- Gordon Dumoulin
The 'Devil Mother'.... example of human selflessness and devotion
Girls in rural southern Yunnan province are under her wings for a bright future. As people call her warm-heartedly ‘devil mother’ because of her strict and tough programs, Principal Zhang Guimei’s devotion is to get her girls in prestige universities.
She fought for her ambition under harsh conditions before the Huaping High School for Girls opened in 2008. If not for Principal Zhang, most of the girls would stop education after (or during) high school and remain with limited future perspectives.
Despite her poor health, the 63-year old lives with the girls in the dormitory and fights for them with rigid, tough programs, convincing and guiding their parents to see them proceed in higher studies and a bright future. Each morning, Zhang wakes the girls at 5:20 am with a bullhorn for another day of learning.
Last year, 109 of the 118 graduates passed the Gaokao, China's national entrance exam and were admitted to universities.
“It would be my greatest comfort to be able to change at least one generation through education”, "An educated girl can influence future generations in a positive way".
