| Already
in my early childhood, I developed a growing urge for justice
and helping people who were less fortunate than I. At that
time I made it a point to defend and protect ‘outsiders’
at school. Back then it was mainly about friends that did
not follow all consumption trends and looked or behaved
some-what different from the plain vanilla kid. Some had
difficult family backgrounds or were foreign nationals but
all were pushed around during and after school. Now, years
later, after having spent the past five years in Asia as
an expatriate and having had a chance to travel extensively
to many countries in Southeast Asia, I have come across
other groups of outsiders rejected for one or another reason
from benefiting from our society. Of all of them, children
left the neediest impression on me.
The urge to help surfaced again. At first I tried to get
involved in charity projects apart from my regular work.
I started off by simply visiting websites of different charity
organizations and afterwards, I also visited different projects
and the people who run them onsite. Those were such impressive
moments for me that it became increasingly difficult to
find motivation in my work as a banker. After nine years
with UBS in Zurich, Hong Kong, Seoul and Singapore, I decided
to resign in order to help those in need. I truly value
what I have learned during my commercial career –
and I cherish the friendships that have formed during that
time. After all, it was this commercial job that made it
possible to realize my dream of helping other people full-time
by running a charity organization.
When being asked about my motives for doing charity work,
I just simply reply
‘it
just feels right’! |
|
My
motivation to become a co-founder of Child's Dream stems
from my experience of working, living and travelling in
Asia for many years. While working in Hong Kong and Singapore
as a Private Banker, I started developing a keen interest
in helping the under-privileged in our society. I had
the privilege to meet many wealthy and inspiring people
who really care about the less fortunate by either helping
with money or by engaging directly in various charity
projects - I always admired them, but I never thought
that I could work for a charity full-time. When I resigned
from my previous employer UBS in the summer of 2003, I
intended to take up a new overseas posting at the beginning
of 2004. During this six-month break, I joined Daniel
in Chiang Mai, helping him to set up Child's Dream. Since
life never turns out the way you plan it, I decided to
extend my break from the financial industry for a longer
period of time. The work here made me realize even more
the problem of human trafficking and particularly the
exploitation of children all over Asia. Children are not
just used as cheap labor, but are often sold as 'sex toys'.
I am aware that it's too ambitious to try to change the
demand side of the equation but we might be able to help
reducing the supply side, and as
Itzhak Stern, a Jewish accountant in Oscar Schindler’s factory once
said, 'Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire'.
I truly enjoyed my life and work in the financial industry
but I always had the feeling that something was missing
to make me perfectly happy. By working with Child's Dream,
I realized that helping others can fill this gap. It's
also time to give something back to society and to say
"thank you" for the very privileged life I was able to
live so far.
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