Serving up a brighter future

Editor's note: Li Jiamei, 23, is a domestic service trainer in Beijing.

I grew up in the mountains of Yunnan province in Southwest China. My father got sick and lost his job during my high school years, and one day my parents told me they were too poor to send me to college.

Li Jiamei, center, shows women training to be domestic helpers how to iron a shirt. Li, a former maid from the Yunnan countryside, is now studying human resources at a college in Beijing. [Provided to China Daily]

When my classmates were preparing for the college entrance exam, I was dropping out of school.

Later, news spread in the village that there were people from Beijing here recruiting youngsters to work in the capital. I ran to the village government office and signed up as soon as I heard.

I was told it was a poverty elimination campaign jointly organized by the All-China Women's Federation and the China Youth Domestic Service.

The neighbors gossiped. They told my parents it was a suspicious scheme and that it wasn't safe to send their daughter far away. But my parents trusted the government and I did too, so I packed and left my hometown. I was 17.

After a short period of training, I started work for a wealthy Beijing family: cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children. It wasn't difficult, compared to the farm work I had to do at home.

My employers liked me and took me everywhere they traveled. I guess I did well, but for three years I didn't get a chance to go home.

At the end of the third year, the domestic company transferred me to an office job, which is where I really found an interest in domestic services. My boss and colleagues encouraged me to sit the college entrance exam, so I did.

When I was 21, I passed the exam and became a real university student.

Now I'm no longer that girl from the mountains but a sophomore at Beijing Institute of Technology, majoring in human resources. I also still work as a domestic services trainer for the company.

When I coach women from other rural places, I often share my story with them. I want them to believe they can change their destiny by working hard and trusting the people around. Just look at me.

Li Jiamei was talking to Li Li.