Impoverished citizens work at home amid COVID-19 outbreak

 Editor’s note: Recently, more than 50,000 poverty alleviation staff members in Hunan province’s villages have prepared for the spring growth season amidst the COVID-19 outbreak and the prevention and control measures that have been implemented. They have been actively mobilizing local workers and other members of the public in order to defeat both poverty and the virus.

A woman named Chen Meihua carried a box of finished productsthat she made at her residenceto a factory that was built for poverty alleviation purposes in the Ruyi community in Shuikou township, Jianghua Yao autonomous county during lunchtime on Feb. 20. The plant was built in 2019 and has an area of 1,800 sq m.

The Shuikou native stated: “Working at home makes it possible for me to continue to earn money during the COVID-19 outbreak. I have been working hard and want to be worthy of this factory.”Chen and her mother-in-law are responsible for rough machining of automobile wiring and each makemore than 100 yuan (US$14) per day. Chen has been working at the company for about a year and is very satisfied with her job. She has increased her income, and working in Ruyi allows her to look after her two children.

The factory temporarily suspended its operations at the start of February as a COVID-19 prevention and control measure. Chen and her coworkers started to worryabout their livelihoods and the unpredictability that the outbreak has caused.They began talking to village officials every day and asking when the plant would reopen. Ning Linbo, Party secretary of Ruyi and leader of its poverty alleviation work group, discussed COVID-19 prevention and control measures with Li Xiaoping, head of the poverty alleviation factory.

They helped collect surgical masks, infrared thermometers, and other supplies and equipment. The two also decided that they would need to limit the number of employees who can return to work at present and that they would also make it possible for staff to work at home. The plant resumed some of its operationson Feb. 15, and its impoverished employees were given first choice regarding where they wanted to work.

A poverty-stricken resident who is employed at the factory and is currently working from home named Wei Zhenfeng expressed, “I feel relieved that I can make 70 to 80 yuan (US$10 to US$11) a day working in my living room right now.”Many of Ruyi’s residents have not been able to return to work in Guangdong province after coming home for Chinese New Year as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Some of them have looked for new opportunities at the poverty alleviation factory, and several have decided to stay.

Ruyi natives Feng Guozhen and Liao Yunxiang once left their parents and children in order to work at a furniture factory in Foshan city,Guangdong. They recently visited the poverty alleviation factory in their community to get more information. Liao mentioned that working in their local area seemed to be their best option right now because it would allow them to earn money and look after their families.