Cindy Au and Wong Cho Lam Help Children in Poverty

Above: Cindy Au, Wong Cho Lam, and Leila Tong are Plan ambassadors.

Since her marriage to Roger Kwok (郭晉安) in 2006, former actress Cindy Au (歐倩怡) has slowly retired her onscreen presence to be a stay-at-home mom. Roger and Cindy have two children – a 4-year-old son Brad (郭令山), and 1-year-old daughter Blair (郭以雅).

Cindy and Wong Cho Lam (王祖藍) became Plan ambassadors for Plan International, one of the world’s top charity organizations dedicated to children. Plan International sponsors children in some of the world’s poorest countries, providing relief and aid.

In May, Cindy and Cho Lam traveled to Chunhua, a remote district in Shaanxi, China, to visit their sponsored children.

“I’ve always wanted to be part of a charity documentary, and I admire Ekin Cheng (鄭伊健) and other artists for having those opportunities,” said Cindy excitedly. “I wanted to go to all these remote places to provide for families who needed help, and to give them all my positive energy! On Mother’s Day this year, I finally fulfilled this wish of mine. We went to Shaanxi, and paid my first charity visit.”

To spend Mother’s Day doing charity documentaries made the trip even more special and memorable. “I got extremely heartbroken when I saw their conditions,” Cindy said sadly, referring to the Shaanxi children’s lack of proper healthcare and living conditions.” I thought I would be able to control my emotions. I told myself that I had to keep smiling so I could give off positive energy to the families, so they can have the energy to bravely live on… but I couldn’t stop crying.”

Cindy visited one of her sponsored children, Siu Hung, and his older sister, Siu Hang. Cindy said, “Siu Hang and Siu Hung contracted an unknown disease when they were nine years old, and they could not walk since then. It was impossible for them to go to school, and they couldn’t help out their family’s farm either. They require constant care from their mother, even for trivial things such as going to the bathroom!

“When I hugged their young mother, I could feel the serious curvature of her spine, and I burst into tears. She looked at me with hopeful eyes, and she told me that she has a lot of hope for the future, and she believes that Siu Hang and Siu Hung would get well soon. I could not stop crying.”

As a stay-at-home mom, Cindy is not only responsible for taking Brad to and back from school, she also has to look after Blair at home. After helping Siu Hang and Siu Hung’s mother with the farm work, Cindy came to realize that the hardship she endures at home is nothing compared to the hardship endured by Siu Hang and her family.

Even in the struggle for their survival, the Shaanxi country folk still sacrifice some of their own time to help others. Siu Hang’s classmates often visited Siu Hang on the weekends, teaching her how to do needlework so they could help her sell the finished products in the market.

“I realize how important family bonding is,” said Cindy. “Brad is in school from 9 AM to 4 PM every day. He has ice skating classes two times a week and English classes three times a week. His schedule is packed with all things related to school, but there is no time for family bonding. Kids should be enjoying their childhood, not dread it. School is important, of course, but spending time with each other as a family is just as important.”

Asked if Cindy will bring Brad and Blair with her on the charity visits in the future, she said that they are still far too young, but she had already shared her experiences with them.

“I told Brad what happened in Shaanxi, telling him about how the people there had no water, no proper housing, and no food. He understood immediately, and told me that he would not mind sharing some of his toys with his friends. In fact, this year, we plan to donate half of Brad and Blair’s Christmas gifts to other children, and Brad was the first one to say yes when I suggested it.”

Source: 3 Weekly #689 via kuangaitvb.com

This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.