Judy Chen found a new purpose in life after appointment in 2004 to a position in Ocean Park Conservation Foundation Hong Kong, and today is chairperson of the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF. Kathy Zhang reports from Hong Kong.

When making an investment, people always look for a return. But when Judy Chen — who was head of the wealth management and investment department at the regional office of Merrill Lynch Asia Pacific — decided to devote the rest of her life to one of her most extraordinary investments, she was aiming for an intangible reward that only she can feel.

She quit her job and now devotes herself to charity work.

She intended to give back what she has received during her charity work from time to time — the kindness that has healed the unbearable pain of losing her mother.

Try to step out of your own security blanket or little cocoon, and learn about your country by going there on your own feet

Judy Chen, chairperson of the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF

Now the chairperson of the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF, Chen said the career change is one of the best decisions she has ever made. It was also this decision that led her to become one of the Chinese nongovernment representatives to deliver a speech at the UN General Assembly about what she did.

A graduate of Harvard Business School, Chen worked in the business sector for many years. But the events of 2004 changed her life.

That year, Chen was in mourning as her mother had died from cancer. The same year, the Hong Kong government appointed her the trustee chair of Ocean Park Conservation Foundation Hong Kong. The juxtaposition of a painful loss and a brand-new experience made her realize that helping others and animals could take her mind off her own pain and sorrow.

When Chen was a little girl, her mother, who was a doctor, was always treating injured animals in the neighborhood, such as stray cats and birds with broken legs or wings. Chen inherited that love for animals.

Chen said the foundation’s work is a “gift” for her as it gave her more opportunities to work with animals. “Once I started, I could not stop. I found there is so much meaningful work I can do instead of indulging myself in sorrow,” Chen said.

So in 2009, she quit her Merrill Lynch job and devoted herself to full-time charity work.

The move allowed her to put greater effort into charity projects and participate more in such programs. She reached out to poor neighborhoods in Hong Kong, such as Sham Shui Po, to seek out young people who hang out on the streets late at night and who need help. She went to the poorest and most remote places on the Chinese mainland and talked with local people, both children and adults, to feel and understand their living conditions, their thoughts, and what they need.

When Chen took part in more charity programs, she increasingly realized that what she was going through was meaningful and rewarding.

Rewarding moment

Chen’s most rewarding moment came when she learned that a brilliant lad whom she had known since he was 14 years old was going to get married.

She met the boy six years earlier when he was locked up in a correctional institution for his involvement in the drug trade.

After she became a justice of the peace in 2014 for her contribution to society, she has visited prisons and detention centers regularly to ensure the rights of the inmates are safeguarded. Such work is among the responsibilities of a justice of the peace.

Chen sat down and chatted with the boy after she met him. “I don’t look at them as prisoners, but just little kids,” she said.

From talking with the boy, Chen learned he had no parents and always hung out with “gangster brothers” before he was arrested.

The boy told Chen he had no hope for his future and no family whom he could talk to about his confusion. “At that time, he thought he was doomed,” she recalled.

Chen encouraged the boy to write letters to her and phone her once a month. “He shared many things with me, including his experience and his thoughts, and asked for my advice when he faced some problems and needed to make some big decisions,” she said.

Then an extraordinary event happened. After he got out of jail, the boy entered the police and became a police officer. The young police officer often participates in voluntary activities to help young people who have lost hope to find a new direction in their lives.

He and Chen still keep in touch and eat fish ball noodles once a year. “Last time when we ate fish ball noodles together, he told me he met a girl, and he is going to get married.”

Chen’s eyes welled up with tears when she told this story, which she said makes her “so proud” and “happy”.

She said moments like this encourage her and keep her going and doubling down in her efforts to promote children’s rights and well-being.

Bitter taste sometimes

Being involved so intensely in charity programs is not as easy as many people imagine. Chen said there are some “frustrating, sad, tiring or even desperate moments”.

During a recent visit to a correctional institution, Chen talked with a pregnant teenager who is only 17 or 18. The girl had participated in some illegal assemblies and got involved in some drug deals.

Chen felt sorry and heartbroken about the girl’s experience after the girl said she cannot feel love and warmth in her family, and the wrongdoings she got involved in are the ways she thought that could help her relieve the dejection. She begged Chen to help reduce her sentence so that she could take care of her baby.

However, there is little Chen can do as the case is complicated and the girl broke the law. “It’s a hard decision.” Chen said.“It’s not easy to find a balance between sympathy and rationality.”

These frustrating moments motivate Chen to try and pull youngsters back before they do something wrong, and to help juvenile offenders find new directions. “The girl’s story is not the only case. It reflects some big social issues that need more attention.” Chen said, adding that society, including families, schools and NGOs, should provide more care for teenagers.

Misunderstandings sometimes happen.

Chen once went to a remote village in Jingning county of Gansu province on the mainland. She was shocked when she found “land in the village was extremely dry due to the local climate, and full of cracks.” Very few people can do farm work as only the elderly and children are left in the village; all the laborers have gone to the urban areas to work and seldom come back home every year.

To solve the villagers’ urgent needs, Chen and her colleagues contacted a vendor selling livestock and drove the car to Xi’an, a city above 400 kilometers away from the village, and brought 50 sheep and goats they bought back to the village overnight.

One villager refused to accept a sheep that was a bit lame. “We didn’t find it at the beginning or it was hurt on the way back to the village,” Chen said.

The awkward problem was finally solved, but Chen said she realized she should be more compassionate when helping others from different backgrounds.

The international stage

Chen was appointed the chairperson of UNICEF Hong Kong in 2010.

In light of her abundant philanthropic experience dealing with children’s issues and poverty in Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, Chen was invited to deliver a 10-minute speech at the United Nations General Assembly’s thematic debate on social and economic inequalities in New York City in July 2013.

In the speech, she touched on common children issues in the world, including the trafficking of children, abandoned children, and education inequality. She also talked about what she experienced in her visits to remote villages on the mainland and China’s efforts to solve the problems.

“More Chinese young people should be encouraged to stand on the international stage to tell the world China’s stories and get involved in dealing with international affairs,” said Chen, the first Chinese standing member of the advisory group of the Development Cooperation Forum, a function of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Chen thinks this is the best way to let the world have a better understanding of China and called for united efforts to solve shared problems around the world. She added the work needs the art of speaking and of diplomacy.

Born and raised on the mainland, Chen went to the US to study international economics and business and then settled in Hong Kong almost 20 years ago.

Chen’s background has made her pragmatic and able to fit in with local culture whenever she had some charity projects in remote Chinese villages.

Having firsthand knowledge of these places makes it easy for her to blend in, and it strengthens her charity work. Being connected to the locals also makes her want to give back as much as she can.

Chen’s charity philosophy has also helped her with wayward youngsters. Last year, thousands of Hong Kong youngsters were arrested for taking part in the incessant street violence that rocked the city.

As someone who has extensive experience with wayward youngsters and children, Chen made one suggestion to the city’s youngsters: Try to step out of your own “security blanket” or “little cocoon”, and learn about your country by going there on your own feet.

That’s what Chen did, and the mantra she now lives her life by.

Contact the writer at kathyzhang@chinadailyhk.com