Bakers provide free lunches for poor students

Aniwar Tumur prepares nang [Photo by Wang Xiqiang/Xinjiang Metropolis Daily]

A bakery shop owner and his wife in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region have provided free lunches for more than 100 poor students who study at schools near their shop for the past five years.

Aniwar Tumur, 37, has run a bakery shop selling nang, a flatbread that is a staple food for Xinjiang’s Muslims, in Kuqa county since 2009.

The childless couple decided to help when they learned some students could only drink water to fight off hunger at lunchtime. They offer each student a round of nang and some hot tea as a free lunch. To improve their nutrition, the warm-hearted couple adds egg and milk to make the nang special for students who stop by for lunch.

Since 2009, the couple has given away more than 100,000 rounds of nang with a total value of 200,000 yuan ($32,200). The philanthropic couple also donates 3,000 yuan out of their 5,000 yuan monthly income to sponsor poor students for their schooling.