(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-01-23 11:03

Although many people offered to adopt her, Lei Dongxiang, a five-year-old girl in Chongqing Municipality, Southwest China politely refused, as she wanted to look after her older brother.

In 2000, Dongxiang’s father died of an illness. Unable to handle his untimely death, her mother had a mental breakdown. As a result the young girl shouldered the responsibility of caring for her mother and retarded brother.

For seven years, little Dongxiang went to school everyday, and did household chores while keeping an eye upon a mentally unstable mother and brother who was unable to look after himself.

“My elder brother is retarded and has epilepsy, and my mother has gone mad. Everyday, I looked after them after school. There was never a peaceful moment.”

Dongxiang dares not recall how she survived the days after her father’s death. “My brother often had epileptic seizures, sometimes several times in one day. Meanwhile, mom was causing trouble, and I didn’t know whom to attend to first.”

On a cold winter morning in 2005, Dongxiang’s mother fell into a canal and died. She felt like she lost a pillar of strength. Though she was mentally insane, her mother was her spiritual crutch.

After her mother’s death, many kind-hearted people wanted to adopt Dongxiang and give her a comfortable life. But when she knew they wouldn’t take her retarded brother with her, the girl declined them politely. “Now that mom was gone, I will never leave my brother”, she said.

In Dongxiang’s delicate small body, there lies a strong heart. The 12-year-old girl has moved people because of her love for her family and bravery in facing a tough life.