Personal File
Name： Anneli KilpelainenChinese Name： Jiang EnliNationality： FinnOccupation： Charity WorkerTime in China： 7 yearsThere is a large family， comprised of ninekids， living in Lijiang， an ancient town in YunnanProvince. The kids are not related to eachother by blood and have only one parent —
Jiang Enli， who is not their biological mother.
This mother is from a faraway country on theother side of the world， and she settled down inthe small town seven years ago.
146 Folks in town all know this unique family， but have no ideawhy a lady from Finland would come to this remote area and take onresponsibility as the children’s adoptive mother. What is the tenderstory behind her decision?
The story is a long one， which goes back to the beginning of2000.
Looking for Orphans
Jiang Enli had never imagined she would come here to work， andtake this old city as her second home. Seven year ago， when she firstvisited， the charity foundation she was affiliated with asked her to fostersome orphans there. Her Finnish name is Anneli Kilpelainen， andshe only took a Chinese name after arriving at Lijiang. She was fascinatedby its beautiful scenery and named herself Jiang Enli. Withinthis name is her first impression of Lijiang — that it was God’s blessingwhich led her to Lijiang.
In May 2000， Jiang and her friend He Mei， a Malaysian lady，arrived at Baoshan， a remote town under Lijiang city’s jurisdiction.
This is an extremely secluded area with only one run-down high way that ends at the town office. From the office， the two ladies had towalk another 30 rugged miles to their destination — a mountain villageof the Pumi ethnic group. It was already May， but the air was stillquite chilly with heavy fog due to the high elevation. After a wholeday’s journey on foot， Jiang and He finally reached Zhugu Village atdusk. The fifty-year-old Jiang Enli was still in high spirits despite thefact that she still suffered from a leg injury sustained in a traffic accidentyears ago.
The village is scattered widely because it is very hard for localsto find a big enough place in the craggy terrain to build their homesclose together. Instead of setting up their houses in clusters like typicalChinese villages， the villagers have to build their houses on small lotsmiles apart. The shortest distance between any two homes is three tofour miles. The area where the village office sits is the most populated，with about ten households， and the village’s only primary school is locatedhere.
The school has less than 50 students. Most of the students haveto hike for more than an hour along zigzagging paths in the mountainsto get to school. These kids become experienced hiking in and aroundmountains before they even reach school age. Not all children in thevillage go to school; it depends entirely on their families’ financial situation.
There are many dropouts mostly because their parents cannotafford the 50 US dollars annual tuition. The amount may be insignificantelsewhere， but for Zhugu villagers it is still a rather heavy burden.
At the village office， Jiang met the first orphan and adored himat first glance. Seven-year-old He Yuan from the Pumi ethnic group，dressed in rags. His father had died two years ago and his mother haddisappeared. Now he was under the care of his frail grandparents.
The boy， with black sparkling eyes， clung to his grandma and wasa little shy standing in front of the foreigners， who looked so differentfrom the villagers. Eventually Jiang’s amiability shortened the distance14 8 between the strangers. He Yuan was a second grader and had somereading skills. Cuddling the little boy affectionately， Jiang asked himto try writing some Chinese and to draw a simple picture. The closenesscreated a warm feeling between the two. Two hours later， whenJiang asked the boy if he would like to go to school and live with herin Lijiang City， the smiling boy nodded shyly. “He wants to go！ Hewould like to stay with us，” Jiang said joyfully. Actually the boy hadnever been away from his grandmother， never left the deep mountains，and never seen the outside world in his eight years of life.
As night fell， Jiang went to He Yuan’s home， nestled at the footof a mountain. Once inside the humble log house， Jiang was surprisedto see there was nothing there but a fire pan and an adobe platformto sleep on. No furniture whatsoever. No electricity. In a metal framehanging on a pillar a burning pine torch was the only source of light. Itwas a totally alien world to her. The room was dim， yet full of warmth.
She could tell that the family， with no one to provide for them， wascompletely destitute. She could also tell that they also led their lifewith gratification and dignity， though their situation was desperate.
They were very hospitable， though they were shy and reserved. Cherishinga deep love for the boy， the frail grandparents had tried theirvery best to support him at school ever since his parents passed away.
As usual in mountain villages， when children like He Yuan reach theage of seven， they are supposed to help their families with herding cattleand sheep or collecting firewood as cooking fuel. The possibilityfor them to continue their schooling becomes very slim. As her understandingof the family deepened， Jiang made the decision to adopt thechild on her way back to the village office.