Maititursun Mamat，A Graduate of Vocational Education and Training Center in Yutian County，Hotan Prefecture

Recently, I heard that Pompeo was madly attacking and smearing Xinjiang and slandering the education and training center. I was very angry. I decided to tell you the truth from my experience.

In the past, I sold fruits in bazaar in various villages and towns. My business was very good and my family was very happy. But extremist ideology changed me and everything. At that time, I contacted some people who gave me a book (titled “What is heaven and what is hell”) for me to learn, and constantly said to me, “Don't do business with Han people, they are not Muslim”, “Muslims should act in accordance with the dogma, and should not follow the laws of the country”, “Real Muslims should make a clear break with non-Muslims”, “Since non-Muslims are pagans and renegades, Muslims should not use non-Muslims’ products and drive non-Muslims away with a holy war, which is the only way to become a true Muslim and enter heaven and enjoy a better life in heaven, otherwise, they will suffer in hell” “Women should not show themselves in public and they must be masked”.

Later, I listened to them and asked myself to do everything according to their "standards", just like being controlled by something. I refused to communicate with the Han people and I did not do business with the Han people. When Han people came to the shop, I felt disgusted and did not welcome them. The worse the business is, the worse the people become. My behavior also affected the people around me. Not only did I believe in religious extremes all day, but I also kept telling them to my relatives and friends. I forced my wife to cover her face and forbid her to listen to music, sing and dance. My wife couldn't bear it. She often quarreled with me and we almost divorced. Because my mother didn't attend religious services five times a day, I thought her cooking was not halal. I didn't eat her cooking for more than a year and didn't visit her. My behavior scared my relatives and friends around me.

In the Vocational Education and Training Center，I studied laws and regulations, national religious policies and religious knowledge, and gradually learned what is true Islam and the ugly faces of those extremists. Islam teaches people to be good, peaceful and just, but those religious extremists talk nonsense, making us enemies with those who don't believe in Islam, and even making up the nonsense that " engage in a holy war and die for their beliefs in order to enter heaven". Now I understand that those extremists just used us as a weapon to make us have conflicts with other ethnic groups, do not unite and hate each other. This is their real ulterior purpose. If I didn't study in the education and training center, I would be more and more poisoned. Maybe I would become a terrorist. Now as soon as I think about it, I feel very afraid and regret for my ignorance.

Now, I recognize the harm of extreme thoughts. My wife and I have resumed our relationship. We are closer and love each other much more than before. My parents have forgiven me, and I have started a new life. I learned standard spoken and written Chinese and how to repair mobile phones in the Vocational education and training center. I wanted to open a shop to repair mobile phones by myself. But I had no enough money for the start-up. After knowing this situation, the local community guaranteed me a discount loan of 100,000 yuan in the bank, which solved the problem of my entrepreneurship and helped me open my own mobile phone repair shop in the best business section of the county. Now, with a monthly income of more than 10,000 yuan, my life is getting better and better.

We all believe that any attempt to disturb Xinjiang will not succeed, and the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang hold together like pomegranate seeds. Pompeo's ugly words and deeds are disgusting and all ethnic groups in Xinjiang cast him aside.