The realities of the "old village"

Before we left the area where the village was, our guide took us the original village. If you may recall from my first post about the village - the people who lived in the newer village were relocated from an old village about 10 years ago. this was was the old village we visited. There are only about 10 people still living there. we stopped by one "house" where we were able to go in and meet the elderly lady who lived there, her husband who was very ill. Apparently they had wanted to move out but the one of them did not get along with their daughter in law so they choose to stay in the old village. There was no indoor plumbing. you could see to the sky through the roof. Many of us were in tears when we left - we all had the same thought - our children could have been here - could have been born here - may not have gotten out of the poverty that is still in the countrysides of China. It was a shocking reality and all of a sudden the heat that we were all starting to whine about just seemed so petty. Look at the lady in the picture - how old do you think she is - would you guess maybe 80? some of guess that, some older. she is 68 - just a few years older than some of us - with two teeth left, living in rags and squallier - it was so so sad. The last picture was of a picture that was on their door - sorry, it is sideways...