Missing your childhood fun, playing with your friends, fighting with your brother, making faces to your mom for your favorite toy? When you couldn't get what you wanted, did you sigh like a little adult: “It sucks being a child!” However, A-Long wouldn't. He washes his laundry and makes his meals by himself. Alone, he feeds the chickens and raises the dog. Alone, he studies and learns to read. Alone, he goes to sleep.
This is 6-year-old A-Long’s home, a one person “home”.
Among them, one of the stand-alone small building has a “stove” made of piled up cement block and a ceramic bed pan installed as a “toilet”, the other building has dilapidated wooden doors with no locks. As it is understood, A-Long once lived in these buildings, but because his father passed away there, no one has gone near those buildings since. A-Long himself has not entered them again, only often walking back and forth in front of the door. “Is it because you feel your dad is still inside sleeping?” A-Long did not reply, hesitating for a moment before running away.
A representative of Liuzhou City’s HIV prevention department told the reporters that with regards to A-Long’s medical condition, as long as it involves anti-HIV medication, it is free, but they cannot do anything for any medication outside of this. All the village committee does is to guarantee that he doesn’t have to worry about food and clothing at the moment. Although they have already helped him apply for social security/welfare benefits, 70 yuan a month.
The only person who is close with A-Long is his 84-year-old grandmother, it takes her about 15 minutes to walk here where A-Long lives. His grandmother often comes to see him, but it is not everyday that she comes. That afternoon, his grandmother happened to come by, and so A-Long did not have to feed the chickens, nor did he have to pick the vegetables himself, and could play a little more. His grandmother had planted two plots of vegetables in the open area beside the house, one plot of cabbage, one plot of leeks/chives. She says this is normally enough for A-Long to eat.
When asked if she was able to live here and raise A-Long until he is big, the grandmother hesitantly said that she herself is a little afraid of living here. Could she take A-Long to his uncle’s place to live? The grandmother did not answer.
A-Long has uncles and aunties who come to see him, they bring good things to eat and new clothes, every time they come. A while ago, the temperature had suddenly dropped sharply, and one auntie came on consecutive nights to deliver quilts/blankets and winter clothing. Apart from this, there are many kind-hearted anonymous city residents who will also come visit A-Long, but almost no one has brought up the problem of raising A-Long.
Even though there is no oil or salt, for A-Long, being able to have dinner is a very blessed thing. Recently, A-Long had just received 20kg of rice and 5kg of noodles from a kind-hearted person, which is enough for him for quite some time.
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| As the sky turns dark, A-Long starts to prepare dinner. |
“You know how to cook by yourself?” A-Long nodded his head, and even raised his left hand to show the reporter. On his left hand between the thumb and index finger was a very large scab, shocking on such a small hand. A-Long however was nonchalant, saying that he had accidentally burned himself a few days ago when cooking, but now it is almost healed.
Source: 1
Source: 1
