A trip, an opportunity, and the first time I felt the call of God changed my life journey. Happiness is hard-won. I used to often hear people say, “You don’t know how blessed you are when you are in the midst of blessings.” I also realized this deeply during my trip to Vietnam!

In mid-2017, by chance, we learned that there were nearly a hundred orphans in an orphanage in Nha Trang, Vietnam, who needed support. The local nuns said that they needed some milk powder, flour and rice.

After we got this news, we immediately organized the first team visit. When we arrived at the orphanage, I found that their condition was not as bad as imagined. Because many international charities have built many facilities for them, their living environment is not bad.

But as soon as every international charity built facilities for them, they left.

Local nuns told us that what they actually want is nutritious food that can help children grow. Also, they want these orphans to know that they are not alone in this world, and what they want is love, care and companionship.

I asked out of curiosity: “Why are there so many orphans?”

The nun’s answer was quite shocking:

It may be that local women were raped by gangsters and had no money to have an abortion (let’s not discuss the morality of abortion in such cases), so they endured the pain of ten months of pregnancy, put the baby down in an orphanage, and started a new life. Or there may be insufficient sex education in the local area, and the couple has nothing to do and does not take any contraceptive measures. After they have a child but cannot afford to raise it, they contact the nun early in the morning to take care of the baby after birth, and they come to visit when they have the opportunity. More often, there were cries outside the orphanage door, and the nuns discovered that another baby had been left behind without even a word.

Children will always be little angels. Some people have never been able to meet little angels, but some people try their best to give up on these “little angels”!

I usually see advertisements for charity donations. Many children have no food and no medical help. One advertisement alone cannot help but feel their helplessness and despair!

And a Christmas party can already bring them endless joy. There was an orphan who was about 12 years old and had been lying in bed for 12 years. I just gave him a Santa hat and he was already very happy. When I looked at this child’s smile, all the worries and burdens disappeared. Sweep it away!

I still remember my first visit. I learned from the person in charge of the orphanage that when the orphans complete their studies, they will leave the orphanage to find jobs and fend for themselves. The person in charge will not interfere anymore because they simply lack the relevant  manpower!

In addition to the lack of manpower, there is also a shortage of food. We have seen help from many other international charities and organizations to build classrooms, prayer rooms, new kitchens, etc. for them, but these have not made much difference to their daily diet. For every visit, we have to prepare three to four months of food for them! They have no income, so how can they afford to support 100 orphans? It turns out that I can only rely on charity from nearby priests or nearby residents. If there is none, I can only pray to God…

Therefore, three questions arise in front of me:

1. Where will the orphans go when they grow up? What would their lives be like without the support network of friends and family?
2. Will they become bad without adequate educational opportunities? Will they create more orphans?
3. Do they have any skills that enable them to be self-reliant?

And how far can my ability reach? Am I just going to have to watch them grow up to 18 years old (or even earlier, 16 years old) and then not be able to see them again? Does being born into poverty mean that you will have a low personality in the future? Can we help them find a better way out despite the lack of resources?

After several visits, I discovered that a person’s power is really limited. After returning to Hong Kong, I have been discussing with different people and looking for help from some charitable organizations in Hong Kong. However, I made a surprising discovery. After donating HK$100, half of it may have become handling fee!

So I and several like-minded friends, each with different professional skills, spent nearly three years to finally open a new charity organization, and I embarked on a new path.