| |
 |
Living to help
|
Han Ximin
WHEN Ronnie Lo, a charted engineer in Hong Kong, started a company in Shenzhen in 1996 with his partner Zheng Ming, they dreamed of setting aside a portion of their earnings to help the city's disabled.
Even through many ups and downs in the following two years, they still wanted to help the disabled.
This idea began to turn into action when they contacted the Shenzhen Employment Service Centre for Disabled Persons in 1999. The enthusiasm and support of the director of the centre was very encouraging.
Lo used 500,000 yuan to create the Shunjing Awarding Fund to encourage disabled persons to be independent, self-reliant and contributive to society, in co-operation with the Shenzhen Confederation for Disabled Persons.
The annual award, said to be the first in China, is not financial aid. Rather, it is a way to help disabled persons build up confidence, Lo told the Shenzhen Daily in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.
Before receiving the awards, every winner is required to sign a contract to guarantee every penny is put to proper use.
“I am not rich, but I have done a meaningful thing, I just hope the potentials [of the disabled] can be brought to full play and their skills in a certain field can be developed through my limited help," said Lo. “Helping disabled persons should be the responsibility of the government and society, I'm just doing my bit in my own way."
In the last two years, 17 outstanding disabled persons strictly chosen by the Shenzhen Confederation for Disabled Persons won the Shunjing awards. Among them, Zhu Xuanxuan, a deaf woman, is now pursuing postgraduate study at the Guangzhou Fine Art Institute. Wang Yao, physically and linguistically challenged, published her book entitled Snow in My Hometown in 1998. Another physically challenged person, Liu Yong, won second prize at the National Web Page Design Competition last year.
Lo's determination to help disabled people dates back to 1988, when he was appointed senior administrator of a hotel in Shanghai. The hotel held regular activities for Shanghai's special education schools. Lo started his first Shunjing Scholarship in the Shanghai School for Blind Children. Now the award-giving ceremony has become a very solemn new school year ritual at 10 special schools in Shanghai.
He didn't stop helping disabled children, even when he was appointed engineering manager of Shenzhen Yantian International Terminals in 1994. For over 10 years, he donated 3,000 yuan each year to those schools back in Shanghai.
Besides rushing his small waste treatment company, driving an old and frequently broken-down car every day, Lo is considering offering scholarships to schools in West China for he knows students there need his help more badly than in the coastal areas. Indeed, he has already started scholarship programmes in two schools in Xinjiang.
With all the money Lo has spent on charity over the years, he could have easily lived a luxurious lifestyle, yet for Lo, a thrifty and sympathetic man, helping the disabled regain confidence and hope is more meaningful than driving a fancy car.
|
|
|
|
