LANZHOU: Bai Xiyan, 54, has stayed at home for more than one month due to the novel coronavirus epidemic prevention and control but is not idly sitting around.
She knits two pairs of slippers every day, earning 80 yuan (about 11.5 U.S. dollars). “It’s better not to go out at such time. I stay at home and make slippers so that I can sell them for money after the epidemic,” she said.
In Xiayang Village in northwest China’s Gansu Province, nearly half of the 970 villagers including Bai are poverty-stricken. Villagers make a living by raising cattle and planting corn.
“In winter, we don’t have farm work. Villagers have nothing to do but stay at home,” said villager Mu Yaner. Her family of four relies on her husband to do some odd jobs, earning less than 3,000 yuan a month.
In Xiayang, most male villagers go to large Chinese cities for more job opportunities, leaving women behind to take care of their families and do farm work.
To help those “left-behind” women earn more money and shake off poverty, the Women’s Federation of Gansu launched a skill training program for women in rural areas in 2019.
Last November, 20 impoverished villagers including Bai and Mu attended a two-day training course on knitting handicrafts such as slippers and hats.
– The Daily Mail-People’s Daily News exchange item
