"Mom, give me 70 yuan." /kloc-one day in 1998, ryan hreljac, a 6-year-old Canadian boy, rushed home after school and reached out and said to his mother, "I want to dig a well for African children so that they can have clean water to drink."
It turned out that when the teacher was giving a class to the first-grade students that day, he said, "In Africa, many children live in poor huts. Many children are waiting to die of hunger and disease because there is not enough food and drinking water and medicine. If you can donate from 70 yuan, you can help them dig a well. "
"They shouldn't live like that." All day, "70 dollars a well" has been spinning in Ryan's mind. "I must dig a well for them." Ryan made up his mind.
Facing Ryan's request, his mother said, "Ryan, $70 is not a small sum. You have to earn it yourself. " Ryan readily agreed.
Mom put a cookie box on the refrigerator and drew Ryan an integral table with 35 squares on it. For every two dollars added to the cookie box, Ryan can erase a square. Mom said, "Ryan, remember, you can only earn this money by doing extra housework, right?" Ryan nodded his head.
Ryan's first job is to vacuum the carpet. Brother and brother went out to play, and Ryan worked for more than two hours. Mother put two dollars into the biscuit box after "acceptance". A few days later, the whole family went to the movies, and Ryan stayed alone to clean the windows for two hours and earned two dollars. Grandpa knew Ryan's dream and hired him to pick up pine cones. After the snowstorm, the neighbor asked him to help pick up the branches; Dad rewarded me for getting good grades in the exam ... Ryan put all his money in the cookie box.
Finally, 35 squares were painted. One morning in late April, Ryan took a cookie box with change and handed the hard-earned 70 yuan money to the person in charge of the fundraising project.
"Thank you so much, Ryan!" The project leader accepted the donation and introduced Ryan to the "clean water" fundraising project in Africa. Finally, she said shyly that 70 yuan can only buy a water pump, and digging a well costs 700 yuan. Ryan is still young. He doesn't know how much 700 dollars is. He just said excitedly, "Then I will work more and earn more money!" " "
However, it is too difficult for Ryan to save $700 through work. Despite this, Ryan did not give up. A friend of my mother was moved by Ryan's insistence. She decided to help the compassionate child, so she wrote an article about Ryan and published it in the local newspaper. Soon, Ryan's story spread all over Canada.
A week later, Ryan received a check from 25 yuan. Soon, another check arrived. Since then, Ryan has been accepting donations, and in just two months, Ryan raised $7,000.
In September, engineers from the Uganda office of Canadian Aid Association made a special trip to Canada to discuss drilling with Ryan. The engineer told Ryan, "Manual shaft sinking is an arduous task, which takes about 20 workers 10 days to complete. If there is a drilling rig, the sinking speed will be much faster. "
Ryan said nothing and suddenly said, "Then I'll save money to buy a drilling machine." His voice is small but firm. "I hope everyone in Africa can drink clean water."
Ryan's teacher didn't expect a child to have such great determination. She called on her classmates to join the ranks of donating money to dig wells. Through relevant departments, Ryan and her classmates got in touch with children in Africa.
In July 2000, shortly after the first well was drilled in Ryan, Ryan and his parents drove a truck and bumped all the way to Rouen, Uganda.
When the car drove into the village, more than 5000 children gathered on the roadside. They clapped their hands enthusiastically and shouted rhythmically, "Ryan! Ryan! " Ryan got out of the car shyly and greeted everyone shyly. Surrounded by children, he came to a well. Surrounded by flowers, the cement pedestal is engraved with the words: "Well of Ryan-for this painful society."
An old man in the village stood up and said loudly, "Look at the children around us. They are all healthy. Thanks to Ryan and our Canadian friends. For us, water is life. " Hearing this, Ryan and his parents shed tears of excitement and happiness. Yes, dreams are so powerful. Who doesn't cry at this time?
Later, Ryan Herlejak was called the "Soul of Canada" and was selected as one of the "Top Ten Young Heroes in North America". By the beginning of 2003, the Shui On Well Foundation had more than 700,000 Canadian dollars and dug more than 70 wells in Africa.
On March 15, 2003, Ryan went to Japan to participate in the "Third World Water Forum", and CCTV's "Tell the truth" program met a large number of domestic audiences. At the end of the program, Ryan said, "I will work hard until my father gets clean water."