Qaderjan

By Unche Ay Saydahmat

 

As I was walking around the playground in the yard of my grandparents apartment in Urumqi I noticed a little kid that looked about as old as my younger brother. He was playing by himself on the parallel bars in black shorts and a white shirt that had various holes, and rips along the seams. When I came back outside later on my eight year old brother was also on the bars, but he wasn’t very good so the young boy was helping him. My brother ran over when he saw me and told me that he wanted to know the boy’s name but he forgot how to say it in Uyghur so I went over and translated for him. We had been in Urumqi for only a couple of days and I wanted to talk with some locals and find out what kind of life a common person lead in Urumqi and a kid in a playground seemed common enough to me so I started a conversation with him.

Qaderjan, the young boy, turned out to be ten years old and also lived in one of the apartment buildings with his family. He told me that he and his family, which included both of his parents and his three older siblings, had moved from the rural area into the city awhile back. Both of his older brothers were in their twenties and were working. One made and sold nan in the market the other brother worked in a similar job. Both are hard and tiring jobs that get very little pay.

His older sister was about 12 or 13 years old. According to Qaderjan she was very smart and skipped a couple grades. She was about to take a test to get into high school but she was unable to take the test because they had moved into the city. As Qaderjan talked about how smart his older sister was you could see a light shining through his eyes and through his smile. You could see how proud he was to tell me about how smart and clever his sister was but when I asked where she was so maybe I could meet this talented young girl his face clouded over and he stopped smiling. She had to drop out of school before they moved into the city in order to work to help with the family expenses. They had moved, as many others have, for the chance to lead a better life but now, he told me, she is at home with both of her legs broken. It seems that while she was working bricks fell on her and broke her legs. This accident had happened a couple months before and she was getting better.

When I asked if he was still going to school he became happy again and said yes he was the only one in the family still in school. He really likes to go to school and he says he studies hard and has already finished all of his summer packets. When graduates (which would already be a big accomplishment since none of his brother’s or sister was able to) he wants to become a teacher.

Later on in the week as we walk out of the apartment complex we see Qaderjan sitting on a little chair with a box in front of him full with oils, rags, and brushes. We found out that during the summer he works as a shoe-shiner. He makes about six yuan a day, less than one American dollar.