asked what was so remarkable about the diaries, Haski replied that they are not only a first-hand account of the daily struggle of an obscure population, they also reveal the poignant evolution in Ma Yan’s writing as more and more of her emotions flow into her observations and interpretations of life. Central to Ma Yan’s writing is her belief that education is the key to overcoming poverty and her determination to stay in school despite the overwhelming barriers of money and distance. A French newspaper published an excerpt from the diaries and the public response was so great, it led to a scholarship fund for Ma Yan and the publication of her book, The Diary of Ma Yan: The Struggles and Hopes of a Chinese Schoolgirl.

The book has now been published in sixteen countries and has triggered the establishment of The Association for the Children of Ningxia, an association dedicated to providing scholarships to children in the region, mostly girls, who are excluded from the education system.