“Children are the debts of their parents,” as the old saying goes. Many parents live solely to provide for their children and raise them with every comfort they can afford to give their kids.
This is a true case for 47-year-old Xu Yaling, who works hard to provide for her three kids. This mom from China has to tie over 4,000 steel wires by hand everyday to make a living and support her three children.
Xu’s job is to secure iron wires and reinforce them. She says she goes through around 4,000 wires a day.
Xu works with iron in construction sites in the city of Xingtai located within the Hebei Province. She uses her strength to contribute to the concrete metropolitan jungle as she works in the urban construction industry alongside men.
She earns approximately 190 yuan (US$27) a day for her laborious work.
She was originally from Shiliting Town of Shahe City and is the mother of three children.
Her oldest two daughters are married and her 19-year-old son works at a restaurant. As her son is approaching marriageable age, Xu has to save up in order to abide by the custom of giving the bride a large dowry.
Xu smiles and says she’s working hard so that her son can marry whomever he pleases without letting the issue of the dowry get in the way.
Doing labor work in a construction site is never easy and is usually a male-dominant work scope and parents tend to sacrifice more than their health to earn a living. Sometimes it would mean being away from your children for a long period of time especially for migrant workers in China whereby they can earn more in city than in their birth places—usually rural villages.
More often that not, we would always ponder if this is all worthwhile, not being able to be there when your child needs you the most but for most migrant workers it could also mean being to survive is foremost.
What do you think? Please share your thoughts with us in the comment section.
