AFD China funded rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy

2020 was an unusual year. The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted our lifestyle and prompted many to redefine the essence of life. Businesses have been taking major or small impact, some plunged in depression and some recovering vibrantly. Life goes on despite the disruptions and we need to forge ahead and so does our endeavor to take more social responsibility by keep contributing to charity.

Because of the social distancing, we cannot go to Chenguang rehabilitation center to participate in the voluntary services but we are following the growth and needs of the children there via a chat group and live broadcasts of the center and providing help in any possible form. ZhuangZhuang is a child with cerebral palsy. ZhuangZhuang resumed rehabilitation in June after several months of social distancing. Without rehabilitation, his balance degenerated and his lower extremities demonstrated hypermyotonia, causing toe walking which is an abnormal walking pattern. His physical therapist made a new plan for his rehabilitation for his quick recovery. Chenguang rehabilitation center has launched online courses of Chinese language, fine arts and mathematics for the children and ZhuangZhuang had learned a dozen of Chinese poems. We look forward to seeing that ZhuangZhuang will grow happier and develop more interests.

In February 2021, AFD China launched a new round of fund-raising jointly with the five-year Fenghuang Charity Program and the fund raised would be used for the costs of rehabilitation, living and accommodation of the children with be cerebral palsy in 2021. All the personal donations by 59 of our colleagues have been entrusted to China Changjiang River Charity Foundation.

Charity does not rely on the power of a certain person or a handful people but on collective effort. It is the readiness of each individual to take social responsibility that accumulates to a strength that makes difference. Meanwhile, the social distancing under the background of pandemic has made the human connection even more valuable. Charity is a way for us to express our care for those in distress. We hope that the children in the rehabilitation center will grow healthier and integrate into their community as an equal, competent member.

AFD China partnered with the Capital Intellectual Property Services Association for the fourth time to fund rural students

As the world’s third largest country, China has large areas of mountainous land. Although the scenery in the mountain regions is stunning, most of the people living in such areas are deeply poor due to weak infrastructure and insufficient education resources. Xingwen County is just such a poor place. For people there, making a living is already very difficult, not to mention having a dream of a bright future. To support their families, young people there have to leave their hometown and head to cities to work, leaving the elders and the children behind.

To help the children in Xingwen County receive education and gain the ability to get rid of poverty in the future, the Capital Intellectual Property Services Association has been providing study and living funds to school-aged children there for several years. We, AFD China, also would like to make joint efforts with the Association to help children there gain the opportunity to change their fate. Since 2018, AFD China has been actively participating in the “Light up Wisdom” project launched by the Association and funding the study and living expenses of over 10 children each year. In 2021, the Association planned to provide financial aids to 77 children in total, and we continued to subsidize the study and living expenses of 8 children who we have helped for two years.

“The choices you make today determine your tomorrow”. It is fortunate for a person to have the chance to make choices among different possibilities. To make a choice, however, first you need to have the ability to find that there is more than one option, and you also need to have the courage and confidence to withstand bad results. Such ability and confidence come from knowledge. For those who are completely illiterate, they do not know the power of knowledge and have no interest in reading or writing, and perhaps the land under their feet and the sky above their heads are their only concern because their life depends on the crop yield of the land while the crop yield depends on the weather. For them, the needs of society, the dilemma between dreams about the future and the worries in real life, etc., which often “torture” urban people, are just unnecessary troubles created by the people themselves. With joint efforts with the Association, we hope that those children can have the ability and courage to make "choices", instead of being trapped in one place with a limited outlook.

We will continue paying attention to children in need and hope that they will be given the opportunity and the right to make “choices". We hope that more and more people will join such charity activities and work together with us to try to make a difference in the lives of those children.

Philanthropists are not saviors, and doing charity is not for a good reputation. We just hope that kindness and goodwill can be passed on from people to people, and that those who need help can feel the warmth of the society and understand that distance cannot separate the hearts that really care, so that others’ care and love can grow in the hearts of those in need and burst into the most beautiful blossom.