Protection needed for love
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The latest dilemma facing a young girl named Huang Feng committed to her paralytic father is an odd byproduct of a tale otherwise deeply touching in its uniqueness.
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Huang Feng (center) thanks a Sudanese man, who donated 10,000 yuan (US$1,476) for her father Huang Zhiren's treatment, in a ward of the General Hospital of Armed Police Forces in Beijing on May 19. |
Following an outpouring of sympathy from a China Daily article on the 13-year-old's efforts caring for father over seven years ("Sacrificing a childhood", June 17), Huang now faces a new challenge: how to allocate reader donations to a responsible intermediary.
This is no small task, given that her father, Huang Zhiren, is almost fully physically incapacitated following a workplace injury, while her mother has long since abandoned the family.
The level of generosity she and her father have since received is reflective of her testament to the human spirit - one enabling her to get her father proper treatment.
The result was a successful first round of surgery last month after which Huang took her father back to their hometown in Huangli village of Bengbu, Anhui province.
Hopes are now high surrounding the next treatment sessions set to begin in Beijing this winter.
These hopes haven't gone unnoticed.
After reading the piece, the computer company Lenovo China contacted Huang Feng. A vice-president of the company, who requested anonymity, later hand-delivered Huang a laptop computer and 5,000 yuan (US$738).
"Huang Feng's story struck me deeply," he said. "It's difficult to imagine a girl taking care of a paralytic adult for her whole childhood!"
"The story", he added, "spurred me to do something."
The Lenovo executive, of course, was in good company. Upon reading Huang's story, a 75-year-old Canadian and loyal reader of China Daily who would only identify himself as David, donated 2,500 yuan.
Another anonymous donor from Malaysia, meanwhile, contributed 10,000 yuan, while similarly requesting that he not be named.
In all, China Daily readers, via the newspaper, have donated more than 20,000 yuan to Huang.
Wu Min, a spokesman for the General Hospital of Armed Police Forces where Huang's father received his treatment, confirmed donations would be sufficient to support the girl's future study in years ahead. However, he added, the costs for her father's future medical expenses remain uncertain.
But there is another side to this inspiring story: the need for Huang and her father to get trustworthy guarantors of these donations.
In 2008, most notably, the young girl went to Shanghai to seek help for her father. A man there also donated 20,000 yuan. Soon after, the young girl wound up giving what she thought was a loan to relatives who have yet to pay it back.
The most recent donations are currently under supervision by four separate parties, each of which has been voluntarily bound by contact - including the hospital itself, the local government of their hometown in Anhui, a media representative from the State broadcaster CCTV and a fellow villager.
According to Wu, the hospital spokesman, the girl's father wants to move to nearby Shenji. He believes schools there would offer his daughter a better education.
Meanwhile, Huang Feng is biding time making preparations to enter middle school there in September. "A kind man in Shenji township has pledged to help me to enter a school there." the girl told China Daily.
The donation's supervisors agreed with Huang Zhiren's plan to move, but said the money would be closely monitored.
Wu and the bound parties at one point tried to target a charitable fund for monitoring the money, but said the up front fees left them taken aback. "We felt helpless at times," Wu said.
A female engineer in Beijing surnamed Xiang, with more than seven years of charity experience, said that "many details could be easily neglected - it's necessary for the organizers to avoid misuse of the donations."
Transparency, she noted, is essential. "The fund is responsible for disclosing the expenditure. The tuition and hospital expenses are acceptable, but the money is not supposed to cover the receivers' cost of living."
An official surnamed Zhang with the China Charity Federation suggested it is better for a professional charitable fund to handle such affairs.
"I know they are in consideration of the girl's interest," Zhang said, "But it will possibly expose them to potential risks."
"Charitable funds will not charge only in cases when a particular receiver is facing a life-threatening situation." she added.
Huang Feng, who continues to nurse her father, is unaware of the obstacles those who support her efforts are contending with.
A question asked about her feelings was met with a long, slightly awkward silence. "I'd like to say thanks to them," she said.
