Question 6: It is known that many graduates of the vocational education and training centers found stable jobs. Could I ask the graduates to talk about their present work and life?
Answer: My name is Shatar Zunon, I am a graduate of Gaochang District, Turpan City Vocational Education and Training Center. Influenced by religious extremists, I stopped going to school when I was still in junior middle school and later hung out with them every day. I watched videos of violent terrorism and started to feel hostility toward kafirs. I thought the kafirs were unclean and non-Muslim, so I refused to sell things to them. My business got worse and worse, and my family began to have financial difficulties. After I went to the vocational education and training center, I realized the harm of religious extremism, and how stupid I was in the past.
I chose the cooking course at the training center according to my own interest. I wanted to open a restaurant after graduation. But I didn't have the money to start with. I tried to tell my thoughts to the village officials, and they supported me. They helped me to get loans, choose the place and decorate the restaurant. Very soon, my restaurant opened. I was good at cooking, so more and more people came to my restaurant. They also helped promote my restaurant among their friends, and my business got better and better. This year, due to the influence of the COVID-19, less people came to my restaurant. So the village officials tried hard to help me find a way out. They told me that I could sell takeout food by allowing the customers to order online and having me send the ordered food to them. I also set up WeChat groups and sent food to the neighboring residents. These measures guaranteed my stable income even during the epidemic.
At present, I have not only paid off all the loans and redecorated my house, but also bought new furniture and home appliances, such as a sofa, air conditioner and TV set. Now we live the same comfortable life as the urban residents.
Turpan is a famous tourist city. Lots of tourists from home and abroad come here. I plan to open a family restaurant near a tourist scenic spot. I will employ a few people and lead them to make the business prosper, and to let more tourists from home and abroad taste authentic Xinjiang food. I believe through my hard work, my business will get better day by day, and my life will get better day by day.
Question 7: According to a foreign media outlet, graduates of the vocational education and training centers were forced to work under monitoring against their will with very little wages. Can I ask a graduate to talk about what the reality is like?
Answer: My name is Alim Memetmin, a graduate of the Vocational Education and Training Center of Pishan County. As I myself have attended the training and witnessed everything, I am very astonished and furious at the accusation that "graduates of vocational education and training centers were forced to work under monitoring against their will with very little wages". We know the best about what our work, life and wages are like. Nobody has ever forced us to do anything. We are all using the skills that we learned at the centers to make our life better. If there is someone who is monitoring, I believe that's those ill-intentioned guys who keep making up lies and slandering Xinjiang every day. They are just so bad.
After graduation, like many of my classmates, I found a suitable job with the vocational skills I learned. After passing the job interview, I signed a three-year contract with a rabbitry thanks to the breeding technology that I learned at the vocational education and training center, and I joined the social security program. I used to farm at home and do some odd jobs, and earned very little. Now I make 3,000 yuan per month, that is nearly 40,000 per year, which I had never expected before. We work five days a week, eight hours a day and take days off at weekends and in holidays. We can also ask for leave at any time if necessary. My colleagues are very helpful, and we get along with each other very well, just like a family. After work, I often go shopping and out to dine and have fun with my family.
Now I am very optimistic about life. I plan to open a breeding farm of my own and earn more money, so as to live an even better life.
Question 8: I would like to invite the trainees to talk about their views about the training. Have you been discriminated against by your relatives, neighbors and friends for participating in the training? Have your personal rights and interests been affected? What do you think of the teaching and training center?
Answer: My name is Kasenmujan Heilili. I once opened a software technology company in Hotan city. I was once influenced by extreme thoughts. In my mind, we Muslims could not have contact with anything related to "kafirs", (namely, non-Muslims or heretics). If we contact "kafirs", we will go to hell to suffer and can't go to heaven to enjoy happiness. Gradually, I felt that my friends around me were doing nothing right and that what they were doing was not in line with the Muslim behavior. So I was getting more and more irritable and my behavior was becoming increasingly extreme, frequently abusing and reviling friends related to "kafir". Consequently, my friends began to stay away from me and did not want to contact me. Then I began to reflect on myself and think about whether there is something wrong with me. My parents were very distressed to see that I was reduced to such a personality and recommended the vocational skills training center to me, hoping that I could attend the training. After careful consideration, I decided to go to the center for training.
The teaching and training center is a very good school providing free food, accommodation and other daily necessities. The school has KTV and internet cafes. It also provides courses for us to learn the national language, law, and some professional skills, helping us to remove extreme thoughts. I can go home once a week, and this gives me a feeling that I have been brought back to my college life. Every time I return home on holiday, I will tell my family that the teachers have taught us a lot about law and policy, helping me to realize my previous wrong behavior and how ridiculous my previous thoughts and behaviors used to be. I will work hard to study law at the school and try to acquire more knowledge about law by the end of the training, so that I will not have wrong ideas and my family will not worry about me again.
During the training period, I was not discriminated against at all. My teachers and classmates were very concerned about my study and life and often helped me. After returning home, my family and neighbors were very happy about my changes. In particular, with the aid of the government, my family has been relieved of financial difficulties. During my father's medical treatment at hospital, the total medical expense amounted to 220,000 yuan and the government reimbursed 160,000 yuan for us. My family only paid 60, 000 yuan, which greatly lightened our burden. After I came back from the training, the national language competence and enterprise management skills I learned in the training center have greatly helped my company. When I told the government that I wanted to expand my company, the government suggested that I apply for a loan from the bank. At present, the government is helping me with the 300,000 yuan loan I applied for. Now my family has more and more confidence in me, and I have also found a Miss Right I love. I will get married soon. This is the right life I want. I think that if I had not studied in the teaching and training center, maybe I would have been on the way to the crime and would not have my current life.
