The man behind China’s first and only NGO to help street kids find hope. photos and text

Young, intelligent, well educated and passionate about his work, Du Chengfei could easily be a high paid manager in a private company or a successful entrepreneur amassing his own fortune. But Du has chosen a different path. At 32, he is the executive director of Baoji Xinxing Aid for Street Kids, China’s first NGO for street kids. In Baoji, Du leads a team of dedicated professionals committed to tackling one of China’s major social problems – the rapidly growing population of children who are left behind. “There are other NGOs in China, but none of them are focused exclusively on the street kids’ situation,” says Du. “This population has been ignored and marginalized in society. Nobody pays them enough attention.”

That is until Du, at the helm of Xinxing, took on this problem. “When I was small, my family was very poor, so that is part of my passion for helping the street kids,” reveals Du. Born into a family of farmers in the Loess lands of Shanxi, he grew up in a cave house. But for the determination of his mother, Du would have ended up in the fields himself. Against the wishes of her husband, Du’s mother scrimped and borrowed enough to put him through school, high school and ultimately college in Xian. “My mother realized that without education, my future would be nothing. She believed that one day I would become a mature bird and fly away over the mountainside,” he says.

Street kids arrive at Xinxing in many ways and for many reasons. Some are brought by the police, some are referred by social agencies unable to handle children and some are found on the streets of Baoji by Xinxing’s early intervention team. Du says children coming to Xinxing have often suffered abuse, been abandoned, kidnapped, mistreated or driven away from home. He says a growing number are “the left behind children,” a new social phenomenon generated by China’s sustained economic boom.

“China is going through a period of very fast development and everything is changing overnight. A huge number of migrant workers are rushing to the urban areas for employment. After one or both of the children’s parents move to the urban areas, the children are left behind with grandparents, aunts or uncles or relatives,” says Du.

When I was small, my family was very poor, so that is part of my passion for helping the street kids.

These “left behind children” usually come from poor, remote regions of northwest China, including Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia and Shanxi. Typically illiterate and living in poverty, the new care givers struggle to meet the needs of children separated from their parents. “The children find that they cannot get proper care, both psychologically and physically. Many suffer from emotional problems, drop out of school and start fighting or arguing with their care givers. When the problems become more and more severe, and there is no solution, some of these children choose to run away. Some tell us they just wanted to find their parents,” says Du.

They end up stranded in cities like Baoji, a major rail junction, where they live on the streets and beg and scrounge to survive. Du says his first objective is to offer the children protection and a safe environment. At Xinxing they are given professional counselling, medical care, attend classes and are expected to do all the things that normal children do: play, help with the chores and go on weekend outings and excursions. The ultimate objective is to find a sustainable future for each child outside the center.

Asked if he ever feels overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the problem, Du pauses, then says, “This is a huge problem – and one or two centers cannot solve it. One of the goals of Xinxing is to make the public aware of this problem. This project is like a torch of hope which will help more and more people to see, and help solve the street children problem.”

The work done by Xinxing is attracting national attention. Du says the team has been invited to share their experiences and knowledge with other groups in China. Du hopes the experience acquired at Xinxing will become a model emulated in other places.

Du admits he could find a more lucrative and far less stressful job: “Yes I do have many options, but I choose what I am interested in. Of course money is very important, but it is not all of life, just one part. I have something that is much more valuable.”