A Non-Profit Organization’s Fight against Discrimination of AIDS Inflicted Families

Abstract

Chi Heng Foundation (CHF) is a Hong Kong-based Non-profit Organization (NPO) founded by To Chung, a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard University who quit a Wall Street investment bank career and dedicated himself full-time to sponsoring education opportunities to “left-behind children” who were faced with social stigmatization. In the mid-1990s, in rural China, parents of these children sold their own blood; as a result, they contracted HIV, died, and left many orphans, some of whom also contracted the virus. In an effort to raise money to help save them, Chung founded the Chi Heng Foundation in Hong Kong in 1998. In 2005, Chung asked Bill Clinton for help, and the Clinton Foundation gave 200 sets of highly specialized antiretroviral medication to the Chinese government, which specially allocated 86 sets to him. However, Chung eventually realized that saving lives and changing misconceptions about people living with HIV were not enough. In his quest to continue to thrive, aside from devoting most of his personal funds to helping those in need, Chung oversaw a transition process that lasted for two decades. The outcome was that the beneficiaries emerged from the shadows of being discriminated against, regained confidence and self-esteem, and reciprocated the charity by acting as role models for their younger peers. Chung, the “responsible leader”, nurtures like-minded youngsters to pass down the baton.