Ex-financier calls AIDS children 'his own'
- By Wu Jin
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E-mail China.org.cn, November 16, 2012
When former Hong Kong financer To Chung visited an AIDS-affected village in the Chinese mainland for the first time, he was shocked to find that the people lived in such miserable conditions.
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When former Hong Kong financer To Chung visited an AIDS-affected village in the Chinese mainland for the first time, he was shocked to find that the people lived in such miserable conditions. |
Many of the AIDS-affected families in the village were isolated by discrimination cast upon them by their neighbors and relatives. These people are often overwhelmed by fears and superstitions that these AIDS-affected families will transmit misfortune to them.
However, he has seen glimmers of light shining through these families' shabby cottages.
For example, When a boy in an AIDS-affected family found a slice of sausage, To recalled, he was so surprised because he had never seen sausage before. But despite all his excitement and craving, he took it home to his mother instead of eating it himself.
"Poverty is the fundamental problem that tortures people living in rural AIDS affected towns," To said.
A philanthropist since 1998, To has witnessed numerous tragedies during his visits to towns affected by AIDS in Anhui, Henan, Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangzhou. In many cases the disease spread in these towns through unsterilized needles, the unmonitored blood selling business or drug use.
In hope of lifting AIDS-affected families out of the mire of poverty and as well as fighting ignorance and local stigmas about AIDS, To first decided to provide basic life subsidies to those towns for families to become self-sufficient. But To did not simply carry oil and rice to needy families. He established the Chi Heng "wisdom in action" Foundation in 1998 in a bid to allow villagers to help lift themselves up.
Partnering with friends and companies from Hong Kong and overseas, including Standard Chartered Bank, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide and VMWare, he set up a poultry farm, an environmentally-friendly bag factory and small loan institutions in affected towns so that families could earn a living for themselves.
"[To live with one's own hands] is more dignified than to wait to die in stigma," To said.
Improving living conditions is only part of To's plan — another part of his mission, he says, is to rescue the spirits and souls of people long afflicted by poverty and discrimination.
He established reading rooms in local schools for children to gain access to knowledge and organizes summer campus each year to bring destitute children to big cities, organizing them to visit gleaming skyscrapers and prestigious universities.
To says that knowledge is more than merely to encourage children to climb the social ladder.
"My idea of knowledge is not studying hard to get a diploma," he said. "It is about independent thinking, [to build] a mind that can be open minded as well as [being equipped with] social responsibilities."
Through the Chi Heng Summer Camp, To tries to reinforce to the children that they are part of a larger world, hoping to instill them with the confidence and courage to help their own hometowns and work to narrow the country's urban-rural gap.
Through hard work, To stresses, they can till their own soil, produce their own organic foods and build up their own dreams.
"How can we make those children from the AIDS affected families feel nothing ashamed about their backgrounds? [It would be better] to let them know that there are people who care for them and the infection of AIDS disease is nothing to be ashamed of." To said.
Once a Wall Street financer for the now-defunct investment bank Lehman Brothers, To said he feels a sincere affection for the children he helps. "Although we come from different blood, they are the children of my own," he said.
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