This is a film from one day in the life of Joemasue, an illiterate peasant woman in Qinghai Province, Tibet; anyone who has romantic illusions about peasant life would be well-advised to see the film, as the hard work and limited prospects for the main subject act as a real corrective to the romantic vision.
We follow Joemasue from her early rising and getting the breakfast ready for the family, before trapsing 1/2 hr to the nearest stream for water, which is carried back in a huge and what must be very heavy wooden container.
She mentions that this was the most difficult task she faced when she first came. Now the Government have put in a tap-water supply and her burden is much eased by that. We also see her working in the fields, taking care of the animals in the household, and making bread, etc.
She mentions at the beginning of the film how she had been unable to complete schooling because she had to go and help look after her sister’s new home, and it comes up again at the end of the film how she feels her illiteracy has held her back in life. Fortunately the children are attending a school and getting an education.
The overall impression is of a hard and difficult life, lived without many opportunities, and with a very limited horizon for Joemasue, who will face the same tasks every day of her life.
The film was made by Puhua Dangzhi.
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It is very sad that Joemassue was not able to continue an education . sacrificed to care for her sisters children especially at an age when school must have been an important part of her dreams. I feel a profound and deep appreciation for her example and love of her family . the work she takes on caring for them I hope will bless her life. can she still get an education like reading at least where she lives. all the best to her and her life. Thank you for this very touching story.
I was deeply moved and touched by Joemasue’s story . She sacrificed for perhaps for what could have been a well off lifestyle. She gave of herself to family in caring for her sister’s children. She also remind me of the proverbial wife in The Book of Proverbs that state “She gets up while it still night to tend to her household, and the bread of laziness, she does not eat.” I so admire her strength and ability to care for her husband and children, seeing to it that they receive the education that she missed. I love that she cares for her animals and that they’re properly nourished. So many of us women take for granted what she accomplished! May God grant her strength and endurance in the years to come.