Maimaititursun Awuti, Director of Bureau of Civil Affairs in Yengisar County

I am a Uygur cadre, who are born, raised and working in Yengisar County. As an ethnic minority cadre who grew up in southern Xinjiang since childhood, I grow from a child of a farmer to a leading cadre (director); I worked in the forestry bureau at first, and then I was dispatched to Longfu Town and Kizil Town. In the past 30 years, I have witnessed the great changes in my hometown and participated in the construction of my hometown. Pompeo and Adrian Zenz’s remarks about Xinjiang have discredited Xinjiang with sinister and disgusting intentions. I want to tell them that I speak for my hometown, and I don't need other to make indiscreet remarks or criticisms on her.

There are five children in my family. I grew up with my grandmother. When we were young, the houses we lived in were clod houses with no windows but skylights. The skylight is covered in winter and opened in summer. All year round, the house was dark and everything was in dim. When I was a child, I didn't have enough cloth and money; I wore ragged cloth sewed by parents. I dyed it by myself. Even the clothes are worn out, adults were reluctant to throw them away. When I was a child, the adults let the children wear them again. These clothes are worn by the eldest, the second, the third and the fourth child. They are sewn and mended over and over again. There is only one suit to wear all year round. When I was a child, I didn't have a stove or coal to use. In winter, we can only use wood fire to burn tukang to keep warm. The next day, the room is cold again. When we were young, we mainly ate Nang and noodles at home. There was no other fruit. We ate oleaster as fruit. When I was young, schools were in very poor condition, there were not enough classrooms, and students from different grades had classes in the same classroom. We didn't have enough textbooks. Several students had to share one book. There was only one teacher in several classes. Due to the extremely inconvenient traffic, if I didn't go home after school at noon, I would have to eat Nang (local pancake) and drink cool water at school. The roads to school were all dirt roads, and they became muddy on rainy days.

Now, we are living a happy life. I am very lucky to witness and participate in the construction and development of my hometown. Especially from the beginning to the end of the poverty alleviation, I deeply felt the concern and support of the Party and the Party committee of the autonomous region for the people of all ethnic groups in southern Xinjiang. In the county where I live, there are wide and flat asphalt roads. When you go to the countryside, you will see rows of clean and tidy houses. Every household is equipped with clean tap water. Everyone can have stable employment and stable income. Every village has spacious and bright modern teaching and learning buildings. People have a wide range of benefits covering education, medical care, health care, pension, agriculture and other areas. More and more policies which benefit the people have been issued. These policies have also touched the people in their hometown. In 2020, we have completed the glorious and arduous task of poverty alleviation. The rural revitalization which will be implemented will make my hometown more and more beautiful, and make the people of my hometown more and more prosperous.

As an ethnic minority in southern Xinjiang, we have experienced an era of food and clothing cannot be guaranteed. But then, we can travel by train, motor car and plane without worrying about food and clothing, and then we can buy cars and live in well-furnished houses. We have witnessed the people of all ethnic groups enjoy various policies of benefiting the people from birth to death. Living in the great motherland, local people in Xinjiang are extremely happy and proud of our life. Pompeo and Adrian Zenz, you can’t understand and feel this happiness. You have no right to tell my hometown what to do, and stop talking nonsense about my hometown.