Luo Songsong

    songsongluo@126.com

    THE last day before Tang Rongsheng was transferred from the post of director of the Shenzhen Social Welfare Center (SSWC) in December, he was still making calls to keep his promise to a 21-year-old orphaned girl and find an internship for her.

    Since he took the office in 2009, Tang has accompanied almost every adult orphan for job interviews, answered all questions by employers and taught the last lesson before his “children” stepped into society.

    In the past four years, he had devoted himself to helping adult orphans build homes, finding homes for those under the age of 14 and setting up homes for the mentally disabled to live their lives with dignity.

    “When I am with the special kids, their eyes are filled with eagerness and I am urged to explore life’s meanings and think about the importance of a healthy family,” said Tang.

    Before his work in the SSWC, Tang had been closely tied to a group of street children for eight years since he chaired the Shenzhen Aid Center in 2001.

    “Many of them grew up in broken families without much schooling, thus they had to make a living for themselves at an early age in a strange city,” said Tang, who offered them legal courses and basic education during his tenure.

    However, he felt regretful that the center didn’t provide any vocational training skills for them to return to a more hopeful environment and contribute to society.

    Later, he launched Zijin Children’s Art Troupe shortly after he joined the welfare center, where children could learn to dance and play instruments such as piano, violin, drum and cucurbit flute.

    “They can benefit from early education by interacting with music and other beautiful things in daily life,” said Tang.

    The welfare center has seen a total of 280 children adopted by domestic and overseas families in the past four years.

    “Whenever I was called ‘daddy,’ I was fully aware that the word is meaningful only in the setting of family; where the children come from and will eventually return to,” said Tang.

    A 13-year-old boy once told China Central Television that it was a shame for him to live in the center. The expression shocked him and strengthened his determination to find homes for orphans.

    “Many children attending schools are afraid to be recognized as an orphan, but they have to accept the truth and learn to be optimistic and deal with the prejudice,” said Tang. “Family is the most ideal place for them to thrive.”

    On behalf of the SSWC, in 2010 Tang reached an agreement with Great Wall China Adoption — an institute based in Austin, Texas, the United States — in order to facilitate overseas families to adopt children above the age of 4 or with serious disabilities.

    To make sure the new family lives in peace and harmony, Tang once proposed to organize summer trips with American families, allowing both sides to fully understand each other for some time before they make the decision of adoption. However, the proposal was turned down because of possible safety issues.

    “I will be the first one to step down if something bad happens. Yet, some officials are afraid of taking any political risk even if they know it is progress,” said Tang.

    However, some people question his methods. In November last year, the news that Shenzhen would be the first city in Guangdong Province to open a “safe haven” for abandoned children put him, a major advocator of the act, under close scrutiny by the media.

    The program was first piloted in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei Province, in 2011 and raised public concern that the move could encourage parents, even from surrounding areas, to abandon their children in the haven.

    “The move is to prioritize the rights of children, and nothing can shake my belief in it,” said Tang. “The emerging problems can be solved only if we dare to take the next step.”

    He said that he is satisfactory with his work in the welfare center and is grateful for the effort and support of the staff members, volunteers and his family.

    Last September, he took up the advice of his son to organize a group of children to perform for a foundation in Beijing. During the railway trip, Tang was impressed by how all children couldn’t wait to take photos at every stop.

    “They are eager to know about the outside world,” said Tang. “I imagined I was taking my own children on a trip at that time.”

    Even now, he still receives some invitations from the children to ask him to visit them in his spare time. “I am happy to pass on the title of ‘father’ if they can find a home to embrace a new and beautiful life in the future,” said Tang.

    “Tang was a remarkable and innovative leader who always put the children first. I remember how he helped set up the troupe for the children and constantly encouraged them to work hard and pursue their dreams. Ever since I started to volunteer at the orphanage 12 years ago, all leaders, including Director Tang, have welcomed music education,” said Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo, half-brother of U.S. President Barack Obama, during an interview with Shenzhen Daily on Tuesday. Ndesandjo is honorary head of the Zijin Children’s Art Troupe and taught piano at the SSWC.

    “When I am with the special kids, their eyes are filled with eagerness and I am urged to explore life’s meanings and think about the importance of a healthy family.” — Tang Rongsheng, former director of the Shenzhen Social Welfare Center

    — Tang Rongsheng, former director of the Shenzhen Social Welfare Center