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"I'm an ordinary volunteer"
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Peng Zhaoxia
OVER the past six years, Huang Yanzong, an ordinary local employee in his 40s, has helped many people he had never met before, something that has given him many memorable experiences.
Huang's devotion to voluntary work -- he has worked over 500 hours each year -- has been recognized: he was named a "Five Star Ranking Volunteer" by the Shenzhen Volunteer Association last year.
However, Huang is quite modest. "I'm no one special," he said. " I just want to do my bit to help people."
Huang's voluntary work started in 1995. It started one day when he was in a hospital for minor treatment. While there, he saw a young woman crying. The doctors had just saved her life after she had tried to commit suicide by swallowing sleeping pills. He came over and talked to her, trying hard to persuade her to live on. Finally, she promised not to do away with herself.
"At that moment, I had a feeling of satisfaction," he said. "I was happy. I have a happy family. My wife is considerate and my daughter is smart. They all understand me and always stand by me and support my volunteering."
Once, Huang found a woman and her ten-year-old daughter driven out by her former husband and were forced to live in a narrow, dirty stairwell. Knowing that the woman had been laid off and her daughter needed cash for school, Huang decided to help her. Since last August, Huang has kept himself busy on the run by rendering emotional support, contacting the leaders of her work unit, trying hard to persuade them to allocate them a home. He went to her work unit and told the leaders, "I've got guts because I'm not selfish in this case. She is not related to me, but I'm making her my business!"
Half a year passed, until one day in March of 2001, the homeless woman phoned the Shenzhen Volunteer Association office: she finally received the home allocated by her previous work unit. "It's all thanks to Mr Huang's efforts. He means more to me than any relative!" she cried out.
Huang always carries a special address book with him. The numbers, referred mostly by the Shenzhen Volunteers Association, allow him to contact people in need of help and support.
"I will continue volunteering," he says nonchalantly, "and I guess my daughter will join me after she graduates."
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