Kong Yaqin: Disabled but Strong-Willed, Warming the World with Love
An ordinary rural woman with a congenital disability in her right hand, she stood on her own feet, worked hard to achieve prosperity, and then went on to help and motivate people with disabilities in more than a dozen nearby villages to prosper together, earning the praise of her fellow villagers. She is Kong Yaqin, a villager of Nanlou Village, Chang'an Town, Gaocheng District, Shijiazhuang City.
On May 17, when our reporter met Kong Yaqin in Nanlou Village, she was busy in the pig shed. "During this time, I've built another pig shed and installed a new set of environmental protection equipment, and it will be put into use very soon. By then, the cooperative's scale will be even larger," Kong Yaqin said, her face beaming with smiles.
As a person with a disability, the pressure and pain Kong Yaqin endured during her entrepreneurial journey can be well imagined. In 2003, after graduating from Shijiazhuang Huayi Medical Secondary School, Kong Yaqin hoped to contribute to society with her own two hands. However, she ran into walls everywhere when looking for work, and was rejected by four or five employers on the grounds of her disability. She did not lose heart, but instead actively sought opportunities to start her own business.
In 2006, after Kong Yaqin and Zhang Huwei got married, they decided to raise pigs based on the experience her husband had accumulated working at a pig farm. So the young couple scraped together 20,000 yuan from here and there and bought more than ten piglets. Everything is hard at the beginning. Because the two did not have a good enough grasp of breeding techniques, they suffered heavy losses over the next two years; not only did they fail to make money, but they also ran up tens of thousands of yuan in debt. Just then, it happened that the local disabled persons' federation held a breeding technology training class, and Kong Yaqin, unwilling to admit defeat, attended the technical training. She also sought help from the disabled persons' federation, which helped her get in touch with Li Fei, an expert from Hebei Agricultural University, who came to her home to guide her in breeding techniques. Kong Yaqin soon mastered the breeding techniques and introduced a new batch of piglets. This time, under the careful care of the two, the piglets grew well, and the following year they made a profit and paid off their debts.
By 2012, Kong Yaqin's pig farm had developed into a large-scale pig farm covering an area of 10 mu with an annual output of more than 1,000 fattening pigs. This initial success strengthened Kong Yaqin's determination to keep developing. In June 2013, Kong Yaqin invested 2.4 million yuan to establish Huwei Breeding Co., Ltd., and in the same year established the Ruyue Breeding Professional Cooperative, with an annual output of 2,000 fattening pigs and an annual output value of 8 million yuan.
During the years when her pig farm grew bigger and stronger step by step, Kong Yaqin paid great attention to the poor families with disabled members nearby. Having become prosperous, she actively arranged for people with disabilities to work at her farm, and for those with a desire to raise livestock, she also provided free technical assistance and bought back their fattening pigs. She said, "I am a person with a disability, and I understand the hardships of disabled people better than others. I want to rely on my own strength to help more disabled people prosper!"
Zhang Lijin, 50 years old, is a deaf-mute who wandered to Nanlou Village. One day in June 2010, Zhang Lijin knocked on the door of Kong Yaqin's home, wanting to beg for a meal. The warm-hearted Kong Yaqin invited him inside and served him steaming hot food. Seeing that Zhang Lijin, also a disabled person, had no one to rely on, she wanted to take him in to work at her farm. Zhang Lijin immediately bowed down in gratitude, wanting to kowtow to Kong Yaqin, but she firmly held him back. Five years have passed in a flash. Now Zhang Lijin has a ruddy complexion and dresses neatly. He gestured that he would spend his whole life repaying Kong Yaqin and repaying society.
Dong Yonghua, 45 years old, is from Beilou Village. He became disabled in his right leg due to a car accident and cannot go out to work. Dong Yonghua and his wife raise pigs at home, but because they did not understand the techniques, they lost money year after year. By chance, Dong Yonghua told Kong Yaqin about his difficulties. From then on, Kong Yaqin went to Dong Yonghua's home every week to guide him in techniques. At the same time, Kong Yaqin also provided Dong Yonghua with one-stop services from piglets and feed to epidemic prevention, and put him in touch with reputable and strong pig purchasing enterprises. With Kong Yaqin's vigorous assistance, over three years, Dong Yonghua's breeding scale increased from more than 100 head to more than 500 head, and his net benefit increased fivefold.
At present, Kong Yaqin's cooperative has absorbed more than 100 member households, including 60 households with disabilities, more than 80 people, and has developed 13 farming households like Dong Yonghua who raise livestock at home, radiating to more than 10 villages in the surrounding Xing'an Town, Chang'an Town and Jinzhou City.
Following the idea of "making the enterprise bigger and stronger, and serving the broad community of disabled people," Kong Yaqin also implemented a "company + farmer" management and operation model, that is, the cooperative uniformly provides farmers with technology, piglets, feed and epidemic prevention, and uniformly buys back products. Kong Yaqin makes return calls every day and conducts on-site inspections from time to time, effectively ensuring product quality and achieving good economic and social benefits.
In 2013, through the connections made by the local disabled persons' federation and other parties, Kong Yaqin hired an expert from the Animal Husbandry Research Institute of Hebei Agricultural University to provide guidance at the farm, strictly implementing pollution-free feeding and effectively raising the level of standardized breeding. "We do not use any antibiotics in the breeding process, and we are preparing to apply for a 'no-antibiotic meat' trademark so that consumers can eat healthy, reassuring 'conscience meat,'" Kong Yaqin said, full of confidence in the future. (Staff Reporter Xia Lei, Correspondent Peng Hui)