Alimiere Abulaiti，A Graduate of Vocational Education and Training Center in Wensu County, Aksu Prefecture

Recently, Wechat Moments of Xinjiang locals was swiped by a man named Pompeo. I heard that he was crazy about smearing Xinjiang and describing the vocational education and training center as a "concentration camp". This is very infuriating. Today I want to expose his lies with facts.

In 2016, when I attended a friend's wedding, I met some people with extreme religious ideas. Since then, we have often gathered in secret to listen to violent and extreme audio and video, and also show them to the people around us. I used to love singing and dancing. After being influenced by the extreme religious thoughts, I never sang or danced any more. I fantasized about "killing those described as pagans and renegades in order to enter heaven". I tended to be isolated more and more, and my behavior became more and more extreme, and changed to another person.

In the vocational education and training center, the teachers are very serious and responsible. They taught us to write and pronounce every word. My mandarin level has been greatly improved. When the teacher saw that I was learning fast, he made me a member of the study monitor of the class, helped him carry out teaching management, and encouraged me to coach other trainees. Because of my good mandarin level and certain teaching management experience in the center, I successfully found a job in a local education and training institution after my graduation from the center, signed a labor contract, and earned about 3500 yuan a month.

Before, I didn't know any law and I couldn't tell if the religious extremists were right or wrong. In the vocational education and training center, I learned the Constitution, Criminal Law, Marriage Law, Law on the Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests, Counter-terrorism Law , Regulations of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Religious Affairs, and learned what is legal, what is illegal, what can be done and what cannot be done. Now I understand that what extremists want us to do is committing crime. If I didn't learn the legal knowledge, I might have committed a crime.

The spare time in vocational education and training center is rich and colorful. There are interest training courses in calligraphy and painting, literature and art, sports, chess and so on. Everybody is free to join the courses. I took an art interest class, where I gradually went out of the self-constraint, and became more and more cheerful. I also learned how to give myself face beauty and hairdressing. Now when I go out to work every day, I will first dress up carefully and pass on my smile and happiness to my students. Seeing the changes in my character and appearance, my parents feel very happy sincerely and say that their daughter who was sunny and happy before has come back now.

I want to tell you that the vocational education and training center has made my dream of becoming a teacher come true. When the children call me "teacher", I feel very proud. I now have a stable income, and my life is full of dignity. I now feel very happy and full of confidence in the future. I will tell my story to my students, so that they will not get lost on the road of life and grow up healthily and happily! I want to tell Pompeo that what he said is deceitful, and his ugly words and deeds are cast aside by people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang.